Pension freedoms, taxation and policy U-turns, it has been a rollecoaster ride for many advisers the past 12 months (Pension Release).
Last week, Financial Adviser’s sister website FTAdviser bought together a panel of experts to answer your questions about the twin hurdles of pension taxation and freedom.
In the panel were Steve Webb, former pensions minister and director of policy for Royal London; Ben Guakroder, manager savings policy for the Association of British Insurers; and Billy Burrows, director of Retirement Intelligence.
They discussed how navigating the vagaries of pension taxation, Budget reductions to the lifetime reductions to the lifetime allowance, dealing with a wave of insistent clients since the pensions freedoms and choice regime came in had proved challenging for many advisers.
The concluded that clients did not feel knowledgeable about their pension options and there was still a discernible “advice gap” in the UK.
They also agreed that although the Financial Advice Market Review outcomes could go some way to reducing this gap over the next few years, this did not do much now to help more people get advice about what to do with their pension.
Added to this the uncertainty generated by the Government as to whether it will create a pension Isa in the future and change the tax treatment of pensions, the panel said it was clear that more needed to be done to create a joined-up approach to pension provision in the UK.
(FTAdviser, May 2016)
Pension Release
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About Us: Churchill Wealth Management is a team of independent financial advisors/financial advisers (IFAs) based in Clifton, Bristol. We provide independent financial advice, including pension advice, investment advice, inheritance tax planning and protection/insurance advice.