Pensions & Insurance

• The inflation ogre
  
  19 Nov, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  A number of newspapers have recently suggested that inflation could drop to only 1 or 2% in the coming months. Now that immediate inflationary fears are rapidly becoming...

• Learning from the mistakes of history
  
  11 Nov, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  We have just had Remembrance Sunday, a time to reflect on past wars and give thanks to those who have endured them at first hand. At a more prosaic level, when it comes to financial...

• Press 3 for early retirement; for all other calls stay on the line for an extra 5 years.
  
  06 Nov, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  The telecoms company BT has revealed that it is in negotiation with unions and scheme trustees to restructure its pension scheme. Options under examination are reported to include...

• Age 75 annuitisation?
  
  31 Oct, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  The Pensions Bill has been back in the House of Lords this week, with the age 75 compulsory annuitisation rule under scrutiny. This is the rule that requires pension investors to...

• Are annuity rates about to fall?
  
  23 Oct, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Today’s markets make it difficult to predict future investment themes. However, there are a number of factors that are all currently combining that may make it possible that...

• The right investment choice for your pension
  
  20 Oct, 2008
  By Danny Cox

  I’ve been asked more than once in the last week if people take too much investment risk in their pensions. Often I don’t think that people take enough risk. When you...

• Will you live to 100?
  
  15 Oct, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Recent research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has shown that the fastest growing segment of society is those aged 100 or over. This has been brought about by medical...

• What's wrong with my lifestyle?
  
  10 Oct, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  One of the key risks with money purchase pension arrangements can come at the moment when you convert your accumulated pre-retirement pension fund into a post retirement income (the...

• Another nail in the coffin for final salary pension schemes
  
  29 Sep, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  I think we are about to witness the last stages of final salary pension provision in the UK. Insurance works on the basis of paying a small premium up front, in order to pass the...

• The American retirement solution
  
  22 Sep, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Retiring investors have an increasing array of options as to how to convert their pension funds into an income. Whilst the most popular routes remain annuities and income drawdown...

• Contracted Out Pensions Hurdle Rate
  
  18 Sep, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  If you are one of the 6 million to 8 million people who has been contracted out of SERPs through a Personal Pension, then this may be of interest to you; it relates to the hurdle rate...

• Have annuities just got better?
  
  15 Sep, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  The annuity world continues to see a raft of innovations as insurers try to find more efficient ways in which investors can convert their pension savings into an income. An...

• Saving for retirement
  
  12 Sep, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  According to the Inland Revenue (or HMRC as they are now known) the number of people saving into a Personal Pension has fallen by almost a million in the past year, down to just...

• Income drawdown becomes a teenager
  
  09 Sep, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Research has shown that almost a quarter of all pension savings at retirement are invested in income drawdown . That’s an impressive rate of growth seeing as drawdown only...

• Saving for retirement
  
  04 Sep, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  According to the Inland Revenue (or HMRC as they are now known) the number of people saving into a Personal Pension has fallen by almost a million in the past year, down to just over...

• The Annuity Conundrum
  
  01 Sep, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Annuity investors have been one of the few groups that have benefited from the credit crunch. Level and fixed annuity rates have recently reached a 6-year high; increasing 5% in the...

• A partner's pension at no cost to yourself
  
  21 Aug, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  You spend much of your working lives trying to look after your loved ones. The same concerns and considerations apply equally when you are about to retire.   With minimum...

• Your pension may be worth more than you think
  
  15 Aug, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Some investors want to retire now, but are put off from doing so by the worrying daily headlines of falling stockmarkets. They assume that their pension savings will be as badly...

• Protected Rights
  
  01 Aug, 2008
  By Danny Cox

  I mentioned in a recent article that from October you will be able to transfer Protected Rights pension money into your SIPP. Almost everyone that I have spoken to about this article...

• Making the most of your income drawdown plan
  
  25 Jul, 2008
  By Nigel Callaghan

  Hargreaves Lansdown research has discovered that over 130,000 investors have purchased an income drawdown contract since the millennium with a combined worth of £17 billion....