Pensions

We all look forward to the day when we can choose how we spend our time. No sitting in the rush hour traffic, struggling to make the office for 9am. We all dream of having more time to spend with our family and doing the things we all promised ourselves we would do when we retire.

The only sure way of doing this though is to start saving for your retirement. Let's face it, can we really rely on the government to do it for us? The novelist Somerset Maugham said money is the sixth sense - because without it you couldn't really enjoy the other five.

Retirement really should be the 'holiday of our lifetime.'

Pensions are very tax efficient, you receive tax relief on the premiums paid at your marginal rate of tax. For some this could mean as much as 40% of your pension contribution is paid for by the government.

The amount of pension you’ll get back at retirement will depend on:

• How much you save into your pension
• How long your contributions are paid for
• How much your employer will pay into the fund (if any)
• How well your pension fund performs
• The charges taken out of your pension for running it
• How much you take out as a tax-free lump sum
• The prevailing annuity rate at the time you retire (if you choose to take your pension this way)
• The type of annuity you choose

Some of the benefits of a personal pension:

• You get tax relief on your contributions
• Your fund grows generally free of income tax and capital gains tax
• Your pension can be invested into a broad spread of different asset classes
• You can take up to 25% of the fund tax free
• You can retire at 55 years of age
• You can phase your retirement to suit your particular needs

So everyone who can afford to save should build up a good pension to provide for a comfortable retirement. At Sibbalds we can help you with the complexities of pensions. Through proper planning, the retirement that you want can be achieved.

We have advisers with a wealth of knowledge in pension planning and they can explain to you in jargon free terms, the most effective way to plan saving for your retirement. We understand clients have individual needs and so require tailored advice. Sibbalds’ advisers can offer impartial advice on many areas of retirement planning including:

• Personal Pensions
• Occupational Defined Benefit Pension Schemes
• Occupational Defined Contribution Pension Schemes
• Stakeholder Plans
• Self Invested Personal Pensions
• Pension Transfers
• Secured Pensions
• Alternatively Secured Pensions
• Annuities
• Unsecured Pensions