PensionsSep 4 2019

Your Shout: Letters to the editor

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No special tax treatment

I think it is iniquitous that certain sections of society should think that they are entitled to special tax treatment.

For a tax system to be fair it should apply in equal measure to all members of society.

Yes, some doctors and some civil servant are being disadvantaged by the tax system, but no more so that other higher earners. Why do they think that they deserve special treatment? 

If parts of the tax system are unfair for some high earners, then they are unfair for all high earners.

The lifetime allowance is just a nonsense, and the tapering of tax reliefs equally nonsensical.

With regard to the latter, how can we have system where the amount that can be contributed to a pension (and qualify for tax relief) cannot be properly known until after the end of the tax year when it is too late to adjust the level of contribution?

If there are going to be any changes to the tax system then these changes should apply equally to everyone not just a restricted few who seem to think they deserve special treatment.

Alan Kendrick

Oakwood Financial Services

 

Impact on small businesses

As a small business who carries out a number of short-term contracts with middle-sized organisations, I will be impacted by the IR35 legislation next year where probably all future clients will choose to de-risk and recruit all interims as paid employees.

I will be taxed as an employee and yet I receive no benefits and still need to pay accounting fees, website fees and insurance, as well as never receiving sick pay or holiday pay.

The government says it appreciates the work contractors do but in reality they will do whatever they feel raises them some money. For me, I will probably take early retirement and leave the problem behind. 

Simon North

FD Today 

 

Action on CMCs 

Following news that the regulator will be acting against misleading advertising by claims management companies(23 August): I trust the Financial Conduct Authority will also look into two grotesque practices adopted by various CMCs.

The first is where, using data protection rules, the CMCs request a client’s file purely to browse through it in search of something to claim about.

The second is where they advertise that anybody who has a plan with company X between various dates has probably been mis-sold.

Not only does this demean the entire CMC industry to the point where no rational human can trust them, but it also denigrates the bulk of hard-working advisers who do sterling work for their clients.

Alan Lakey

Highclere Financial Services

 

Unscrupulous advisers

Regarding the news that a collapsed Greyfriars Asset Management adviser owes £700,000 in claims (August 23): We seem to see a story like this one almost every week. 

And we all know where it will ultimately lead.

Limited company rules and weak administrators/insolvency practitioners, seemingly at pains not to report errant directors and ‘shadow directors’ to the secretary of state (as required to do), ensure that the incompetent, unscrupulous and unethical rarely face appropriate sanctions. 

Little surprise then, that the same bad actors pop-up time and again, often having bought the ‘good will’ in their previous companies to enable them to continue where they left off.  

I would be interested in reading articles that follow up on the demise of companies and the inevitable reincarnation of their directors and those that control them.

If the insolvency industry and government bodies cannot or will not protect the public, an active investigative press can at least do their bit to warn them.

Name and address provided

 

New process needed 

Following the news that an adviser has alleged his clients were poached by a “large IFA firm” (21 August): I suffered a similar event some years ago and was also failed by the regulator.

I stood to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds, so I decided to read law and take the Bar.  

A bit drastic and costly perhaps, but I have not suffered such an injustice since.  

However, it means I speak with some knowledge when I say it can take years and cost thousands for a case to reach court.

I think it is high time our regulator introduced an arbitration and mediation process advisers could use to attempt settlement at a more reasonable speed and cost than available through the courts. 

Penny O’Nions

Personal Justice Services

 

Politics of divorce 

Regarding James Coney’s opinion of 16 August, under the heading “Divorce finds a way” – specifically in relation to separate/joint accounts, where he says: “There is one argument that does not hold any water: divorce.”

Mr Coney clearly does not know anyone who has gone through a bad divorce/dissolution/break up.

Holding separate accounts prevents individual A from drawing all the “joint money” out of the account and blowing it all in an act of spite against individual B.

Individual B then finds out they suddenly have no savings, a huge credit card bill and a maxed out overdraft in addition to having to deal with the stress and pain of a divorce.

Separate accounts has nothing to do with “hiding money from lawyers” or “empowerment” – it is about having your own money under your own control, being able to spend it how you see fit and damage limitation if things turn sour.

Heather Fosker

IFA, Sunningdale

Pension problems

I wish to draw your attention to the injustice faced by 3.8m women who have had their state pension stolen by subsequent governments.

I am uncertain where this money has gone, but I paid in more than 40 years of national insurance contributions with the promise of a state pension at 60.

I had to retire at 58 with a work pension but thought this would be topped up by my state pension at 60.

Then I discovered by a chance conversation with a friend that this was not the case.

As a single woman I have no spouse to support me financially, but I presumed I would be more than capable of supporting myself in retirement as I did in my working life.

I have had to take equity release from my property to pay off the mortgage, as I could no longer afford to pay it on my pension, and to fund the upkeep and running of my home until I receive my state pension at 66 – unless the goalposts are moved again. 

There are many, many women in a worse situation than me and we deserve a review of this discrimination in parliament to achieve financial compensation to enable us to manage our retirement in a dignified manner, and not be a burden to our families.

Jeanette Parkinson