BRASS vs Railway Engineman's

[Starmill]

Main reason, i have a Private pension isa i pay into and invest in various things, this is topped up each month by the government, i want to know if its more beneficial to be in a Brass pension and why, it doesn't seem to me its any different to a normal private pension other than the tax free saving comes out your wages, rather than being reimbursed when you deposit.

This is s really big question and it's important to look closely at the details. To be honest I'd strongly advise if you're looking to retire at some point within the next fifteen years you pay for some financial advice. Yes it will cost you several hundred pounds but they'll look at everything you own, including your current workplace pension scheme and any previous ones, your entitlements under the state pension, your SIPP and any other major assets like cash in savings or properties etc. They'll write you a report that sets out everything in one place and gives you some modelled scenarios including their tax implications for funding your retirement. It's well worth the money and your pension scheme should be able to put you in touch with an independent advisor.

 

[Sly Old Fox]

Saying c’est la vie doesn’t pay the bills, last I checked. Frankly it’s a little scary, or at least it would scare me! Surely you must have some idea of what a pension is, and what it does, otherwise why on earth do you pay into it?! I’m clearly not expecting answers to those specific questions. It’s none of my business, but you must have some sort of financial plan in place for your future, surely!?
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jun 2023 ==
I bet you know what a pension is. Scary what we read on here, at times.

I know that a pension is money you get when you retire, I’m not completely stupid. But I don’t really understand them. I don’t know why the pension people invest money, or what the benefit of that is.

My financial plan is to earn money to pay off debt. There’s not much else beyond that.

 

[dk1]

I know that a pension is money you get when you retire, I’m not completely stupid. But I don’t really understand them. I don’t know why the pension people invest money, or what the benefit of that is.

My financial plan is to earn money to pay off debt. There’s not much else beyond that.

I’ve always since the age of 16 when starting on the railway been advised to pump your pension as the earlier you start the better & it comes around sooner than you think.

 

[ComUtoR]

Yes it will cost you several hundred pounds but they'll look at everything you own, including your current workplace pension scheme and any previous ones, your entitlements under the state pension, your SIPP and any other major assets like cash in savings or properties etc. They'll write you a report that sets out everything in one place and gives you some modelled scenarios including their tax implications for funding your retirement. It's well worth the money and your pension scheme should be able to put you in touch with an independent advisor.

I'm pretty sure that this is available free; depending on where you work on the railway. I think the Union offers free financial advice services.

 

[AndrewE]

The special things about BRASS (when I paid into it, maybe still) was that a) we paid in before tax and b) especially valuable to us, the matching employers "contributions" which obviously doubled our contributions.
In fact it was a bribe to us to allow the employers to take a pension contribution holiday when the fund was in surplus. They actually used the pension fund surplus for "their" contributions.
The worst thing about it as far as I was concerned was that I couldn't afford to put anything in until just a few years before I retired. I did then, and used the BRASS money to displace my pension fund lump sum into additional income (which is what I think it was intended for.)

All that pension fund surplus being syphoned off for all those years and I couldn't afford to get on the gravy train!

 

[Traindriver40]

The advantage of BRASS is that because it is linked to your main railway pension, the 25% tax-free lump sum is calculated on your total pension benefits, rather than separately for each scheme. This means that unless your BRASS fund is very large, you will be able to take the full amount tax-free when you retire. If you had the same amount in a private SIPP, you would only get 25% tax-free, the other 75% would be taxable when you withdraw it.

thanks for this, sounds a wise choice and something i will look to set up in the very near future.

 

[whoosh]

I don't take part in any Enginemen's scheme. I can't remember the exact details, but I believe one of the products they offer will pay out if you lose your PTS through ill health/accident. So is sort of an insurance scheme.

The "poor returns and high fees" shouldn't be looked at in isolation for that particular product, is I suppose what I'm saying.

 

[dk1]

£5,497.56 paid into my account today courtesy of REA. Nice somewhat unexpected windfall whilst still maxing out your BRASS

 

[greatkingrat]

How much did you pay in though?

 

[dk1]

How much did you pay in though?

Probably only a few hundred less but interest is not really the reason for doing it to me personally.

 

[klkl]

£5,497.56 paid into my account today courtesy of REA. Nice somewhat unexpected windfall whilst still maxing out your BRASS

It isn’t really a windfall nor unexpected is it. Simply the return of what you’d already paid (to be expected) with very modest additional funds.

Happy for you and glad you’re enjoying your decision but this isn’t comparative nor useful information for others.

 

[dk1]

It isn’t really a windfall nor unexpected is it. Simply the return of what you’d already paid (to be expected) with very modest additional funds.

Happy for you and glad you’re enjoying your decision but this isn’t comparative nor useful information for others.

It's relevant as far as I'm concerned. Certainly no windfall being only a few grand, just nice to get it to blow every year from something you don't even notice going out of the pay each month. Obviously still max your BRASS out and it's a win win.

 

[Dispatcherr]

So Drivers don't get BRASS ? What if you have BRASS then become a driver what would happen?

 

[dk1]

So Drivers don't get BRASS ? What if you have BRASS then become a driver what would happen?

Im confused by what you mean. Im a driver and have been in BRASS since I was a crossing keeper in 1986.

 

[Dispatcherr]

Im confused by what you mean. Im a driver and have been in BRASS since I was a crossing keeper in 1986.

My bad i miss understood!

 

[dk1]

My bad i miss understood!

No worries mate