Plan now for ‘the longest holiday of your life’
wind-ups can have serious implications for your pension, and good professional advice is vital to secure your financial future.
For example, the winding up of a particular pension scheme can imply your benefit in a pension scheme is restructured and possible a fund is transferred out of the scheme and set up independently on your behalf. This complex area has potential for considerable loss to you as you are swapping one benefit for another.
A professional pensions advisor will be able to talk you through the issues involved and, if you wish, you can appoint your advisor to deal with the scheme trustees on your behalf.
Having spent years saving your retirement fund, it’s worth spending a few hours with a professional advisor discussing the best way of funding your retirement. For many, that will be the traditional annuity route i.e. income for life. Others may wish to explore post retirement investment through Approved Retirement Funds (ARFs). Either way, your professional financial planner is expertly qualified to talk you through this choice and can recommend the most appropriate course of action for you. ‘ THE longest holiday of your life’ is an expression we like.
It is important that you avail of all the reliefs that are available to you to accumulate your retirement fund.
The tax-free lump sum that you can take depends on the method that you draw down your pension. The choice is up to you and is dependent on a variety of factors.
We spend a lot of time making sure that people understand how their pension works so that they can maximise all reliefs that are available to them.
How you spend your retirement will be dependent on the amount of money you have accumulated during your working life. This is called your “Financial Capital” and may consist of property (not your home), deposit accounts, shares and Pensions.
Pensions are by far the most tax efficient method of building up your “Financial Capital” as everything that happens in the framework of the pension is exempt from tax. I.e. Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Dirt Tax.
Gone are the days of relying on the state pension. The state pension is in serious difficulty, which manifested itself by the increase in the age from 66 to 68, there are talks of even pushing this to 70.
The self-assessment deadline for pensions is approaching, 31st October 2018. Avail now of the amazing tax reliefs of 40% on your future retirement fund for more details contact the team here at Qifa Financial Planners on 022- 57444.