Bellend Sebastian

You're very kind, given that all I did was try to point you in the right direction. You sound like you had a good experience, and importantly, were given advice that you understand and can see the value of. The advice is quite expensive - partly because not all advisers are qualified to do it, and special permissions are required from the regulator to do transfers of 'safeguarded' benefits, and partly because the potential liabilities for the advice firm are massive

I think I bought 3 in a row for my niece without knowing a single track on any of them, which would suggest my withdrawal from popular culture has maybe gone a bit too far. Looking at at the track listings of the older ones is a bit of a nostalgia trip though

No worries, and it wasn't that good was it? You may not be able to transfer in (or out, for that matter), but it's a final salary scheme that most of us on here will be well jealous of. I wouldn't be too sad about your little pension. You're bound to be a member of a scheme at some stage that you can transfer into; even if you stay with the council the scheme will probably change at some point as I doubt ones of that type will be around forever. They're a bit of a novelty even now

Wow, Buce. You've really taken this as far as anyone can. Or have you?

I'm always interested in how things are made, even crappy chart compilations that I've never, ever bought (except as presents for my nieces): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/23/generation-making-now-thats-what-i-call-music I was thinking it was a bit strange why I never had one, but was probably because I used to tape (yes, one of those) the charts a lot and spent what little cash I had on individual artists' albums and Spectrum games. These were INCREDIBLY popular in the 80s and 90s, and still pretty popular now by the sound of it

It's not about cannabis, and this is a pretty extreme example, but the poor sod in this talks a lot of sense. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/23/lost-both-sons-drugs-want-to-legalise

Without a doubt, it would be betterer for them to be taken into the car park and flogged

Another one from work: "more better" e.g. "The changes to the procedure made it more better"

It's excitingly obscure, isn't it? I must admit I knew what it meant, but not where it came from

It all depends on how it's set up. If your scheme allows you to do transfers in without being advised, and it's a modern one there's not really any work involved to pay for

Or transfer it into your current scheme, of course

I'm pretty sure you won't be eligible for a refund - it depends on the type of scheme, but I think the only ones you can ever do it with (and only then in certain circumstances). If I were you, switch it into the most aggressive investment option available, forget about it and cross your fingers that it's grown into something worth having. Things will probably change between now and then, but under the current rules you can just take the money out when you're old enough, and although you'll potentially be taxed on it you don't have to buy the little pension you're thinking of. You could get a PlayStation 17 or something

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. Yes, for at least half an hour

Well it IS pretty pedantic. Do we think it's reasonable to pull folk up on stuff like this? Many moons ago when I managed a team I encouraged them to drop the 'at all' when speaking on the phone because asking the question like that just makes you sound tentative and that you're making a really simple question longer than it should be. Did they listen to me? A bit

We've had the superfluous 'at all' on the end of questions before, haven't we? "Is Simon there at all?" I don't know if that's supposed to prompt a response other than 'yes' or 'no', and if so, what could it be? 'Yes, Simon is here, but he's sadly just fallen into a diabetic coma'. 'Simon is here but in the midst of an existential crisis and doesn't know if he's here or not'. 'There is an effigy of Simon here that he made of balloons and sponge fingers in an effort to hide the fact that he's gone down the bookies, so sort of'.