Pensions and investments expertise in Wigan

The Government announced pension freedom in the 2014 Budget to start in the 2015/16 tax year.

These changes represented a complete shake-up of the UK's pensions system, giving people much more control over their pension savings than ever before.

The most radical change was people being allowed to access their defined contribution (DC) pension as they wish from the point of retirement and beyond.

With these types of pensions schemes, the amount you end up with when you come to retire is dependent on the performance of the investments into which you put your retirement savings.

Traditionally, people would buy an annuity with their pension savings and the annuity would pay a guaranteed income for the rest of their life. 

The new rules mean that you no longer need to do this - you can access all of your pension savings from the age 55 and do whatever you like with them. 

What will you live on after you’ve retired? How much money will you need? And how long will you need it for? These are the main reasons for seeking pension advice.

Rule one for starting a pension is the earlier the better, but better late than never. An early start means more time for compound interest to work its magic – a small contribution when you are young can be worth much more than a large contribution years later. Remember too that every pound you pay into a pension is boosted by tax relief at your marginal rate. 

If you are in employment then you should have access to a workplace pension, which all employers must now offer by law. However, if you are self-employed then you will have to set up a personal pension.

By the time you have been working for a number of years, you may have accumulated a number of different pensions from previous employers and personal pension plans and it can be hard to keep track of these different pots. 

Having separate pots may not be the most efficient way of managing your retirement savings. Pension consolidation involves bringing all of your separate pension plans together and combining them into one single pension.

Consolidating your pensions into one pension can also make keeping track of your pensions savings easier, you can keep a closer eye on the value of your savings and it could also potentially reduce the number of management fees you are paying. 

It will also make things much easier when you eventually retire and want to start drawing on your pension savings.

Defined Benefit Pension Schemes were once considered the untouchable gold-standard of pensions in the UK. In recent years most, if not all private-sector employers, have closed their schemes to new members and placed restrictions on existing members.

There are many reasons for and against transferring out of Defined Benefit Schemes, which will depend entirely on your individual circumstances, objectives, and the financial position of the pension scheme. Our default starting position is always that unless there are compelling reasons in favour of a transfer, that most transfers out of a Defined Benefit Schemes are unsuitable.

However, since the advent of pension freedoms in April 2015, there has been renewed interest in transfers from private sector and funded public sector Defined Benefit Schemes, due to the attractiveness of some of the new rules, for example being able to pass pension funds on tax-free on death, and the ability to take as much or as little income and/or capital as one chooses.

We have access to specialist financial advisers who hold qualifications in pension transfer advice who can advise you whether a transfer out of a Defined Benefit Scheme is suitable or not.

In all cases, we will complete a questionnaire with you to ascertain your reasons for considering a transfer and your attitudes for example towards investment risk and guarantees. We will also contact your pension scheme to obtain full details of the Scheme’s benefits and its financial position

Please note, we do not refer clients to our transfer specialists in relation to Defined Benefit Pension Schemes who are in the following situations:

• under the age of 55
• currently going through a divorce or separation
• cash equivalent transfer values less than £100,000.