More than three years have passed since the pension freedoms were introduced in the UK, bringing additional flexibility to retirement planning and investing.
While many things have changed, there is no longer a requirement to buy an annuity and pension funds can be passed on to your beneficiaries, not everyone has adapted quickly to the new environment.
Research conducted by AKG for its educational guide: “Retirement planning strategies in the post-pension freedoms era”, showed that 18.6% of the advisers surveyed had created a new retirement planning proposition, with another 2% involved in the process. However, almost a fifth of respondents said their retirement planning proposition has not, or does not, need to change.
This is despite the fact the FCA’s recent Retirement Outcomes Review noting substantial shifts away from annuities and towards taking drawdown without advice, with twice as many retirement pots having been used for drawdown than annuities. As a result, the regulator highlighted the need for more support and education for consumers, particularly those who are non-advised, as they face a range of complex decisions, such as which provider to use, where to invest their retirement pot and how quickly to drawdown.
Given the time that has elapsed since the changes were made, and taking into consideration some of these themes from the recent FCA report, it would be logical to have seen more active development of retirement planning propositions among advisers.
Therefore the guide aims to encourage advisers, planners and paraplanners to look again, or look deeper, at core retirement planning considerations, processes and solutions, in light of the initial experiences and developments post- pension freedoms.
As it is clear that as we move further into the ‘new’ pensions landscape, the evaluation of existing propositions will be key to advisers demonstrating the roadworthiness of these services, post-pension freedoms, for clients nearing and in retirement.
To download the full guide or to read more in this series please visit our website.
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