Annuities are retirement products that guarantee you with a regular income after you retire.
You choose a provider, pick an appropriate annuity to suit your needs and, in exchange for some or all of your pension savings, the annuity provides income until you die.
The use of annuities has declined markedly in recent years, with figures from the Association of British Insurers suggesting sales have fallen by as much as 80% since 2014.
Research from the Financial Conduct Authority reflects this trend, with year-on-year annuity sales down 16% in the six months to April 2017.
This is partly due to the fact that, following former chancellor George Osborne’s introduction of pension reforms in 2015, people now have more options when it comes to planning their retirement.
However, are annuities still a viable retirement planning option to consider in 2017?
There is a specific relief that relates to certain agricultural property situated in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and in the EEA (European Economic Area). Qualifying agricultural property can be passed without inheritance tax as a lifetime gift or upon death.
Inheritance tax on property is to be paid if the taxable value of the estate (with any gifts made by the deceased added on if they were made in the seven years prior to their death) exceeds the nil rate band. The rate of inheritance tax on property is currently 40%.
It is important for every company to know their auto-enrolment duties from 1st October 2017. Firms recruiting staff for the first time after this date will need to enrol them into a workplace pension automatically to be compliant with the new laws.
A guide to choosing how to access your pension savings.
Your pension can often seem like an abstract concept among the early morning commutes, home purchases, new jobs and other events that make up the average person’s working life. However, when you begin to reach the end of employment, the abstract suddenly becomes very real.
Is your retirement priority to attain a steady level of income to help you see out your days in comfort, or do you have other designs for your pension savings?
Either way, you will have to decide how you are going to access your pension. The variety of different options open to you will have wide-reaching effects on the rest of your life.
A guide to choosing how to access your pension savings.
