by Richard Allum on 1 August 2008
Dominic Brooks, Winterthur’s Pension Development Manager, examines the additional issues involved when a plan includes a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) element. Client options Our clients’ options are to leave the benefits where they are or move them to a replacement S32, or to a personal pension. The first problem lies in finding an alternative provider […]
by Richard Allum on 17 July 2008
In October last year the BR19 service was pulled for people retiring after 2010. Good news! The Pension Service have announced that people who are due to reach state pension age on or after 6th April 2010 can now get online forecasts by visiting here. As I am sure you know, the State Pension age […]
by Richard Allum on 2 July 2008
Last Friday the DWP published the Governments response to their consultation on SIPPs and Protected Rights. The paper also has useful updates on the Governments thinking on other issues relating to protected rights for defined contribution schemes.The key points are as follows: Protected Rights in SIPPs – The proposed changes to permit SIPPs to hold […]
by Richard Allum on 15 May 2008
Some joy for those approaching retirement amid the doom and gloom that is appearing elsewhere – annuity rates rose 4% last month according to an article in Financial Adviser. However, it is not all good news as rates for smokers and those seeking RPI linking remained stable. The article states that the best rates for […]
by Martin Vaughan on 12 May 2008
This from Money Marketing: Advisers are outraged by the news that Scottish Widows and Axa do not allow the partial transfer or surrender of pensions if a client has any money invested in restricted commercial property funds. Earlier this year, providers including Axa and Scottish Widows, imposed withdrawal restrictions on their commercial property funds and […]
by Richard Allum on 17 April 2008
I don’t know about you but I have seen quite a few TVAS calculations so far this year with only a small minority producing critical yields within the range I would deem to be worthy of consideration for a transfer. A lot of this has to do with the way in which transfer values are […]
by Richard Allum on 1 April 2008
Steve Bee of Scottish Life is always a good source of insightful and very often amusing comment on pensions. In his latest BeeLine he refers to a very helpful document on salary sacrifice and how it works that has been produced by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC to the trendy). Having read it myself, […]
by Richard Allum on 13 March 2008
Never ones to miss a marketing opportunity, SIPPcentre has produced a SIPP Market Cost Comparison for five case studies where the total SIPP administration costs over the first two years are compared. Other SIPPs included within the comparison are from: Standard Life Suffolk Life Scottish Widows James Hay Alliance Trust Hornbuckle Mitchell Unsurprisingly, SIPPcentre comes […]
by Richard Allum on 24 January 2008
The Annual Allowance is the maximum amount an individual can receive into their pension fund during the current tax year from all sources without a tax charge. For 2007/08 this amount is £225,000. However, when a contribution is made, the policy is automatically set up with an input period of 12 months and this contribution […]