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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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.
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Less than half of mid-retirees confident savings will last
Less than half, 48%, of mid-retirees aged 65-75 who do not pay for financial advice are confident they are on track to make their pension savings last for life.
Almost 9 in 10 of eligible employees (88%, 19.2m people) have saved for retirement through their workplace pension: an increase from 55% in 2012 when automatic-enrolment began, DWP figures have said.
However, pension participation among self-employed people continued to fall from 21% in 2009/10 to 14% in 2018/19.
The annual total amount saved for eligible employees was £98.4bn in 2019, an increase of £5.3bn from 2018.
£40.5bn was saved into public sector schemes (41%), with £57.9bn (59%) saved into private sector schemes.DWP data from December 2019 showed 5.44m people were employed in the public sector (16%) compared to 27.55m (84%) people in the private sector.
Following the release of the data, Hargreaves Lansdown shared concerns about the pension savings figures for the self-employed.
Nathan Long, interim head of policy at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “The self-employed continue to be precariously placed with just a handful choosing to save into a pension, showing the existing incentives just don’t resonate. The Government will also be acutely aware that 41% of all pension contributions go to public sector employees that represent less than a fifth of all workers.”
Almost two thirds of Britons surveyed (62%) that had received recent financial advice said they had detailed knowledge of Pension Freedoms, compared to a third (33%) of over-55s that had never received financial advice.
Adviser tech firm O&M, part of fintech Iress, is to provide free CPD-qualifying webinars on drawdown for advisers.
The Coronavirus pandemic has forced a widespread rethink of retirement plans as 18% change their retirement age and 20% of over-55s have considered raiding their pension savings, according to a new report.
The Pensions Regulator has so far issued 115,459 auto-enrolment fixed penalty notices since the start of the workplace pension scheme in 2012.
LV=, the mutual financial provider, has declined to comment on reports that it will sell off or float the business.