A lot has been made of the gender pay gap, but what’s not so well known is how this can affect women in retirement. Unsurprisingly, women don’t fare as well as men when it comes to the savings they’ve built up for a healthy and economically stable retirement. Continue reading “Gender pension gap”
The UK has seen a rise in the number of people accessing their pension pots or enquiring about doing so. People accessing their pension as a flexible income has increased by 56%[1] according to research since the first lockdown last year. The increase is due to people withdrawing after holding off when stock markets were volatile. Continue reading “More over-55s forced to dip into pension pots”
Saving into a pension is one of the most tax-efficient ways to save for your retirement. Not only do pensions enable you to grow your retirement savings largely free of tax, but they also provide tax relief on the contributions you make. Continue reading “Take it to the max”
For those people moving closer to retirement who may have been impacted by the recent market volatility, an option to consider is deferring your private pension. If you’re in a defined contribution scheme, delaying when you claim means that you leave your pension pot invested for longer, so you could secure a bigger pension pot when you do eventually come to retire.
Deferring also means that you can continue to save as much as £40,000 in the current tax year into a pension and earn tax relief under current rules. There is also the opportunity to defer your State Pension for extra income.
Choosing to defer your State Pension means that once you do start claiming it, you’ll receive more than you otherwise would have. It can also help you manage your tax liability if you don’t want to be pushed into a higher income bracket.
The most important thing to do in the face of what is an unexpected and uncertain period for investors is not panic. We have seen extremely volatile stock markets recently, and it is impossible to say when markets will recover.
5 reasons to delay taking your pension
1. Your pension has longer to grow
2. You can maximise your investment potential before moving to safer assets
3. Your employer will keep topping up your pension
4. You’ll continue to receive tax relief on pension contributions until age 75
5. Delaying your State Pension can boost your payments
How can we help?
To find out more, please contact Touchstone Investment Advisers on 0203 026 4074 or email info@touchstone-uk.co.uk – we look forward to hearing from you.