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.
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BoE's Bailey opposes pension asset allocation mandate
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has registered his opposition to Government plans to set asset allocation targets for pensions under its new Pension Schemes Bill.
The majority of the £403m of claims to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in 2022/23 were due to investment and pension advice as well as SIPP operator failures.
Integrafin, parent company of adviser platform Transact, has reported advised client numbers climbed to a record 229,000 in the three months to the end of June.
Pension dashboard services firms have been urged to maximise the opportunities offered by the extended pensions dashboard deadline.
The FCA has written to investment platforms and selected SIPP providers to ask them to disclose how much of the interest they receive from cash and bank deposits they pass on to their customers.
Close to two thirds (61%) of Financial Planners believe pension and retail investment products will see a boost from the FCA’s new Consumer Duty.
The Government has confirmed that it intends to move forward with major reforms to automatic enrolment pensions.