There has been a lot spoken about annuities over the years, but many people are still unsure exactly what they are. For anybody with a pension, whether to purchase an annuity or not is a big decision, and something which pension companies will push – but what are they exactly? Why do annuities [...]

Defined benefit pension schemes are often referred to as final salary pension schemes and is a pension scheme that promises to pay an income based on your final salary when you left the company/retired from that company. Unlike other schemes, the amount you’ll receive in your retirement is [...]

Lost pensions are not a new problem in the UK, although as expats near their retirement age, the realisation that they have not received any information about their pension recently suddenly rings home. It is estimated by some that there is over £3bn in unclaimed personal and workplace pensions [...]

Pension deficits: Should you be concerned and what are your options? While the BHS pension situation has hit the headlines, the number of defined benefit pension schemes that are running a pension deficit have been growing over recent years, all the while the pension deficits themselves [...]

Options to mitigate the changes to UK Pension Lifetime Allowance The Pensions Life Time Allowance (LTA) has reduced further, from £1.8m a few years ago, to £1m since the beginning of the 2016/2017 tax year. This means that any UK pension fund that is over that figure will be subject to excess [...]

A QNUPS is a Qualified Non-UK Pension Scheme which was introduced by HMRC in February 2010 and is a regulated tax efficient pension scheme which allows investment of wealth overseas. Although a QNUPS is a pension fund it does have a degree of flexibility and has some significant tax advantages. [...]

This detailed overview of QROPS is designed to provide an independent overview of QROPS and overseas pension transfers. A Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes, or QROPS is an overseas pension scheme that meets certain requirements set by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). A QROPS can [...]

As the name suggests, a Self Invested Personal Pension (commonly called a SIPP) enables someone to investment into a pension for retirement, but making their own decisions about the investment options held within or, in most cases, have access to greater investment choices when dealing with [...]

The UK State Pension We are currently in the process of updating our State Pension article. For definitive information, please visit the HMRC State Pension website and HMRC Site for people retiring abroad