Latest Blogs
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Tilley: Pensions Commission must push reform...and quickly
Recent news of the revival of a Pensions Commission was music to my ears.
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Lisa Webster: Till pensions do us part
There have been some fluctuations in recent years but overall divorce rates in the UK have been in decline since the 1990s.
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Tilley: Let’s end the SIPP vs SSAS debate for good
As you might know from my previous columns on SIPPs Professional, I am, and have been for some time, a huge advocate for Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSAS).
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Lisa Webster: Pre-Budget withdrawals are spiking again
Ever since “tax-free cash” changed its official name to “pension commencement lump sum” back in 2006 there have been pre-Budget rumours that it was going to change – and not for the better.
Popular News
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Barnett Waddingham appoints new head of SIPP proposition
Pensions and SIPP consultancy Barnett Waddingham has appointed Embark Group’s Andrew Phipps as head of SIPP proposition and supplier management.
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Pension indexation law shouldn’t change: SPP
The Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) has warned of the “unintended consequences” of changing the law relating to pre-1997 pension scheme indexation.
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DB pension surpluses remain at record highs
DB pension surpluses remain at record highs, up £57bn year-on-year in October, according to new analysis from XPS Group.
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STEP warns of pension reforms ‘chaos’
Proposed pension reforms included in next week’s Budget will create chaos and put bereaved families and ordinary people at financial risk, according to STEP, the global professional body for trust and estate practitioners.
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Pension professionals exempted from new rules
HMRC has agreed to exempt pension administration professionals from new requirements requiring ‘tax advisers’ who interact with HMRC on behalf of clients to register with HMRC and meet new minimum standards from 1 April 2026.
Momentum Pensions, a UK and international SIPP and pension provider, has appointed seasoned financial services executive Sandra Robertson as its new group chief executive as Stewart Davies hands over the role after six and a half years.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared 12 failed firms in default in April - including former major SIPP provider Berkeley Burke.
Carey Pensions, now know as Options SIPP, has claimed victory in the long-awaited Adams Case over who is liable for SIPPs investments.
Retirement solutions and platform provider Embark is planning a tie-up with Openwork, one of the UK’s largest adviser networks, which will see Embark's new Advance platform become the lead supplier to Openwork’s 2,000 advisers for five years until 2026.
Nearly half (47%) of 55 to 64-year-olds are unaware that deferring the State Pension can boost their retirement income significantly when they start to claim their pension benefits.
Many pension savers are missing this valuable ‘Financial Planning’ option when they retire, according to research from retirement specialist Just Group.
Deferring the State Pension payment can mean significantly higher state pensions with every nine weeks of deferral boosting income by 1% - equivalent to 5.8% more income for every 52 weeks of deferral.
However, just over one in 10 (12%) of those aged 65+ had deferred their State Pension with the figure higher among women (16%) than men (9%) and also higher among the semi-retired (22%) than fully retired (11%).
Just says with Coronavirus hitting financial plans many more could consider State Pension deferral to boost retirement income.
Stephen Lowe, Just communications director, said: “Deferring State Pension is an important option for the rising number of over-65s in good health and who plan to carry on working.
“It needs to be factored into people’s Financial Planning in the run-up to retirement so it is worrying that such a high number of people aged 55-64 don’t know that there is a degree of flexibility around when and how they take their State Pension.”
According to research by Just the appetite for State Pension deferral has waned in recent years with about 1m people currently receiving extra money as a result of deferral, about 25% fewer than the peak in 2004, according to Department of Work and Pensions figures.
With the full New State Pension rising to £175.20 a week from April, deferring for one year would result in
£10.12 extra a week – more than £526 a year.
Those who have started to receive the State Pension can defer payment once during retirement.
Most people tend to defer the State Pension for between one and two years but more than half defer for longer.
Among those who chose not to defer, 31% said it was because they wanted to stop working as soon as they could. A quarter (25%) said they would have had to defer for too long to make the weekly increase worthwhile.
How long after you were eligible did you defer starting to receive your State Pension?
Up to a year -15%
1-2 years - 31%
2-3 years - 26%
3-5 years - 19%
5-10 years - 8%
Source: Just Group
Financial Planners are no longer using cost as the main factor when selecting platforms, according to evidence in the latest Platform Report in the current Financial Planning Today magazine.