You are no doubt starting to see a lot of press regarding the proposed pension legislation and enhancements to ISA investments as we head up to the 6th April 2015. Naturally there are concerns and questions being asked, especially in the media and there are those that feel that the government are looking for short
Read MoreThe Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced this week that ‘Everyone who will be able to take advantage of the new reforms will be able to access free and impartial guidance’ with respect to their retirement options. This was previously announced by the Chancellor to the House of Commons in his budget statement
Read MoreIt was only relatively recently, in April 2006, that HM Treasury brought in legislation to simplify the many different pension regimes that existed at the time. This was done partly to ensure that from the 6th April 2006, all pensions accrued their benefits within set limits, removing the bewildering array of different rules and caveats
Read MoreWhat are economic cycles and how do they affect me? One of the frequent themes that impacts upon the tactics and longer term strategy when investing, is identifying where we are in the economic cycle. Despite the turmoil and in some instances, capitulation over recent years, the economic cycles are a known and lucid part
Read MoreFollowing the recent announcements in the media, the news that employers will have to pay into a pension scheme for their employees may come as a bit of a shock. The Government has introduced auto-enrolment and the National Employment Savings Trust or NEST for short. Preparedness and planning is the key to ensuring that this
Read MoreToday’s news that the UK has crept back into recession should be no surprise to anyone who has kept reasonably well informed about developing events connected to the global economic crisis. A technical recession is triggered after two quarters of negative GDP (Gross Domestic Product) within our economy. Stock Markets haven’t fallen today. Why not?
Read MoreFrom April 2012, Contracting Out will be abolished under a defined contribution pension plan. What is Contracting Out? It is where you opt out of the State Second Pension (S2P) previously known as State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) and instead divert some of your National Insurance Contributions into an ‘Appropriate Pension Plan’. These ‘rebated’
Read MoreIncome Drawdown (also known as an unsecured pension) allows you to take income from your pension fund while the fund remains invested and continues to benefit from any fund growth. There is no minimum amount of income that must be drawn, irrespective of age. This means that you may be able to leave your pension
Read MoreWhen speaking with new clients for the first time, I sometimes hear them say something like ‘Pensions are rubbish’ or similar. This can be an indication as to what level of knowledge that particular client may have with regards to ‘What a pension is’. It can also be an indication of their attitude towards pensions.
Read MoreWhen advising clients, we are often asked how state pension deferral works. Whilst the state pension is a complex area, we have provided our interpretation of the current rules surrounding this. Under current legislation, the State Pension does not have to be taken at the State Pension age. It can be deferred indefinitely and taken
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