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Five challenges facing a pension dashboard
The Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) contains a very interesting challenge to the industry, suggesting it should develop a pensions ‘dashboard’ to help consumers understand what they have saved in...
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In tandem: Combining pension and housing wealth
A research paper published in the UK by the Institute of Fiscal Studies in September 2014 concluded that those near retirement had sufficient wealth to live off in their retirement. However, for many...
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Carry forward and transitional rules: Everything advisers need to know
We all know that the transitional annual allowance rules for 2015/16 are very complex, and advisers and their clients may still be getting to grips with how they are affected. One area which has not...
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Annuities are seeing a revival, says ABI
Annuities are beginning to see a revival, as retirees shun drawdown and cash withdrawals for a guaranteed income, according to latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Margaret...
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True Potential calls for charge cap on income drawdown
Online investment platform True Potential Investor is calling on the government to introduce an annual charge cap on income drawdown pensions in a bid to see more people benefit from last year’s...
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SL’s Black: LISA a great opportunity to boost value of advice
The Lifetime ISA (LISA) presents a “once in a generation” opportunity for financial planning, offering “enormous possibilities” for advisers to add more value to their clients, Standard Life’s head of...
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Blog: Don’t throw the baby master trusts out with the bath water
Last month, master trusts came under attack. Critics asked if the newer, smaller trusts that have been set up in response to new government workforce pension regulations were actually up to the job....
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SSAS loanback: Business funding’s best-kept secret?
While it’s fashionable sister the SIPP has soared in popularity, particularly in the direct to consumer space (shhh, where it’s often not a real SIPP at all!), the SSAS remains a firm favourite of...
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Ros Altmann: Auto-enrolment’s true test is yet to come
Pensions minister Ros Altmann has had a lot to contend with in recent months. High profile spats with former boss Iain Duncan Smith and lobby group Women Against State Pension Inequality aside, there...
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More than half of pots fully withdrawn under pension freedom
More than half of retirement pots accessed by consumers since the introduction of pension freedom in April last year have been fully withdrawn, data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has...
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Pension dashboard: Five key challenges ahead
The Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) contains a very interesting challenge to the industry, suggesting it should develop a pensions ‘dashboard’ to help consumers understand what they have saved in...
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Why it’s time to tighten up master trust regulation
Master trusts have become the go-to workplace pension solution for the majority of employers and advisers alike, looking to ensure compliance with auto-enrolment, with 60% of all employers that have...
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One year on: A practical perspective on pension freedom
There were all sorts of announcements about how pension freedom would change the face of retirement for everyone. It would encourage people to save because the restrictions on how they could take their...
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Which? finds widespread confusion over state pension changes
People coming up to retirement are still uncertain about how the new state pension will affect them, according to Which? research. The independent consumer advice group found two-thirds (68%) of 1,000...
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DWP to cut one in three Pension Wise guiders
The number of guiders working for government-backed Pension Wise is to be cut by a third as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reins in spare capacity. Full-time Pension Wise guiders will...
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Welcome back? FAMR clears path for bank advice revival
It is exactly four years ago that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) unveiled its finalised guidance on simplified advice, publishing it just nine months before the Retail Distribution Review (RDR)...
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Self-employed ‘big winners’ from new state pension
Self-employed workers will be the ‘big winners’ from the government’s new flat rate state pension, as others are set to lose out, provider Aegon has said. Self-employed workers will be better off under...
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Happy birthday: Advisers on the first year of pension freedom
Pension freedom reforms, which came into effect last April, gave defined contribution savers unfettered access to their savings from age 55. It did not afford defined benefit (DB) savers the same...
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Pension simplification: Ten years on from A-Day
You don’t have to have a sense of humour to work here but it helps… I often think the old saying could have been written specifically for the pension industry – and here is a good example of why. April...
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Is pension tax relief soon to suffer its own Brexit?
OK, my fellow Scots… firstly the good news! From 6 April 2016 the Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) has at last been implemented. This results in the income tax rates set by UK government that apply...
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