Stakeholder Pension Advice

Were introduced in April 2001 in an attempt to make pensions more accessible. Every employer with 5 or more employeees MUST, at law, have one in place. The ludicrous rider is that neither employers nor employees are compelled to contribute. So the net result is that well over 90%, of the now several million schemes, have no money in them!

The two key issues about stakeholder pensions is that they make no entry or exit charge and the annual management charge is a maximum of 1.5%. Most companies now offer personal pension plans with the same feaures but with more fund links so a stakeholder friendly contract is probably the way to go.

A major advantage with stakeholder rules is that any UK resident can make a contribution and receive tax relief whether they are a taxpayer or not. Non working partners/ spouses should all consider this route. Plans can also be effected for minors...

Instead of building on what had previously been introduced the govenment has now come with Personal Accounts This is something totally new and will be state run and controlled. Employer and employee contributions will be mandatory unless employees decide to opt out or the employer puts something better in place!

We are stakeholder pension advisers based in Wye, near Ashford Maidstone & Canterbury in Kent.