Pension Planning

  A tax-efficient savings for your retirement. Personal pensions are pensions that you arrange yourself. They’re sometimes known as defined contribution or ‘money purchase’ pensions. You’ll usually get a pension that’s based on how much was paid in.

Some employers offer personal pensions as workplace pensions.

The money you pay into a personal pension is put into investments (such as shares) by the pension provider. The money you’ll get from a personal pension usually depends on:

• how much has been paid in
• how the fund’s investments have performed - they can go up or down
• how you decide to take your money

• SIPPs

A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a pension 'wrapper' that allows you to save, invest and build up a pot of money for when you retire. It is a type of personal pension and works in a similar way to a standard personal pension.

• GPPs

Group personal pensions (GPPs) are a type of defined contribution pension which some employers offer to their workers. As with other types of defined contribution scheme, members in a GPP build up a personal pension pot, which they then take money from when they retire.

• SASS

SSAS pension stands for 'small self administered scheme' and is a type of defined contribution pension that an employer can self-manage for less than 12 members. Typically a SSAS pension scheme is set up by the directors of a business to gain more control over how their pensions are invested.

• Pension transfers

You may want to move some or all of your pension fund (sometimes called a ‘pension pot’) if:

· you’re changing job

· your pension scheme is being closed or wound up

· you want to transfer to a better pension scheme

· you have pensions from more than one employer and want to bring them together

· you’re moving overseas and want to move your pension to a scheme in that country

Pension sharing is one of the options available on divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership. It provides a clean break between parties as the pension assets are split immediately. This means that each party can decide what to do with their share independently.

The Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) bit means it's an additional contribution above your standard workplace pension contribution. The “Free Standing” bit means that it's not run by your employer and it's managed by a provider of your choice.