Over-55s struggle as savings and income levels plunge

Friday, 09 March 2012 14:36 Written by traceyevans 0 Comments

Savings for older people have fallen by more than 25% over the past year, while incomes for the over-55s have dropped, according to research by Aviva. One in 10 of the over-55s are surviving on less than £500 a month, with single women most likely to be in poverty, said Aviva in its “Real Retirement Report”, which over the last two years has tracked the income and spending of 11,600 people in, or near, retirement. The average monthly income of the over-55s now stands at £1,285, a small rise on the quarter before, but 4% down from last year.

Pension Undersaving

Wednesday, 01 February 2012 12:29 Written by derekevans 0 Comments

Pension saving is at its lowest level for 10 years according to recently published Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) analysis by the Family Resources Survey (FRS), a key source for pension information. The analysis came from interviews with around 25,000 private households across the UK in 2009 and 2010.

Taxing time for your pension

Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:18 Written by traceyevans 0 Comments

Tax relief on pension savings changes from 6 April 2011 in the UK. The changes are:

The amount of pension savings that can build up in any one tax year in a tax efficient way (called the ‘Annual Allowance’) reduces from £255,000 to £50,000 from 6 April 2011
The total value of pension benefits (called the ‘Lifetime Allowance’) that can be received when you take your pension without incurring an additional tax charge will reduce from £1.8 million to £1.5 million from 6 April 2012

Will I be affected?