Personal Pensions
Personal pension plans (PPPs) are designed for the millions of employed & self-employed individuals who do not have access to a company pension scheme.
Introduced in July 1988, they were part of a government push to extend pension choice & encourage those people not in company schemes to build up a retirement fund; one that could cater for their retirement needs more realistically than the state. Many financial institutions offer PPPs, though most are run by the large insurance companies and banks.
How they work
Unlike many company schemes, all personal pensions work on a ‘money purchase’ basis. This means that upon reaching your retirement date, you use the money that has built up in your personal pension to purchase benefits. It follows that the value of the pension at retirement, is dependent upon:
* How much money you've paid in over the life of the plan.
* How well the money has grown.
* The ongoing tax status of Personal Pensions as decided by the Government.
In other words a personal pension is a long term savings plan (albeit a very tax efficient one) that is designed to produce a fund at retirement. This then purchases benefits which in turn provides the retirement income. There are also additional benefits for dependants. There is also a special type of personal pension used for ‘contracting out’ of State Second Pension - S2P for short (formerly SERPS) called an 'Appropriate Personal Pension’ .
What you get & when you get it.
A personal pension allows you to start taking your pension at any time between the ages of 50 and 75 (55 from 2010). Furthermore, you do not have to stop work in order to start taking your pension, although you would be well advised to keep up with your contributions and delay drawing your pension for as long as possible. Though retiring at 50 might sound tempting, building up enough money to provide a decent retirement income may prove very difficult.
Protected rights derived from contracting-out of S2P can only be paid from the age of 50 (55 from 2010). Mention could also be made of phased retirement (encashing a set number of segments annually to provide tax-free cash and pension to suit annual requirements whilst leaving the remainder invested).
Tax free lump sum
You are allowed to take up to 25% of your fund at retirement as a tax-free lump sum, thereby leaving only 75% of the fund to provide your regular pension income.