39 High Street
Billericay
Essex
CM12 9BA
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01277 630873
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Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority
INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVICE CENTRE
You should remember that past performance is not necessarily a guide to the future. Market and currency movements may cause the value of units, and the value derived from them, to fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested when you decide to sell your units. The tax treatment of investments and pensions is not guaranteed and may change in the future.
Your home is at risk if you do not keep up the payments on a mortgage
PERSONAL PENSIONS
There are four main parts to this section, Existing “bits”, With Profit and poorly performing funds, New Pensions and Technology.
Existing Pensions
It’s impossible to comment on every conceivable type of pension that exists but the cardinal rule on pensions is not to neglect them, otherwise they are liable to stop work before you do!
If you have any final salary type plans, it is exceedingly rare that we move these and unless you need help on whether or not to transfer to an alternative scheme, changing job for example, then the chances are they will serve you well, but once again we are happy and authorised to provide advice on transfers. (Link to qualifications)
If you have gathered several odds and ends of pension funds over the years it might be worthwhile combining them into one decent size fund and considering a SIPP or a new lower charge pension arrangement sometimes known as Stakeholder.
That also gives you to chance to do some planning and ensure that your funds are invested in the right place and in line with your attitude to risk, which leads nicely onto
With Profit and Poorly Performing funds
There are literally thousands of pension funds you could be invested in and funnily enough half of them are producing below average returns and around 25% are in the top quarter on past performance!
Now if yours are anywhere other than the top half at least you must consider a move of funds, after all you can never have too much money in retirement can you.
This is particularly so with “With Profit” funds. These funds have been ordered by the FSA to be safer and as you may be aware the lower the risk of any investment the lower the potential return will be.
Some funds are still quite good but some have not paid bonuses for years and are closed to new business, which means they have no incentive to perform.
Let us check the quality of your funds and make suggestions if necessary. Simply call us to discuss your requirements.
New Pension
You haven’t got any of the above situations; you simply want to put some money into a pension scheme, the question we must ask is:- Are you sure?
There’s an old expression that great strengths are great weaknesses and vice versa, and that’s very true when looking at saving for future income in retirement.
Personal pensions great strengths are that you get tax relief on the contribution but the income from a pension scheme is subject to income tax.
Existing Pensions
It’s impossible to comment on every conceivable type of pension that exists but the cardinal rule on pensions is not to neglect them, otherwise they are liable to stop work before you do!
If you have any final salary type plans, it is exceedingly rare that we move these and unless you need help on whether or not to transfer to an alternative scheme, changing job for example, then the chances are they will serve you well, but once again we are happy and authorised to provide advice on transfers. (Link to qualifications)
If you have gathered several odds and ends of pension funds over the years it might be worthwhile combining them into one decent size fund and considering a SIPP or a new lower charge pension arrangement sometimes known as Stakeholder.
That also gives you to chance to do some planning and ensure that your funds are invested in the right place and in line with your attitude to risk, which leads nicely onto
With Profit and Poorly Performing funds
There are literally thousands of pension funds you could be invested in and funnily enough half of them are producing below average returns and around 25% are in the top quarter on past performance!
Now if yours are anywhere other than the top half at least you must consider a move of funds, after all you can never have too much money in retirement can you.
This is particularly so with “With Profit” funds. These funds have been ordered by the FSA to be safer and as you may be aware the lower the risk of any investment the lower the potential return will be.
Some funds are still quite good but some have not paid bonuses for years and are closed to new business, which means they have no incentive to perform.
Let us check the quality of your funds and make suggestions if necessary. Simply call us to discuss your requirements.
New Pension
You haven’t got any of the above situations; you simply want to put some money into a pension scheme, the question we must ask is:-
There’s an old expression that great strengths are great weaknesses and vice versa, and that’s very true when looking at saving for future income in retirement.
Personal pensions great strengths are that you get tax relief on the contribution but the income from a pension scheme is subject to income tax.
