Retirement planning

With recent announcements from the Treasury, the dark clouds of uncertainty surrounding the future of pension tax-relief have been lifted. This, unfortunately, is where the good news may stop because these announcements also confirmed that from April 2011 the maximum annual pension contribution limit qualifying for tax-relief will dramatically reduce.

In the following tax year (April 2012), pensions will experience a significant reduction in the maximum lifetime allowance (maximum permitted amount to be held in a pension).

When considering these alterations, as well as recent increases to the minimum pension age, and further proposed changes to the National Health Service pension scheme with escalation rates changing from RPI to CPI, does this strengthen your argument for a multi-pronged approach to retirement planning?   

What does this mean?  Ensuring you review your current retirement provisions is imperative.   During the coming weeks I will be supporting my clients in reviewing their retirement provision to ensure they are in the best possible shape, they don’t fall foul of the new pension limits, and they do not suffer heavy taxation.