Step aside, High Street banks and building societies. The real financial muscle powering our recovery from Covid in the coming year will be the “Bank of Mum & Dad” – or “BoMaD” to use its rather annoying acronym. As house buyers in particular struggle with the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, new research from […]

Four years after the introduction of pension freedoms, major concerns continue about the number of savers taking professional advice before drawing down or moving their savings, which could lead to some finding they run out of funds in retirement or making poor investment decisions. More than £35 billion has been withdrawn from pension funds by […]

In this blog reprinted from www.nodesiretoretire.com, RetireEasy director Tony Watts OBE explains why enforced changes in working practices could have beneficial effects for those older people wanting or needing to delay retirement. The current popularity of delaying retirement is a far cry from when I started writing about later life issues over 30 years ago. Then, […]

While in the short-term savers and investors are taking an economic hit through stock market volatility and low interest rates, there’s mixed news from pension specialists XPS, who are forecasting “long-term vulnerabilities in pension schemes following the pandemic” – as well as a potential £90bn reduction in the funds’ liabilities and a boost to annuity […]

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called for changes to tax relief on pensions to make the system more equal. The move comes in the wake a report from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) which demonstrated that higher earners gain most from the current system – particularly men. Tax relief tops up pension savings, […]

The pandemic has wrought huge changes in recent months… not least in the way many employers have had come to terms with more flexible ways of working.   So will this be a template for a “new normal” which will prove a boon to older people keen to boost their retirement finances by remaining at work […]

Fidelity International has issued a stark warning that over half (51%) of the UK’s pension investors will not have enough money to meet their needs in retirement because of a drop in the value of retirement savings following the impact of Covid-19. Fidelity’s Investor Survey captures current UK investor and found that just 29% of […]

New guidance from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) asks trustees to warn DB members looking to move retirement funds of the risks during the pandemic and urging them to consider the decision carefully. Since 2015, pensions freedoms have given scheme members more flexibility in how they can access their pension: many have taken advantage of this […]

Savers are continuing to see their future retirement incomes suffer – with pension funds and annuity rates still well below their pre-pandemic levels. The latest Moneyfacts UK Personal Pension Trends Treasury Report shows that in the first quarter of this year, the average annual standard annuity income for a 65-year-old (based on a single life […]

By Mark Soper Shortly before the outbreak of Covid-19, a confident, newly-installed Chancellor stood up in the House of Commons and delivered a raft of measures and stimulus that effectively put an end to austerity. With a landslide win in the December Election and the first phase of Brexit accomplished, the Government – the non-team […]