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 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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