“Early pensions access could encourage people to save, says ACA”

Sep 21, 2022 | Pensions

An independent (financial adviser’s) view

Remember LISAs? HTBISAs? PEPs? Stakeholder Pensions and ISAs? MIRAS? All are previous attempts by governments to encourage us to save for retirement and/or home ownership. All the bright ideas of that year’s chancellor and all abolished or superceded by another. Early access pensions will, effectively, not be pensions and will bring still more confusion to an already confused system, as all the previous versions will still be around. The immutable truth is that those who are motivated to save will save and those who have the chance to, or have to, will spend. The only long-term savings plans which have actually managed to get those who can’t or won’t, to save have been those collected by Men from the Pro and their ilk; or those which don’t give a choice, like old- and new-style employers’ pensions. Learn the lessons, guys.

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“Record year for annuity sales driven by advisers”

“Record year for annuity sales driven by advisers”

I was asked this week whether annuities are now ‘a good investment’. They’ve been recommended very rarely in recent years, since ‘pension freedoms’ allowed pretty much unlimited drawdown on pension funds and anything left to be passed on to beneficiaries free of Inheritance Tax.