Financial products are sometimes at their most useful when they are protecting our families, our incomes or our property.
There are many ways in which a family can protect itself, and because of the large range of products available there is usually an appropriate policy for most circumstances, and most budgets.
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Pensions are, of course, designed to enable you to save sufficient money during your working life to provide an income stream for you to live comfortably after you have retired.
– referred to as the State Second Pension (S2P) but before 6 April 2002, it was known as the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS). From 6 April 2002, S2P was reformed to provide a more generous additional State Pension for low and moderate earners, carers and people with a long term illness or disability and is based upon earnings on which standard rate Class 1 National Insurance contributions are paid or treated as having been paid. Additional State Pension is not available in respect of self employed income. From April 2016 both the basic rate pension and additional state pension will be combined to offer a simple single tier flat rate pension. **
– these are also Money Purchase schemes and are open to everyone and especially useful if you are self-employed, your employer doesn’t yet run a company scheme or just for topping up existing arrangements. From October 2012, the Government introduced reforms and all employers have to offer their employees, who meet certain criteria, automatic enrolment into a workplace pension. Employers can use the Government backed scheme, National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), or offer an alternative ‘Qualifying’ work place pension scheme such as a Group Personal Pension, providing it ‘ticks’ certain boxes. The process is being phased in between 2012 and 2018 depending on the head count of a firm. Employers are required to contribute a minimum of 3% of salary with Employees making a personal contribution of 4% with tax relief of 1% added on top, which again, is being phased in gradually.
are now a vast array of different products that may be used at retirement to provide benefits from the traditional form of annuity that provides a regular income stream to Flexi-access Drawdown which enables lump sums of benefits to be taken either as a one off payment or over a given number of years. Given the complexity and choice all individuals now have, it is important to seek independent financial advice before making any decisions.
