Pension Release Blog

Pension Release now only available from age 55

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:25:14 +0000

If you over 55 with money in a personal or old company pension scheme? Then you could be eligible for pension release and receive a tax-free cash lump sum and if you require an income.

The rules changed on 6th April 2010 and now you need to be age 55 or over to be eligible for pension release.

What is Pension Release?

Pension release allows you to take a maximum of 25% of your pension fund as tax free cash. The residual fund can be left invested and you can take an income if you need one. If you do not need an income then you can leave it invested until you do.

You can use our pension release calculator to find out how much income you could take from the residual pension fund.

You should always seek independent Financial Advice before you consider pension release.

Pension Release is only suitable for a very limited number of people and should be only taken as a last resort. Taking money from your pension now will reduce the amount of income available to you come retirement. This service applies to UK pensions only.

Retirement Solutions Limited are expert at pension release and they can provide quotes and advice for you. Call them on 0800 043 6701.

Group SIPPs confirmed as acceptable for auto-enrolment requirements.

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:55:15 +0000

Use of group Sipps in the workplace post-2012 has been confirmed as acceptable for employers wanting to meet their auto-enrolment requirements, provided a default is offered and charges are not too high.

The group Sipp market is set to grow as employees look for more cost-effective ways to comply with company shareholding requirements.

Many companies required senior staff to hold substantial shareholdings to ensure that their financial interests were aligned with the company’s performance.

A director who is required to own £100,000 worth of shares would effectively only need to find £60,000 to hold these through a Sipp [because of the 40% tax bracket].

Once these shares are held within the Sipp the dividends are not subject to income tax and, if the individual moves on, they can sell their shares within the Sipp without having to pay capital gains tax.

The transition from defined benefit to defined contribution pension schemes could boost the appeal of group Sipps.

A lot of senior executives are in DC arrangements and quite often are not getting any preferential employer contributions, in which case there are going to be a lot of senior people who aren’t going to be affected by the lifetime allowance. And for those, this does become very tax-efficient,’

Previously Sipps did not allow protected rights. This has changed and SIPPs allow for both protected and additional rights.

For advice on Group SIPPs call 0800 043 0725

If I die, what happens to my annuity?

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:25:06 +0000

When you buy an annuity you effectively hand over your pension pot to the annuity provider (usually an insurance company).

In return it promises to pay you an income for the rest of your life. If you die ‘too soon’ then what happens, entirely depends upon the type of the annuity that you have purchased.

Some annuities provide a guarantee that in the event of early death the income will continue to be paid for the balance of the guaranteed period.

For example you may apply for a ‘ften year’ guarantee. If you died after two years of annuity payments the annuity would continue to be paid for the next eight years.

At the end of the annuity guarantee period death results in no further payments. If you buy an annuity without a guaranteed period, the annuity income stops on your death. You can therefore work out how long you have to live to get back in annuity income the full amount of your fund but there is a risk here – that you die too soon.

The risk to the annuity provider is that you live too long! There are alternatives to the purchase of an annuity.

Unsecured pension (or income drawdown) keeps the fund invested from which income payments are taken. This however is not without risk or cost and may not be suitable for you.

However, in the event of your death before you purchase an annuity your estate might benefit from the residual fund less a tax charge.

Pension Release is an independnet marketing website that introduces to Retitement Solutions an Independent Financial Adviser. Retirement Solutions can get you the best annuity rates.

Pension Release advice in Norfolk

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:18:53 +0000

If you are one of the many hundreds of people that are looking for advice on pension release each day and you live in the Norfolk area then we can recommend an Independent Financial Adviser in Norfolk, Norfolk Financial Services.

The proprieter Mark Shubrook has many years experience and has worked for Organisations such as Aviva (previously Norwich Union of course). Mark will be more than happy to let you have a face to face meeting to discuss any aspect of financial planning, if you wish of course you can visit Mark at his office in Norfolk.

For Pension Release advice in Norfolk or to see an IFA in Norfolk call Mark on 01603 861621

Get Early Retirement Advice…

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:29:51 +0000

Although you can retire at any age, you can only claim your State Pension when you reach State Pension age. State Pension age is 65 if you’re a man and 60 if you’re a woman born on or before 5 April 1950. The State Pension age for women born on or after 6 April 1950 will increase from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020. It will increase for both men and women from age 65 to 68 between 2024 and 2046.

Currently the earliest you can receive a company or personal pension is 50 – but this depends on your pension scheme rules. From April 2010 this rises to 55. Pension Release will allow you to take the tax free cash from your pension.

If you are suffering from serious ill-health that results in a life expectancy of less than a year, you can retire at any age and take up to 100 per cent of your pension fund as a tax-free lump sum. However, if you are married or have a civil partner, 50 per cent of the pension fund must be retained by the scheme to provide for a survivor’s pension.

If you are considering early retirement we recommend that you seek impartial advice from an Independent Financial Adviser. If you are considering pension release then you will need consider the following:

If you wish to explore pension release or cash in your pension early further, call us on 0800 043 0725

Pension Release Calculator Do you Qualify?

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:07:42 +0000

Pension Release involves you taking a Tax-Free lump sum from your pension. This lump sum is often referred to as Pension Commencement Lump Sum.

To qualify for Pension Release you need to be over aged 50

Be aware that from 2010 this will change to age 55 so if you are serious about investigating whether Pension Release is right for you then you need to take action now.

You can check if you qualify by going to our Pension Release Calculator and entering your details

What shall I do now?

Call us on freephone 0800 043 0725 or visit our website www.pensionrelease.org