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Retirement and pensions

The pension and annuity rules are changing. The need to plan for the future has not.

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Pension changes
Changes over the last 10 years have radically changed the pension rules.
Planning for retirement
For many people their retirement plans have been interrupted by various falls in stock markets, low annuity rates and the recent lack of growth in the buy-to-let marketplace brought about by changes in the taxation of income from buy-to-lets. What does a comfortable retirement look like for you, and can you improve what you will retire on?
Stakeholder pensions
Stakeholder pension schemes are low-cost pensions meant for people without existing private pension arrangements. They were originally targeted at people who earn more than £10,000 a year and who cannot join an occupational pension scheme. They have, however, turned out to have much broader appeal.
Pension contributions and tax relief
There are limits on how much can be invested in a pension scheme before a tax charge is payable.
Qualifying for a state pension
The government has changed the age rules for qualification for the state pension. Currently the state pension age is between 60 and 65 for women and 65 for men. The changes mean retirement age for women will be equalised with that for men at 65 by 2020 and both will increase to 65 to 68 from 2022 and 2046.
State pension deferral
State pension deferral is the right to defer entitlement to the state pension. In return for deferring a lump sum accrues with interest added to the deferred entitlement at a rate normally of 2% over bank base rate. Therefore the deferral claim cannot accurately be evaluated in advance.
Pension credit
Details of pension credits for the current year.