Value of payouts from pension schemes
The lifetime allowance is a limit on the value of payouts from your pension schemes – whether lump sums or retirement income – that can be made without triggering an extra tax charge.
Topic: Uncategorized
Tax relief and pensions
Annual and lifetime limits
Tax relief means some of your money that would have gone to the Government as tax goes into your pension instead. You can put as much as you want into your pension, but there are annual and lifetime limits on how much tax relief you get on your pension contributions.
Pension freedoms
The most radical changes to pensions in almost a hundred years
In April 2015, the Government introduced the most radical changes to pensions in almost a hundred years. From April last year, individuals from the age of 55 with a defined contribution pension can now access their entire pension flexibly if they wish.
Income matters
Facing retirement with an annual income shortfall of £12,600!
The UK’s mass affluent investors[1] face an average annual income shortfall of £12,610 in retirement. This jumps to a staggering £28,000 shortfall among the mass affluent millennial population, according to the BlackRock Investor Pulse survey.
Enter the Dragon
Views from investment company managers on China
The Chinese New Year, also known as ‘Spring Festival’ in China, is China’s most important traditional festival. The 2016 Chinese New Year, ‘The Year of the Monkey’, commenced on Monday 8 February. Monkeys in the Chinese zodiac are ‘clever, mischievous and curious’, so we’ll have to see if this brings about a luckier year for Chinese financial markets.
Navigating uncharted waters
The impact of further pension changes on the horizon from this April
Pensions have been transformed by the arrival of freedom reforms on 6 April 2015 which now give much greater flexibility over what you can do with your pension pot. The new freedoms mean you can enjoy far greater choice on how you spend and generate an income from your pensions, but with further changes on the horizon these are some of the key points you need to know.
Tax Planning
Optimising your tax position is paramount
in the run-up to the financial year end
Taxes, as we know, are one of the two great inevitables in life. As the UK tax system continues to grow ever more complex, and with more responsibility being placed on the individual to get their own tax right, ensuring that you receive the best professional advice to optimise your tax position is paramount.
Tax-efficient investments
Options to minimise how much tax you pay
By understanding which investments are the most tax-efficient, you can make the most of your options to minimise how much tax you pay. As well as deciding what to invest in, you need to think about how you’re going to hold your investments. Choosing tax-efficient investments will often mean you’re able to keep a higher proportion of any returns you make.
Retirement booster
Now is the time to make smart year-end retirement planning decisions
Time is ticking away to make smart year-end retirement planning decisions. It’s common knowledge that increasing our retirement savings will better prepare us for retirement. But in addition to saving for retirement, it’s also important to maximise on other ways to improve our retirement finances in 2016 and beyond.
Future gazing
Will you be able to afford the retirement lifestyle you want?
One of the key challenges some people face is imagining a retirement which may be decades away. As individuals take on more responsibility for their retirement, a clear idea of what they can expect from the State Pension and their own savings becomes ever more important.
