Pension Planning
Planning for retirement is a complex process, so taking appropriate pension advice is imperative. At Carpenter Box Wealth Management, our knowledge of this complex area allows us to suggest pension advice strategies that help you to achieve your financial goals. By listening and discussing your needs we build up a picture of what needs doing and then, because we're independent we offer solutions from the whole of the market, rather than just one company. This means you get what you need, not what's best for the provider.
We're able to offer expert pension advice in the following areas:
- Advice on funding your pension: Recent legislation provides much greater flexibility on the level and timing of your pension contributions, which (until April 2010) are fully relievable against your marginal rate of income tax. We can give advice on the structure of these payments to make the most of the available tax relief and project into the future to predict whether your pension can provide the income you require in retirement.
- Pension Investment Advice: We offer investment advice on your pension assets, taking into account your attitude to risk, the time to your retirement and your income objectives. This dovetails into any other advice we may provide on your other investments which may be held outside of your pension.
- Reviewing your existing pension portfolio: We give advice on the advisability (or otherwise) of consolidating and simplifying your pensions within one flexible pension wrapper. This advice can help to reduce charges, provide greater investment choices and pension flexibility, as well as ensuring that any death benefits fall outside of your estate on death. Of course, there are many factors to be considered before consolidation and professional pension advice is therefore key to any decision.
- Advice on drawing your pension: When you come to want to draw your pension benefit we'll give you advice on the most suitable and tax efficient method of taking an income and lump sums from your pension.
- Integrated estate planning and pension advice: Utilising the expertise of our colleagues in the Tax Services Group at Carpenter Box we will take a holistic view of your assets including pension funds (which are deemed to be outside of your estate for inheritance tax purposes before benefits commence) and advise on the best strategies for ensuring your estate pays as little inheritance tax as possible through thorough, integrated inheritance tax planning.
- Group pension plans: Whilst there is a legal requirement for any business employing five or more people to set up a pension plan (at a minimum - a stakeholder pension scheme), most employers want to encourage staff to provide for their retirement. A popular way of doing so is for the employer to contribute a percentage of the employees pay, sometimes conditional on the employee contributing the same proportion. Of course, not only is there a long term benefit to the employee but the company benefits from the fact that they are offering attractive terms to prospective employees. We can advise on group pension schemes, and deal with the setting up and help with the ongoing administration of one, once established.
Our pensions and tax expertise is yours for the asking so why not contact Simon Fox or Kate Scrace for an informal chat about how we can help you. We're really happy to chat things through with no obligation.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority