Annual Allowance (Contribution Limits)

Individuals can contribute up to 100% of their earnings in any one year, spread across any type and number of schemes or plans. Subject to a maximum annual allowance. This annual allowance is being reduced from 6 April 2011.

Below is a table showing the maximum amounts that will qualify for tax relief in previous and current tax years:

2008/09 £235,000

2009/10 £245,000

2010/11 £255,000

2011/12 £50,000*

* HMRC have reintroduced the concept of carrying forward.

For anyone with no income or very low earnings the maximum is £3,600 gross a year.

There is no limit at all in the year in which benefits are taken in full.

Download our comprehensive pension options guide by clicking on the above image.

Financial Advisers

Jonathan Walker
Jonathan is the director and joint owner of the Pension Drawdown Company.

Robert Bolton
Robert is a practising Barrister and is also fully qualified as a Diplomaed Financial Adviser.

Bob Diamond
Bob is a Pension Specialist who has been with the company since its incorporation in 1996. Bob has been a financial adviser since 1989.

Andrew Ross
Andrew is a qualified financial adviser and is undertaking further training to become fully diplomaed.

Roger Easterbrook
Roger is a financial adviser with a background in Executive Search and is close to completing the Diploma.

Click here for more team members.

Market Monitor

Updated: 6th February 2012

Signs of an improvement in the US economy and an absence of bad news from Europe helped global equities stage their strongest weekly rally in several months. A surge in hiring in the US economy drove the Nasdaq index to an 11-year high on Friday, as optimism grew that the jobs market is on a steady path to recovery. Technology stocks gained a further boost as Facebook 's long-awaited IPO filing drove a two-day rally in internet names. The US dollar rose against the euro, the pound and the yen as investors speculated that the positive signal on the US economy would lessen the chance of a further round of quantitative easing.

European stocks closed at their highest in more than six months, while the FTSE 100 closed at its highest since last August. For the second week in a row, government bonds rallied as talks continued over the eurozone debt crisis with private creditors to Greece coming closer to an agreement on the country's debt. However, the week's news wasn't all positive, as Portuguese government bond yields surged to much the same levels that forced Greece to ask the EU for a second bail-out last year.

Important information: This update is intended to be for information purposes only.

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