Pension Planning

This is the process of saving in a recognised Pension Plan for the benefits that you will need in your retirement.

For the majority of individual plans the amount of your benefits is governed by the value of your pension fund(s) at the time of your retirement. This is determined by the amount that you have contributed and the investment performance that has been achieved. These plans are known as Money Purchase plans.

The other major category is plans/scheme based on your Final Salary, where your benefits are determined by your earnings at retirement and your length of service. These schemes are generally offered by large companies and the Government but they have been reducing in recent years because of their high cost.

You can have as many pension plans as you wish, and can comprise both occupational pension schemes and personal arrangements, although there are rules that govern the amount of contributions you can make in any one year and possible tax penalties if your total fund at retirement exceeds the Lifetime Allowance. These limits are detailed in the sections on Annual Allowances and Lifetime Allowances.

Pension plans provide a very tax efficient means of saving for your retirement. The following pages explain more about the types of pension available.

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 diplomaed financial adviser with a history in banking.

Roger Easterbrook
Roger is a diplomaed financial adviser with a background in Executive Search.

Click here for more team members.

Market Monitor

Updated: 14th May 2012

Heavy selling following the elections in Europe and banking woes in Spain resulted in markets ending the week lower. Weekend elections in Greece and France set a volatile tone and reminded investors that politics really matter in financial markets; political wrangling in Athens to form a government resulted in threats to unravel the country's bailout deal and raised the prospect of Greece exiting the euro area.

Global stocks had their longest losing period in six months during the week and the euro its worse run of daily reverses since 2008.

However, Thursday marked a turning point as investors cautiously returned to markets and risk assets showed resilience following $2bn trading losses at JPMorgan Chase (which also occurred on Thursday). In addition, the Michigan survey of US consumer confidence, which rose to a four-year high in May, also helped to provide support and end the week on a more upbeat note.

The increasingly gloomy outlook for the global economy sent commodity prices to their second week of losses, and gold retreated to four month lows. Weakness in the global economy drove demand for safe-haven government bonds, which pushed German bunds and UK gilts to record lows, while peripheral eurozone debt came under heavy selling pressure.

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

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