Latest Blogs
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James Jones-Tinsley: Aiming for an advice-guidance sweetspot
As Nikhil Rathi is reappointed as CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for another five years, the FCA has set out its strategic direction for 2025/26, with important implications for financial advisers.
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Lisa Webster: Maximising protected tax-free cash
While 2024 ended with a lot of doom and gloom in the pension world following the big announcement on inheritance tax (IHT), there was some good news that may have slipped under the radar of some advisers.
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James Jones-Tinsley: Guided Retirement Duty could be game changer
During May, the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), sponsored by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), concluded that defined contribution (DC) pension savers – including those in SIPPs, as well as in Workplace Pensions - require more guidance when choosing suitable retirement products.
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Tilley: Is the age 75 trigger date now irrelevant?
Age 75 has been an important milestone in pension rules since A day in 2006. It was the latest age at which a compulsory annuity purchase was required (prior to Pensions Freedoms). It's arguably it’s long been an arbitrary line in the sand, noting that life expectancy has been on the increase for the last 20 years, but this trigger age has remained unchanged.
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Lisa Webster: Overcomplicated rules are a threat
It may be more than a year since the Lifetime Allowance was formally abolished but issues are still emerging from the mess made by rushed legislation.
Popular News
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FSCS says SIPPs complaints 'main driver' of workload
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme says that a surge in complaints about SIPPs over the past year was one of the "main drivers" of a growth in complaints, according to its annual report.
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Professional complaints fuel 50% jump in FOS cases
Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman soared by over 50% during the past year to top 305,000 - driven in large part by claims from professional representatives, including claims management companies.
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UK pension scheme surpluses climb £26bn in 12 months
The aggregate surplus of UK pension schemes against long-term funding targets remained extremely positive at £189bn at the end of June, up £26bn compared to the end of June 2024.
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SIPP savers over-confident about retirement
SIPP savers are facing a ‘retirement mirage’ as their confidence about achieving a comfortable retirement outpaces their understanding of how they will achieve it.
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Aggregate DB surplus rises to £231bn, says PPF
The aggregate surplus of DB pension schemes climbed to £230.5bn at the end of June, according to the latest Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 7800 Index.
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BoE's Bailey opposes pension asset allocation mandate
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has registered his opposition to Government plans to set asset allocation targets for pensions under its new Pension Schemes Bill.
Google is to make it harder for non-FCA authorised firms to advertise financial products in the UK without advance verification.
The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) pension guidance consultation is too skewed to promotion Pension Wise and risks detracting from Financial Planners who may better serve customers, according to pension and investment providers.
Nearly 70% of DB transfers went ahead when contingent charging was used compared to less than 28% when non-contingent charging was applied, according to a Freedom of Information request.
Investment firm and wealth manager Rathbone Brothers has acquired James Hay-owned Financial Planner Saunderson House for £150m.
Complaints about pensions dropped 69.3% year on year between April 2020 and March 2021, but complaints about investments increased 2.4% over the same period, according to a new complaints data report.
The scaling back of lockdown restrictions is boosting consumer personal finance confidence with one in seven expecting to increase pension contributions in the next year.