Popular News
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17 pension firms sign up to Mansion House Accord
A new Mansion House Accord backed by 17 pension firms aims to help DC pension savers by using private markets to boost potential net returns, while strengthening investment in the UK.
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Specialist expat SIPP adviser declared in default
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared financial adviser AXG Advice Ltd (FRN: 450813) as failed.
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Advisers changing retirement advice due to IHT shake-up
Financial advisers are turning away from pension wrappers and instead utilising pension gifting, annuities and onshore bonds as they prepare for the upcoming changes to inheritance tax, according to a new report.
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Trust in pensions sector drops for first time in 5 years
Public trust in the pensions industry has dropped for the first time in five years, according to an annual survey.
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Hundreds face huge tax bill after cashing in pension
Almost 300 people fully encashed a pension of more than £250,000 after tax-free cash between October 2023 and March 2024, paying a minimum £98,700 each in tax in the process, according to new analysis of FCA figures by Standard Life.
Latest Blog
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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: Over-taxation of pensions remains an issue
HMRC’s January pension schemes newsletter announced changes to tax codes for pensions, and a few headlines followed proclaiming HMRC had finally fixed the over-taxation issue. It would be fantastic if that was the case, but despite nearly 10 years of getting it wrong, the problem isn’t resolved yet.
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Lisa Webster: Divorce impact on lump sums raises question
The lifetime allowance may have been consigned to the annals of history but the various forms of protection are still relevant in the new world, especially when it comes to the amount of pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) that can be taken.
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Martin Tilley: How education can tackle pension scams
The dark reality of pension scams is that we don’t really know how common they are. Fraud is a crime which tends to have low reporting events and with pension scams, it’s no different. The emotional toll can be as large as the financial, with some people being too embarrassed to report that they have been the victim of a scam.
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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.
SSAS veteran EBS Pensions has reported an 18% increase in client numbers to 16,600 and a significant increase in profitability in 2017 under new owners the Embark Group.
The petition, which has so far reached 130,768 signatures, was set up on the 38 Degrees website, but to qualify for Parliamentary time petitions must be created on the official petition.parliament.uk website.
Aegon has slammed the process as “smacking of Yes, Minister bureaucracy.”
The petition calls on Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, to keep to previous Government pronouncements and to follow through with delivery of the pensions dashboard.
Normally once a petition reaches 100,000 signatures it is considered for debate in Parliament, but only if petitions filed use the Government’s petition service.
Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, said: “It’s ridiculous in this digital age that the Government insists on people using its own petition service to get something debated in Parliament, and smacks of Yes, Minister bureaucracy.
“The pensions dashboard is an important consumer-facing initiative and one that is backed not only by the pension industry but by many others.
“The fact that over 130,000 people have signed the petition in a matter of weeks shows people’s passion for the pensions dashboard and has generated welcome publicity.
“The Government needs to acknowledge this and debate the issue in Parliament.”