UK pension freedoms could be costing people £104m, as they fail to shop around for the best annuity deal November 16, 2015 People who have purchased an annuity over the last six months without shopping around for the best deal are set to collectively lose out on £104m over the course of their retirement, according to figures released today by Retirement Advantage. The calculation was based on data collected for the first six months of pensions freedoms, [...]
Those in default pension funds could be missing out on returns equating to around £500,000 for a lifetime November 11, 2015 Be warned if you’ve opted to stay in your default pension fund – research out today by JLT Employee Benefits has found that you could be missing out on returns by six per cent. Over the last three years, the performance of the top ten defined contribution (DC) pension default funds has been between roughly 3.5 per [...]
Work and Pensions Committee pressure chancellor George Osborne to delay tax credit cuts for a year November 11, 2015 A group of influential Members of Parliament, including six Conservatives, have called on chancellor George Osborne to delay cutting tax credits. The Work and Pensions Select Committee today published a unanimous cross-party report calling on the government to "pause for a year and plan for a major overhaul of the tax credit system". Read more: Osborne's "rhetoric [...]
Saving for retirement: Are you one of the UK’s super savers? November 11, 2015 More Brits are saving for retirement now compared to two years ago, boosted by the government’s policy of auto-enrolment. That’s according to our Investor Pulse survey, which also shows that the number of 25-74 year olds putting money away specifically for retirement has risen by an impressive 28 per cent since we began the survey [...]
Dash for cash? One in four over-55s raid their pension fund to pay for luxury holidays and clear debts November 10, 2015 Plan to dip into your pensions savings? You’re far from alone. Some 27 per cent, or over one in four, employees aged between 55 and 64 plan to head for their pension pot while still in work. The figures show most, over two thirds, want to use the cash to either pay off a debt [...]
Pensions prove a sore subject for one London insurer’s chief exec… November 6, 2015 Don't throw stones in glass houses. Take the plank out of your own eye before removing the dust in another’s. there’s a lot of ways of saying it. Personally, The Capitalist favours “don’t bang on about the Treasury reviewing pension tax breaks while you’re busy downgrading your own company’s scheme”, but that doesn’t have the same lyricism [...]
Worried about your pension investments? China’s staged a glorious return to the 10 best performing funds November 4, 2015 Following the "Great Fall of China" in August, investor confidence in Asian and other emerging markets has dipped, causing pension savers and individual investors to feel the heat. But there was a bit of good news this morning, after analysis from asset manager Hargreaves Lansdown suggested China-focused funds have bounced back. In fact, of the company's [...]
Association of British Insurers: Sales of annuities have picked up despite new pension freedoms November 3, 2015 Annuity sales rose to 22,380, worth £1.17bn, during the third quarter of 2015, the first time quarter-on-quarter sales have risen for three years, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) revealed at its Biennial Conference today. By comparison, annuity sales for the second quarter of 2015 where 18,200, worth £990m. Figures from the ABI also revealed that [...]
UK defined benefit pension scheme deficit worse than a year ago, finds JLT Employee Benefits November 2, 2015 The deficit for all private sector defined benefit pension schemes in the UK was an estimated £228bn at the end of October, according to figures from JLT Employee Benefits released today. By comparison, the deficit at the end of October 2014 was £208bn. JLT Employee Benefits estimates that total defined benefit pension liabilities for the [...]
Welfare coddles pensioners at the expense of the working poor – but it needn’t be like this October 29, 2015 The two biggest drivers of government spending, welfare and the NHS, will continue to dominate the political agenda this Parliament. Thanks to Monday’s vote in the House of Lords, delaying changes to tax credits, a £4bn hole in the government’s spending plans has now opened up. As ministers rethink their plans, they should address another [...]