Claire Trott: Something good must come out of Brexit mess

I decided to try and avoid the Brexit vote for a little longer and thought the best way to do this was to run a marathon around a forest. It backfired slightly as firstly, we knew the outcome when I got up at the crack of dawn to go to the event and we also got a running commentary on the way around from the marshals at each of the drinks stops. It also turned out that the marathon was mainly off road and the recent weather meant wading though knee high puddles at fairly regular intervals.Anyway, with all this time on my feet knowing what I knew, I spent a fair amount of time pondering what the impact on pensions would be when I got back to the real world and drained my trainers. I do like to try and consider the positives when weighing up major changes, such as Brexit and it was pretty difficult to be honest but something good must come out of all this mess.I have long advocated for a slowdown in change within the world of pensions, change can be good but too much at once can have a detrimental impact on how people view them. I feel that with the bigger issues we are currently facing, there will be a period of rest before any Government can spend the time it needs to review what the impact of the pensions freedoms has been and make any further sweeping changes.Brexit could also be the death of the second hand annuity market, although this may never have got off the ground in the first place. It is such a short term and high risk market that it seems unlikely many would want to get involved in it in the first place. Again, there is likely to be more pressing issues in April 2017. This may protect some annuitants from themselves, at least in the short term.I can’t, however, shy away from all the restrictions and exit charges being brought in on property funds since the vote and uncertainty. Pension schemes and pension investors are likely to be heavily impacted by this because they may not be able to cash in funds to pay benefits, leaving some people without an income. That said, with the drop in many share prices, the impact on those wanting to retire now could be significant. Some will be able to wait it out, but others may have no choice but to draw the income, at least in some cases they can use drawdown, which will spread the impact over the next few years.On a more positive and final note, should someone want to crystallise their funds and not take any cash or income, at least they are likely to use less of their lifetime allowance if they do it now rather than a couple of weeks ago.Claire Trott, Head of Pensions Technical, Talbot and Muir

Claire Trott: Something good must come out of Brexit mess

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