Making AVCs prior to redundancy

[blueblob]

I've been made redundant but should, if neccessary, have sufficient liquid assets to last several years until the age I intend to access my DC pension.

I'd like to maximize my AVCs before terminating my employment.

My pension should be big enough there will likely be some tax on the way out but no danger of hitting the standard fund threshold.

Anyone I've told about making these AVCs thinks it's the wrong thing to do, i.e. they recommend I should forego the tax relief, keep the cash to be as flexible as possible and avoid being taxed on the money at drawdown.

Has anyone known people in a similiar position who've regretted making the AVCs?
Does the usual recommendation of maxing out pension (when affordable) still apply at redundancy?

 

[ClubMan]

Hard to comment without some figures.
Maybe even a Money Makeover given that this could be a life altering transition?

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[LDFerguson]

I agree with ClubMan. At a bare minimum, questions that would need to be answered before you could figure out if it's a good idea would include...

• What rate of tax do you pay now?
• What rate of tax will you be paying on your pension income?
• How much of the AVCs will you be able to withdraw tax-free?
• What other assets and liabilities do you have? Impossible to say whether or not it's a good idea to put your money into AVCs for a period of years without knowing if you'll have enough to meet your outgoings in the meantime, including unforeseen expenses.