The UK governments last budget before the election revealed plans to extend its pension reforms to allow existing annuity holders to sell their contracts from 2006, offered a range of new incentives to save and tightened rules on tax avoidance.
The dust is still swirling around the House of Commons and copies of white papers are being furiously read, but the initial reactions are in on this year’s national budget. And, the consensus, if one believes twitter and the stock market seems to be mixed.
The UK government is planning to cut the lifetime limit for tax-free pension saving to £1m from £1.25m, along with a series of measures designed to trigger a savings revolution.
The UK government will remove tax restrictions on people who want to sell the income stream from an existing annuity from 6 April next year, effectively giving them similar freedoms as those soon to be enjoyed by those in defined contribution savings plans.
UK chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to raise £3.1bn in revenues with a host of new anti-tax avoidance measures in his pre-election Budget speech to Parliament today.
As Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne limbers up to deliver the 2015 Budget, wealth managers and financial advisers have reason to be gleeful and cause to worry.
UK life companies have cautiously welcomed an announcement by UK chancellor George Osborne to give up to five million current pensioners the right to swap their annuities for cash in this week’s budget due on Wednesday.
A committee of UK MPs has recommended that the next Government establishes an independent pensions commission to advise on future policies.
The pensions changes announced in last years budget have already resulted in plummeting annuity sales in the UK market and a host of new products, but according to a new white paper by Altus, the continued lack of understanding around pensions represents a significant opportunity for advisers.
The pension reforms announced in the 2014 UK Budget will have far-reaching implications across the entire financial services industry, says Guy Vanner, managing director at AKG Actuaries & Consultants
Published on 7 January, the report showed that 34% of 200 financial advisers polled in October 2014 predicted that risk-managed funds will usurp the traditional annuity as the market forerunner by 2025
HM Revenue & Customs last week issued draft legislation to allow QROPS schemes the same flexibility in drawing pension benefits as will apply to UK pensions from 6 April.
