George Osborne to abolish 55pc inheritance “death tax” on pensions September 28, 2014 A so-called “death tax” on pensions will be scrapped from next April, George Osborne is set to announce at the Tory party conference. The 55 per cent rate applied to inheritances of defined contribution pensions will be abolished at a cost of £150m a year the Treasury predicts. The policy, first floated in July, was [...]
UK consumers have the 10th most valuable pensions, bank deposits and securities in the world September 23, 2014 Global debt has been growing again since the crisis while financial assets have reached a new high of €118tn. According to the Allianz Global Wealth Report, the world has seen the biggest asset growth since 2003, with the UK sitting pretty as the fifth-fastest growing country listed. The newly-preserved union comes in at 10th on the [...]
In charts: Half of women don’t have private pensions September 11, 2014 Despite the maximum state pension being only £113.10 a week, just under half the people in the UK don't pay into a private pension scheme. This includes a third of employees – half of the self-employed and 80 per cent of unemployed people are also without a plan. The data was published by the Office [...]
Think tank says most pensioners have saved more than they need September 8, 2014 THE VAST majority of couples who have retired over the last decade are financially comfortable enough to carry on with their standards of living, according to a leading think tank report published today. The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that 80 per cent of couples born in the 1940s have annual gross pension income at 65 [...]
Insurers fear a £1bn blow from pensions cap as DWP insists saver benefit August 19, 2014 Insurers face a £1bn hit from the new pension fund fee cap which comes in next year, Royal London claimed yesterday – five times above the £200m cost the government predicts over the coming decade. However, the mutual is likely to make little headway complaining about the fees. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) [...]
Reformed pensions can provide an alternative to the payday lenders August 17, 2014 For millions of households, the most significant risk to financial security lies in their lack of any form of a short-term cash account on which they can draw in the event of an emergency. The consequence of this lack of reserves, for some, is that a financial shock (a suddenly disrupted income, or an unexpected [...]
Aviva weathers pensions storm as bulk annuity sales rocket up August 8, 2014 Aviva was one of the top risers on the FTSE 100 yesterday, following publication of its half-year results. Its shares rose almost three per cent after reporting that operating profit for the half-year period was up four per cent to £1.05bn. The strong results prove Aviva is weathering the storm created by chancellor George Osborne [...]
Japan pension fund rumours boost markets August 8, 2014 JAPANESE stocks swelled yesterday on reports that the country’s colossal public pension fund was now preparing to make a significant move into domestic equities. The Nikkei, which had dropped during the day, jumped upward around an hour before the end of trading, finishing at 15,232.27, a rise of 0.48 per cent. The Topix index, which [...]
Forget pensions: We need radical Isa reform to really tackle the UK savings crisis August 4, 2014 The UK’s pensions crisis is no longer looming. It’s here. We are dangerously over-heating, and millions of British households, who are simply not saving enough for later life, face a bleak financial future – unless there is swift, radical action. UK adults need and deserve a solid framework that will help them save and plan [...]
Pensioners warned not to splash all their cash on a Lamborghini as Treasury unveils pension rules July 21, 2014 Pensioners tempted to splash all of their cash in one go on a new Lamborghini are being warned they would face a tax bill of £63,000, ahead of today’s confirmation from the government that it will push ahead with the biggest shake-up of the pensions industry in a century. Research by financial services provider NFU [...]