Once the entire UK pension scheme is overhauled next year, the way in which savings are accumulated to enable comfortable retirement will be unrecognisable compared to what we see today. The Budget 2014 introduced some huge amendments to pension rules which – after consultation of course- will kick in once we reach April 2015. The […]
Gordon Brown’s Legacy Remains
April 28, 2014
Despite proving as short lived a Prime Minister as can be recently recalled, the true extent of Gordon Brown’s effect on the lives of the working man can be traced back to 1997 when he was chancellor. It has now been revealed exactly how much Gordon Brown single handedly decimated final salary schemes to the […]
UK Pension Terms Explained
April 21, 2014
Pensions are never far from being in the financial headlines. We all know it’s something we need to be thinking about, but every time we try to read something about it, something more instantly interesting tends to crop up and we brush any thoughts of the future under the carpet for the time being. ‘It […]
Scrapping of annuities in April budget leaves experts reeling
March 26, 2014
Speculation has been rife for the future of the pension industry after Chancellor George Osborne released the April budget for 2014. Will the new freedoms bestowed to pensioners spell an increase in cruise package purchases? Sports cars? Or will people handle their pensions with care – even if they are not forced to buying into […]
U.S. public pension funding hits 75%
March 5, 2014
According to the latest annual report by Wilshire Consulting, American public pensions funding has grown after 2013’s larger investment returns. The investment analytics and consulting firm projected that 134 public retirement schemes had sufficient assets to cover almost three quarters of their obligations for the year ending on the 30th of June, 2013. This is […]
Clarity coming to UK’s pension industry
February 25, 2014
Fund managers from across the UK’s pension industry will be forced to reveal any and all hidden costs associated with their pension schemes in the face of new legislation. These costs regularly wipe thousands of pounds off a worker’s pension, and The Times states the new Government rules will ensure defined contribution workplace scheme fund […]
Waitrose’s ‘golden pension’ under fire
February 4, 2014
With its 3.1% rise in sales over the festive period, and its consequent cementing in the key Christmas trading period, you may have been thinking all is rosy at upmarket grocer Waitrose. Yet beneath the record sales is a record pension deficit currently totalling GBP 840 million. Revealed after an investigation in March 2013, the […]
QROPS and Fixed Protection: Protecting pension assets over GBP 1.25 million
February 2, 2014
If you own UK pension fund assets totalling over GBP 1.25 million, you currently have two months in which to protect your assets from the UK’s Lifetime Allowance (LTA). The LTA is the upper limit on any tax relief you can receive on your pension fund. Currently set at GBP 1.5 million, from the 6th […]
Rethinking the 4% retirement rule in America
January 28, 2014
Many experts in America believe the oft-cited “4% withdrawal rule” for retirement still holds up. The basic premise is that if pensioners withdraw 4.5% of their savings each year, their inflation-adjusted nest egg should remain for 30 years – the average time span used in retirement planning. Yet now, some experts are beginning to doubt […]
How the self-employed can save for retirement
January 21, 2014
According to the UK’s Office of National Statistics, there were approximately 4.25 million self-employed workers in October 2013. Whilst independence is one of the biggest advantages of being self-employed, it also causes problems, and not least with regards to saving for a pension. The state pension With a current worth of GBP 110.15 each week, […]
