Pensions
These are your life savings, and it is important that they are treated as such.
Guides
Pension Guides
Use the guides below to explore your options. Each one explains a key area of pension planning in plain English – so you can arrive at any conversation with us already informed.
01
Introduced under the Pension Freedoms Legislation in 2015, Flexi Access Drawdown allows policyholders the right to select a level of income of their choosing, with no upper limit.
02
Annuities offer the policyholder a guaranteed level of income for the lifetime of the policyholder – not subject to investment risk.
03
In the UK the average person holds 11 jobs in their working career – meaning multiple pension policies that can be difficult to track and manage.
04
From April 2027, defined contribution pension funds will be brought into scope for Inheritance Tax. Early planning is increasingly important.
FAQS
Frequently Asked Questions
Currently it is 55. However, this will increase from 2028 to age 57.
Generally speaking from a personal pension or defined contribution workplace pension it is 25% of the fund value, although it can be more than this in certain circumstances
Tax free cash payments are not subject to income tax. However income payments are subject to income tax at the marginal rate of the policyholder.
Generally speaking under Flexi Access Drawdown, the pension fund remains invested, and therefore subject to investment risk. The policyholder has the flexibility to withdraw tax free cash and/or income payments as they choose, with no upper limit. These amounts can be varied at any time.
Under an annuity, payments are fixed and are guaranteed and therefore not subject to investment risk. Once in payment under a guaranteed annuity income payments cannot be varied.
If death occurs before the age of 75, then the funds can be passed on to the policyholder’s nominated beneficiaries free of tax.
If death occurs after the age of 75, then the beneficiaries will receive the funds subject to tax at their marginal rate of income tax.
However, as outlined below, with effect from April 2027, pension funds will be included in the estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes. Therefore, from this date, any pension funds which are in excess of the estate’s Nil Rate Band will be subject to IHT at 40%.
Yes under Flexi Access Drawdown, children can be nominated as beneficiaries to receive pension funds
Yes, as annuity rates are generally based upon life expectancy, if you are in poor health, it is possible to obtain an impaired life annuity, otherwise known as an enhanced annuity, which offers a higher level of income than standard annuity rates.
As stated above, from April 2027 defined contribution pension schemes will be classed as being part of the estate for IHT purposes, and therefore will be potentially subject to IHT, if the total value of the estate including pension funds is in excess of the Nil Rate Band.
Yes, pension funds can be arranged from very low risk to high risk, and will always be arranged in accordance with a client’s attitude to risk, which will be ascertained by completion of a Risk Questionnaire, and other risk profiling methods.
Yes, if you have a number of policies, it is possible to consolidate them into one policy, which can potentially provide simplicity and ease of administration.
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Ready to talk about your pension?
Pension planning isn’t anywhere near as complicated as it can look, and our approach is to try to keep it as simple as possible.