Pensions

Set up a pension, review existing pensions,

pension drawdown, phased retirement,

annuities, alternative savings options

Ensure you have the resources to enjoy your retirement

Relying on the state pension alone will not provide sufficient income for most people to live on comfortably. If you’re not convinced, then see what you’re forecast to receive under the current rules on the UK Government’s Pension Checker. It’s unlikely to leave you with a good feeling.

Having a work or private pension is therefore a key element of ensuring you’re able to have the life in retirement that you want to live.

Our qualified advisers can help you.

Firstly they can assess your current position and then help you decide what action to take, such as:

Setting up a new personal pension
Joining a work pension scheme
Making additional voluntary contributions
Consolidating pensions from previous employers

For high earners, or those with pension pots which are approaching the lifetime limit, we can provide advice on tax issues and alternative savings mechanisms.

Set up a pension or join a work pension scheme

If you don’t currently have a pension then, whatever your age, you need to start that now. As with many financial products, the earlier the age that you start paying into your pension, the more that investment will grow in the period until you need it.

If you’re employed then there should be the option for you to contribute to it, with your employer paying into it as well. Opting out of a work-based scheme means that you’re missing out on what is essentially free money so, unless you’re under severe financial pressure, be smart and ensure you are opted in.

If you’re self-employed, then there’s even more need for you to start paying into a pension now.

Whatever your position, your adviser will make recommendations for the contribution levels you need to make, linked to your earnings, age and desired retirement age.

Review existing pensions

If you already have one or more pensions then that’s a great start, but it’s not yet time to relax. It’s worth reviewing what you have in your pot or pots and what this will bring in when you retire at regular points, and particularly as you approach the age when you hope to stop working.

Depending on when you started paying in and how long you plan to work for, we can establish what your likely final pension pot will be and whether, when put together with your State Pension, this will be enough for your requirements. If not then we can make recommendations on whether it’s worth you voluntarily paying more into your current pension, to help boost the final sum, or whether you should consider starting a new personal pension.

If you’ve worked for different employers and paid into their bespoke schemes, then your pensions are probably sitting with a range of different providers. This may not be the best for you. We can review all your holdings and work out whether it’s worth bringing some or all of them together in a personal pension. We’ll also look at the question of whether it would be worth you making additional payments to boost your retirement income.

We also encourage clients to consider that older pension schemes often have limited fund choices, higher than average charging structures and can be inflexible, which can make a review worthwhile.

If your pension scheme contacts you about taking your benefits ensure you contact your adviser as it will impact your future retirement planning

Approaching Retirement

Whilst retirement seems a long way off when you’re in your 20s, 30s and 40s. Before you know it, you’re approaching 55 when, since the Pension reforms of 2015 introduced flexi access, you could start taking a pension if you want to and potentially stop working. Whether this is a realistic option for you will depend on your financial and personal circumstances, but whatever your Pension position at that point, it’s important that you get great advice about what your options are.

If you’ve planned ahead, your pension is potentially one of the largest pots of money that you will ever have, so it’s vital that you use it wisely. Key areas to think about include:

The size of pension you could draw down
The tax implications of taking your pension
The impact of taking the 25% tax free element on the income you could drawn down over the long term
Whether you want to have a generational pension and pass on your pension pot to your beneficiaries
How to balance drawing money from your pension pot versus other savings/investments to minimise the tax burden on your estate when you die

Make sure you speak to your financial adviser in advance so you can make informed decisions about how to maximise the income and efficiency of your Pension.