Pensions are frequently in the news as the government makes changes. Our skilled professionals are experts in this field and are dedicated to providing clients with the right advice.
In this ever-changing environment, our advisers keep a close eye on pensions legislation and how it may affect clients.
We provide information and guidance to clients as part of their comprehensive financial planning covering the whole spectrum of pensions, annuities and income drawdown.
Deciding how to fund your retirement can be a difficult and complicated process. It is possible to save time and money by seeking and receiving good advice.
Everyone has a unique set of retirement plans and long-term goals. Our advisers can help you prioritise and plan to meet these objectives.
Cantab will manage your portfolio over time and adjust as appropriate to your circumstances.
Pensions may be just a part of your retirement plan. Cantab advisers will aim to maximise tax allowances and enable you to receive a retirement income in the most efficient way to best suit your needs.
Cantab aims to assist clients to enunciate and achieve their estate planning objectives.
There are two distinct and equally important phases of retirement planning, namely, the accumulation phase and the decumulation phase.
Pre-retirement, in the accumulation phase, clients are encouraged to maximise their contributions to pensions to benefit from the tax relief and to increase the size of their pot. Workplace pension schemes may benefit from employer matched contributions and salary exchange.
With the annual allowances limiting contributions, funds may be invested into other investments and savings vehicles, or “wrappers”, such as Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), General Investment Accounts (GIAs) and investment bonds, and, for some, Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS). Clients sometimes make direct property investments for their ‘retirement’ portfolios (see separate note on ‘Buy to let: Points to Consider’). A multi-wrapper approach can provide greater tax efficiency because each vehicle is taxed differently (figure 1).
Figure 1. A Multi-Wrapper Approach
To grow funds and to maximise retirement income, we recommend starting early, maximising contributions to pensions, investing excess income into non-pension wrappers, and aligning portfolios with aims and appetite for risk.
In retirement, the decumulation phase involves drawing on assets to provide a sustainable income. Sequencing, the order in which investments are drawn, is important for asset longevity and tax planning. Preserving the pension by drawing on it later, or not at all, can be beneficial for estate planning.
Following the pension freedoms introduced by the coalition government in April 2015, from age 55 (rising to 57), individuals can draw as much or as little from their personal pensions as they like, subject to prevailing income tax rates in the year of encashment. Before this date, it was much more common to use pension savings to purchase an annuity, whereas now most clients will take income drawdown and keep their pension fully invested; this increases the investment timescale beyond retirement age, so that the portfolio should reflect the client’s attitude to investment risk.
Cash flow analysis, using a series of assumptions to project the future, can help to determine the level of income that might be generated by assets. These projections can be useful to provide a degree of comfort or indeed encouragement to save further or retire later.
A pension is a tax-efficient vehicle for building funds for retirement and generating an income in retirement. Pension contributions can attract tax relief at an individual’s highest marginal rate, and, inside the pension, investments can grow free of income and capital gains taxes. The member can receive part of their benefits as a tax-free lump sum.
The amount of tax relief on contributions is limited by the lower of an individual’s pensionable earnings and their annual allowance. Someone with no pensionable earnings can still receive a small amount of tax relief. High earners may be subject to a tapered annual allowance. It is possible to carry forward unused annual allowances from the previous three tax years, starting with the earliest year.
A “defined benefit” (DB) pension promises to pay the employee a defined amount each year in retirement for their lifetime, normally based on their final salary or career average earnings, and length of service.
A “defined contribution” (DC) pension is where a defined amount is contributed to build the pot to provide retirement income, via withdrawals or by purchasing an annuity. The income from a DC scheme is dependent on several factors, including, the amount of contributions, the investment performance, and the choices in retirement, such as the quantum and timing of withdrawals.
Owing to the costs to employers and the associated administration, the number of active DB schemes is reducing, particularly in the private sector, and most pension accumulation is now via contributions to DC schemes and group personal, stakeholder and self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). Group personal and stakeholder schemes tend to provide lower cost options but with more limited investment choices, whereas SIPPs can be more expensive but invariably provide greater choice of investments, and some schemes permit direct commercial property investments.
It is important to understand the terms and conditions of each scheme. Some schemes provide a protected pension age and others may provide protected tax-free cash (more than the standard 25%) or an enhanced annuity rate. These benefits could be lost on transfer.
In March 2023, alongside his Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt announced plans to scrap the Lifetime Allowance (LTA). Its removal is aimed at encouraging workers considering retirement to remain in employment and retirees to re-enter the workforce.
The LTA acts to limit the value an individual can accrue in pension savings without further LTA tax charges. The LTA, first set at £1.5m in 2006, reached a high-water mark of £1.8m in 2012, and was £1,073,100 at the time of Mr Hunt’s inaugural Budget.
The LTA is set to be removed in two stages:
Step one, the removal of the LTA charge, was delivered by The Finance Act (2) 2023, which received Royal Assent on 11 July 2023.
Step two, the removal of the LTA entirely from pensions legislation, is set to be delivered by The Finance Bill, which is currently working its way through parliament and is expected to receive Royal Assent in March 2024.
The Finance Bill abolishes the LTA from pension tax legislation. With the LTA removed, it also sets out the new tax treatment of lump sums and lump sum and death benefits paid from registered pension schemes. The changes are to have effect on or after 6 April 2024. The legislation introduces an individual’s ‘Lump Sum Allowance’ (LSA), which is set at £268,275, and an individual’s ‘Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance’ (LSDBA), set at £1,073,100. Transitional rules for those who have already taken pension benefits prior to 6 April 2024 are also contained in the legislation.
The key points are summarised in the Lifetime Allowance briefing note here.
On death, Personal Pensions may be passed on free of inheritance tax (IHT), and, because of this, pensions are also important estate planning tools.
In summary, retirement planning is not limited to pensions, but encompasses non-pension assets and other sources of income. Pension rules are complex and need careful consideration. Please speak to one of our Chartered Financial Planners to develop a plan to suit your situation and aims.
You reap what you sow