Retirement Phases
The New Retirement Mindscape I love collecting articles, I have hundreds related to retirement / post 60 living and I’m reviewing them all. It’s fascinating, many publications that influence my thinking. Some are academic, others very popular. One from Ameriprise Financial compares results from a survey carried out in 2005 and 2010. in 2010 they […]
What does retirement mean to you?
By Denise Taylor. Some people still take a traditional approach. They reach company retirement age, and move into a different phase. Look at the advertisements and it’s all about cruises and downsizing. This works for some, but others are looking for something different. Some have no plans to retire, they want to keep going till […]
Security and sustainability in defined benefit pension schemes
The government has published a green paper seeking input on several key issues affecting defined benefit pension schemes. These include member protection, funding and investment, scheme affordability and consolidation. Over the last 10 years or so the pensions landscape has changed significantly and there are now few private sector defined benefit schemes with active members, […]
Supreme Court pension ruling on rights of unmarried couples
The Supreme Court yesterday decided that an unmarried cohabitant partner was entitled to receive a survivor’s pension from her deceased partner’s pension scheme. This decision could have a significant knock-on effect on the rules of many UK pension schemes. The case concerned Denise Brewster and William McMullan who, having been together for 10 years, had […]
Defined contribution scheme members outnumber defined benefit for the first time
The number of members of defined contribution pension schemes has overtaken defined benefit scheme members for the first time. This is according to a new report by The Pensions Regulator. The Pensions Regulator (TPR)’s annual DC Trust report illustrates the impact of automatic enrolment with defined contribution (DC) schemes becoming the dominant form of pensions […]
At-retirement financial advice in the workplace
The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has published “At-retirement financial advice in the workplace”, a report exploring employer reactions to two new initiatives being considered by the Treasury. As you may be aware, the Treasury is currently considering: • Increasing the tax exemption around employer-arranged pensions advice from £150 to £500 • Introducing a Pensions Advice […]
Lifetime Allowance Reduced from 6th April
When George Osborne, the chancellor, announced the reduction in the lifetime allowance last year, he claimed just 4% of the wealthiest savers would be affected. The lifetime allowance is effectively how much you can have in pension schemes without paying extra tax when you withdraw your benefits. Last week this reduced from £1.25 million to […]