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Secure income for life
A defined benefit pension scheme is one where the amount paid to you is set using a formula based on how many years you’ve worked for your employer and the salary you’ve earned rather than the value of your investments. If you work or have worked for a large employer or in the public sector, you may have a defined benefit pension. Read the rest of this entry »
Providing an income in retirement
With a defined contribution pension, you build up a pot of money that you can then use to provide an income in retirement. Unlike defined benefit schemes, which promise a specific income, the income you might get from a defined contribution scheme depends on factors including the amount you pay in, the fund’s investment performance and the choices you make at retirement. Read the rest of this entry »
The State Pension changed on 6 April 2016. If you reached State Pension age on or after that date, you’ll now receive the new State Pension under the new rules. The aim of the new State Pension is to make it simpler to understand, but there are some complicated changeover arrangements which you need to know about if you’ve already made contributions under the previous system. Read the rest of this entry »
Value of payouts from pension schemes
The lifetime allowance is a limit on the value of payouts from your pension schemes – whether lump sums or retirement income – that can be made without triggering an extra tax charge. Read the rest of this entry »
Tax relief means some of your money that would have gone to the Government as tax goes into your pension instead. You can put as much as you want into your pension, but there are annual and lifetime limits on how much tax relief you get on your pension contributions. Read the rest of this entry »
The most radical changes to pensions in almost a hundred years
In April 2015, the Government introduced the most radical changes to pensions in almost a hundred years. From April last year, individuals from the age of 55 with a defined contribution pension can now access their entire pension flexibly if they wish. Read the rest of this entry »
The UK’s mass affluent investors[1] face an average annual income shortfall of £12,610 in retirement. This jumps to a staggering £28,000 shortfall among the mass affluent millennial population, according to the BlackRock Investor Pulse survey. Read the rest of this entry »
The Chinese New Year, also known as ‘Spring Festival’ in China, is China’s most important traditional festival. The 2016 Chinese New Year, ‘The Year of the Monkey’, commenced on Monday 8 February. Monkeys in the Chinese zodiac are ‘clever, mischievous and curious’, so we’ll have to see if this brings about a luckier year for Chinese financial markets. Read the rest of this entry »
Pensions have been transformed by the arrival of freedom reforms on 6 April 2015 which now give much greater flexibility over what you can do with your pension pot. The new freedoms mean you can enjoy far greater choice on how you spend and generate an income from your pensions, but with further changes on the horizon these are some of the key points you need to know. Read the rest of this entry »
Taxes, as we know, are one of the two great inevitables in life. As the UK tax system continues to grow ever more complex, and with more responsibility being placed on the individual to get their own tax right, ensuring that you receive the best professional advice to optimise your tax position is paramount. Read the rest of this entry »
