Popular News
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Industry urged to probe pensioner spending habits
Pension providers have been urged to find out more about post-retirement spending as new research suggests homeowners’ and renters’ drawdown habits are very different.
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Single pensioners need £225K more for ‘moderate’ retirement
Single pensioners need £225,000 more in their pension pot than couples to achieve a ‘moderate’ standard of living in retirement.
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DC savers warned of 20% hit from Trump’s tariffs
Donald Trump’s tariffs could hit UK pensions, with DC savers warned they may experience a 20% cut in their retirement income.
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Number of appointed reps continues to fall
The number of appointed representatives continued to fall in 2024/25, according to the latest data from the Financial Conduct Authority.
Latest Blog
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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: Over-taxation of pensions remains an issue
HMRC’s January pension schemes newsletter announced changes to tax codes for pensions, and a few headlines followed proclaiming HMRC had finally fixed the over-taxation issue. It would be fantastic if that was the case, but despite nearly 10 years of getting it wrong, the problem isn’t resolved yet.
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Lisa Webster: Divorce impact on lump sums raises question
The lifetime allowance may have been consigned to the annals of history but the various forms of protection are still relevant in the new world, especially when it comes to the amount of pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) that can be taken.
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Martin Tilley: How education can tackle pension scams
The dark reality of pension scams is that we don’t really know how common they are. Fraud is a crime which tends to have low reporting events and with pension scams, it’s no different. The emotional toll can be as large as the financial, with some people being too embarrassed to report that they have been the victim of a scam.
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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.
A Wolverhampton financial adviser has been banned for 8 years after clients lost £7m due to poor pension investment advice involving SIPPs.
Andy Bell, chief executive of platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell, has welcomed news that the rules on 10% ‘investment drop’ letters will be relaxed for six months.
A new survey for online platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell on the 5th anniversary of the Pension Freedoms suggests withdrawals have been falling year on year.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared 15 failed regulated firms in default during February 2020 including SIPP firm GPC.
Ian Mattioli, chief executive of wealth management and SIPPs business Mattioli Woods, has waived his salary until at least 30 June and board directors have reduced their fees to 50%.
The FCA has reduced a £93,800 fine imposed on pension adviser Lloyd Pope, a former director of now dissolved firm TailorMade Independent Ltd, by approximately £70,000.