Whenever I begin to advise a client on their retirement planning it is important that I fully understand their current circumstances.  This often involves dealing with various historic pension funds and benefits all (hopefully) packaged together in a tidy manner for me. However, there is always one ommission and that is details of the State Pension.

The State Pension is the foundation block of your retirement plans.  Whether it forms the majority or minority of potential retirement income it is still valuable.  It can vary quite significantly based on your level of earnings and your employment status (employed, self employed, not employed etc).  I’ve seen State Pensions for this year vary from £91 per week to £164 per week.

Also, you may have noticed a lot of press about State Pensions and extending the retirement age from when you can draw your pension.  This bad news is offset by the return of the link between the State Pension yearly increases and earnings increases.

If you would like to find out the details of your own State Pension then you can request a forecast online here for free.  It will tell you what you have built up so far, when you forecasted State Pension age is and how many more years of contributiong you need to do in order to get the maximum basic pension is.  It will also confirm if you have any entitlement to The Graduated Pension Scheme, SERPS or the more newer State Second Pension (S2P).  It’s only 4 pages long and iit is something you should read well before you plan to retire. 

If you would like any advice on State pensions or your retirement planning then please get it touch.

At last!  Safeguarded Rights are now only a distant memory in the world of pensions.  This badly thought out and inappropriatley named type of pension fund is now to be brought in line with the rest of Contracted Out pensions funds.

The Pensions Act 2008 (Abolition of Safeguarded Rights) (Consequential) Order 2009 (SI 2009/598) removes references in pensions secondary legislation to safeguarded rights – eleven SIs in total are modified. Safeguarded rights arise when a member’s rights in an occupational or personal pension scheme which is contracted-out of the state second pension are shared on divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership. PA 2008 s.100 and the related repeals in Schedule 11 Part 2 abolish safeguarded rights altogether with effect from 6 April 2009. From that date, shared rights that derive from contracted-out rights will be treated in the same way as other shared rights.

And the best news is that if you are a policy holder who owned a Safeguarded Rights fund or were about to receive such a pension fund through your divorce then you are now able to take 25% of the fund as a tax free cash lump sum.  Thi sis subject to the normal rules surrounding all pension such has a earliest retirement age of 50.

Call me now if you want to discuss your Safeguarded RIghts in more detail.

There has been an awful amount of publicity surrounding pensions this week.  Sir Fred Goodwin and The Royal Mail have been getting pension pelters.  Goodwin’s was agreed, presumably when he decided whether to take the job or not, so it forms part of his contract and must be paid.

The same goes for the Royal Mail.  One of the factors of interview candidates being offered a job must have been the pension entitlement.  So that must stand also.

Not so long ago we have had strikes in both Council offices and the Fire Service.  Ok, these have been about pay, or equipment, but the amount of public funds that has to go into their pension scheme means there just isn’t enough money left over to give these folk a pay rise which, at an absolute minimum, must equal inflation.

If the government is really serious about following the private sector and oboslishing these long term, under funded state promises then it must begin with axing its own MP scheme.  This, amongst all public sector pension schemes, is one of the most generous.

Go on Gordon.  Put your pension where your mouth is!