Pensions
Help
Old Age Pensions are
effectively a savings account that you can access when you retire.
Most
people are unaware of how much money they need to put aside to give
a comfortable life after retirement.
The government are struggling to
cope with the strain that pension payments put on there budget,
meaning its probably not advisable to rely on a future government
pensions plan. The current basic state retirement pension is only
£72.50 per week for a single person. So if you want financial security
in later life then you'll need to start thinking about it now.
There are 3 main types of pensions
Company Pensions
With a good company pension the employer will pick up most or
even all of the cost of providing the scheme and often even contribute
towards your pension. The two main kinds of company pensions are
Money Purchase and Final Salary and you can sometimes have the option
of making an Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC).
Personal Pension Plan (PPP)
This is an ideal pension if you are self-employed or if you change
jobs on frequently basis. Good personal pension plans should allow
you the option of retiring when you want to, probably sometime between
the ages of 50 and 75 without any penalties. It should also allow
you to be flexible when ending your working life by maybe working
less hours, rather than stopping suddenly. And it’s also important
that it should allow you to reduce or suspend your contributions
if you want to.
Stakeholder Pensions
Stakeholder pensions were launched by the government primarily
for people who don't have access to a company pension plan and can’t
really afford or sustain a personal pension plan (PPP). There essentially
just cheaper and simpler versions of PPP’s and the providers are
only allowed to charge an annual management fee of up-to 1%. All
employers that don't offer a company scheme must give employees
access to a stakeholder pension scheme, but they don't have to contribute.
One of the main benefits of a stakeholder pension is its flexibility,
allowing you to transfer to another scheme without penalties. You
can also stop, start and change the level of contributions at any
time which can be very handy if you switch jobs regularly.
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