| Stakeholder
pension
- A stakeholder pension
is designed to be a cheap, flexible retirement
plan that is easy to establish both in terms
of the costs involved and its simplicity, and
which also gives tax breaks.
- You can have a stakeholder
pension running alongside an occupational pension
if you earn less than £30,000 a year and you
are not a controlling director.
- The minimum payment
into a stakeholder scheme is £20 gross.
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Pension fund withdrawal
With pension fund withdrawal you are required to take
a percentage from within a given range from your pension
fund each year to use as an income. Although your
pension fund reduces each year by the amount you withdraw,
the hope is that with good investing, this amount
will be made up through subsequent growth.
A bigger pension
If you are in a company pension scheme and want to
top up your pension, an Additional Voluntary Contribution
plan (AVC) or stakeholder pension may be for you.
This may be particularly worthwhile if you are not
getting the maximum benefit from your company scheme.
The contributions again qualify for tax relief up
to the annual pension investment limits, which are
a maximum of 15% of earnings to the company scheme
and AVC combined, or for a stakeholder plan the maximum
limits apply as previously stated.
Alternatively you could consider a Free-Standing Additional
Voluntary Contributions plan, which would be your
own personal contract or a stakeholder plan, as long
as you are not a controlling director or earning more
than £30,000 per annum.
| SIPPs
& SSASs allow you to control where your pension
fund invests. |
Investment control
A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is effectively
a do-it-yourself personal pension - you have control
over where your pension fund invests its cash. SIPPs
can invest in a wide range of areas, including stocks
and shares, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies
and property. The composition of a SIPP is up to you
the owner.
SSASs
Small self-administered pension schemes (SSASs) are
run under company pension rules. A maximum of 11 members
are allowed.
Like SIPPs, SSASs can invest in a wide range of assets
including commercial property, which means they can
be used to buy business premises. A SSAS can be ideal
for a family-run business.
When was the last time you gave your retirement
provision an overhaul? By the time you start drawing
your retirement income it will be too late, so why
not e-mail
or
contact us for further information?
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