Displaying items by tag: websterblog

I will be celebrating 10 years at AJ Bell in a couple of months. When I joined, Pension Freedoms had just been announced and it was all hands on deck to prepare for the huge changes on the way.

The latest Finance Bill released in November gave us the first look at the transitional rules for those that have taken some pension benefits under the current regime but also have untouched funds that will be accessed after 6 April.

When the first set of draft legislation on removing the lifetime allowance came out in July, it was the accompanying policy statement that caused the biggest stir rather than the legislation itself.

It is now two years since new pension transfer regulations were brought in to help the fight against fraudsters. The new rules give pension scheme trustees the power to stop transfers if they think the member is at risk of being scammed.

Small Self-Administered Schemes – SSASs – are the original self-invested pension. The first schemes written will be approaching the big 50 in the next couple of years. They have almost two decades on the new kid on the block that is SIPP.

The consultation on the draft legislation for the removal of the lifetime allowance (LTA) has now closed. The industry has given its views and now we have to wait and see what changes – if any – are made to the clauses published so far.

The removal of the lifetime allowance in the Budget was certainly an attention-grabbing headline.

We have heard a lot about vulnerable customers recently. Even before the Consumer Duty came along it was a big area of focus for the FCA and now we all have added responsibility under the duty.

As a professional, you will undoubtedly be aware of the effective 60% tax rate on income between £100,000 and £125,140 due to the loss of the personal allowance. For parents of 3 and 4-year-olds the real rate can be much higher.

As Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the US, famously said: “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” When it comes to the realm of pension saving in the UK this is certainly true.