Retirement

Yes, the Retirement Account can allow your clients to consolidate their existing pension savings into one policy. Protected and non-Protected Rights can be held in the same Retirement Account. Retirement Planning and Retirement Income now form one contract - The Retirement Account.

A Retirement Account can be opened by clients aged under 74 and resident in the UK. If your client resides elsewhere, they may be able to take out a Retirement Account depending on their tax status and country of residence.

No. Your clients can invest in whatever option(s) they wish to choose.

We have invested heavily in web based technology which can enable you to get business on the books more quickly than through the more traditional methods, and allow easy access to valuations and other detailed policy information. In addition to our web services, a dedicated senior associate will see each transaction through to completion when the Account value is over £100k.

Fund supermarkets can take up to 3 weeks to make money available after a sale, especially if the sale proceeds are settled by cheque. This creates risk for your clients, as they'll be out of the market during that period.

We have endeavoured to secure minimal delays in supermarket trading by making money available in your clients' Control Account(s) after 4 days. This is known at T+4.

By settling trades quickly we can help you and your clients respond faster to market developments, investment opportunities or your clients' changing requirements.

Please refer to Payments - Retirement Planning and Payments - Retirement Income sections.

We offer two initial remuneration options for both new business and designations of existing funds. Both options are available with or without fund-based remuneration.

• Flexible (fee compensation) remuneration – choose from 0 to 6%. This amount will be deducted immediately from the value of the payment(s) received or amount(s) designated, before the balance is invested. Fund-based remuneration of up to 1% is available (1.5% with client’s written agreement) with this option.

OR

• Scaled remuneration – choose from 0 to 6% – paid to you immediately and recovered as ‘adviser payment charges’ from the client’s Account. There is a choice of charging term (1 to 5 years) during which clawback applies. Fund-based remuneration of up to 1% is available with this option.

Different initial remuneration options (flexible or scaled) can normally be chosen for Retirement Income and Retirement Planning.

We pride ourselves on the transparency of our Retirement Account charging structure. It has been built to show all costs (implicit and explicit) that will apply to your clients' policies. Whether it's the cost for your advice, the costs associated with the selected investments or our manufacturing and administration costs, the charges are disclosed in a transparent and comprehensive manner.

You are able to build a Retirement Account that is as simple or as complex as you and your clients want it to be. For those wanting an active role, there are over 1,000 Fund Supermarket funds and approximately 100 in-house funds to choose from. There are also risk rated portfolio funds, and the option to utilise the expertise of one or more of our panel of Discretionary Fund Managers, each of whom has developed sophisticated technology links which can give you and your clients up to date valuations via the Retirement Account web pages. The selected DFM(s) will take responsibility for their investment advice and the performance of your client's portfolio, and can give you and your clients the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the portfolio is being managed by investment professionals.

The Retirement Account is flexible in its structure and lucid in its processes, and ultimately designed to fit the most complex of business models. By offering an end to end business solution online, it can provide you with the control to build your clients' Retirement Accounts to meet their individual needs and circumstances.

On death, normally no Inheritance Tax is payable on the value of your clients' Retirement Account. However,any lump sum death benefit paid from the RP part(s) of the RA in excess of the Government's Lifetime Allowance may be subject to a tax charge. There is normally no charge if the excess is used to provide a pension for your client's dependants.

Any lump sum paid from the RI part(s) will be subject to a 35% tax charge.

Please note that dependants' pensions income is treated as earned income and will be taxed in payment.

Tax treatment depends on your clients' personal circumstances which may be subject to change in the future. Tax rules can change.

If you can't find the information you are looking for on this site, please speak to your Account Manager.