Pension Freedom

What does it mean for you? Can you “free up” your pension? Is it a good idea to do so? How do you do it?

As almost everybody over the age of 50 now knows, it is possible to access your pension fund once you have reached the age of 55. I say possible, but there are one or two exceptions to this. Anyone in a government pension scheme will not be able to take their pension pot out of the scheme and this basically means all civil servants in a final salary scheme and one or two other people as well.

The changes do mean that anyone who is in what is called a defined contribution scheme whereby you build up a pot of money with which to buy your pension is entitled to withdraw all of their fund but is this a good idea? It is going to be exceptionally rare for anybody not to need advice on this matter and as a specialist in retirement solutions Gaudium Associates are well placed to talk to you about your options. We will talk to you about whether it’s sensible to leave your fund alone, how to maximise taking your fund in the most tax efficient way, the tax implications of taking your fund.  We will explain the different types of guaranteed income available to you, we will explain how you can mix and match different options to access your pension pot and how there may be benefits to you in receiving funds in more than one way.

We will help you understand all of the implications of accessing your pension funds early. We may consider that taking your pension fund early is against your best interests and will be detrimental to your financial health. In this case we would prepare a report for you explain your options and their effects on your finances but we would be unlikely to facilitate encashment of your fund.

Where it is viable to access your pension fund we will consider how it will impact on you in the future, and importantly shop around the market for you to get the best arrangement in place for your benefits. 

• This can be accessing your fund via a flexible drawdown, flexible annuities or guaranteed annuities or a mixture. 
• What if you only want your tax free cash from your pension fund? 
• What do you with the balance of your fund? 
• Did you know your pension fund has inheritance tax advantages? 
• What happens to your fund if you die before you’ve taken all of your pension benefits? 
• Can you get enhanced benefits based on your health?

These are real issues that you will need to consider and will need help and advice on. Gaudium Associates have the people you need to talk to about your pension. We can arrange a meeting in our office or at your home to suit you and the first meeting, to discuss your situation, is at our expense. On instruction from you and following our assessment and research we will provide a written report to you on your options.

We do not represent any insurance company we act on your behalf and are completely independent. In the first instance, please call 01702 706332 and ask for Bill Taylor or email southend@ga-ifa.co.uk.

Please note that a pension is a long term investment. The fund value may fluctuate and can go down. Your eventual income may depend upon the size of the fund at retirement, future interest rates and tax legislation.