Latest Blogs
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James Jones-Tinsley: Aiming for an advice-guidance sweetspot
As Nikhil Rathi is reappointed as CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for another five years, the FCA has set out its strategic direction for 2025/26, with important implications for financial advisers.
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Lisa Webster: Maximising protected tax-free cash
While 2024 ended with a lot of doom and gloom in the pension world following the big announcement on inheritance tax (IHT), there was some good news that may have slipped under the radar of some advisers.
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James Jones-Tinsley: Guided Retirement Duty could be game changer
During May, the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), sponsored by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), concluded that defined contribution (DC) pension savers – including those in SIPPs, as well as in Workplace Pensions - require more guidance when choosing suitable retirement products.
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Tilley: Is the age 75 trigger date now irrelevant?
Age 75 has been an important milestone in pension rules since A day in 2006. It was the latest age at which a compulsory annuity purchase was required (prior to Pensions Freedoms). It's arguably it’s long been an arbitrary line in the sand, noting that life expectancy has been on the increase for the last 20 years, but this trigger age has remained unchanged.
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Lisa Webster: Overcomplicated rules are a threat
It may be more than a year since the Lifetime Allowance was formally abolished but issues are still emerging from the mess made by rushed legislation.
Popular News
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FSCS says SIPPs complaints 'main driver' of workload
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme says that a surge in complaints about SIPPs over the past year was one of the "main drivers" of a growth in complaints, according to its annual report.
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Professional complaints fuel 50% jump in FOS cases
Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman soared by over 50% during the past year to top 305,000 - driven in large part by claims from professional representatives, including claims management companies.
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UK pension scheme surpluses climb £26bn in 12 months
The aggregate surplus of UK pension schemes against long-term funding targets remained extremely positive at £189bn at the end of June, up £26bn compared to the end of June 2024.
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SIPP savers over-confident about retirement
SIPP savers are facing a ‘retirement mirage’ as their confidence about achieving a comfortable retirement outpaces their understanding of how they will achieve it.
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Aggregate DB surplus rises to £231bn, says PPF
The aggregate surplus of DB pension schemes climbed to £230.5bn at the end of June, according to the latest Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 7800 Index.
Birmingham-based BlueSky Wealth Management Ltd (FRN: 446963) has failed, opening the door to claims against the firm through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
The Pensions Regulator has called on trustees to help battle cyber-crooks by reporting significant cyber-related incidents as part of updated guidance to tackle the ongoing threat posed by cyber criminals.
The FCA is cracking down on the practice of so-called ‘double-dipping’ by investment platforms and SIPP operators whereby they keep interest on customers’ cash balances and charge them a fee for doing so.
In the last two years annuity rates have risen by more than half, according to Canada Life, giving a 65-year-old with a £100,000 annuity an extra £2,500 a year.
A quarter of young people aged 18-24 years has not heard of auto-enrolment, despite new proposals being published that will extend the scheme to 18-year-olds.
The FCA is planning to open the door to millions of consumers receiving ‘financial guidance’ on their personal finances which stops short of regulated financial advice.