Pensions

There are plenty of fund choices with different ongoing fees, but I'm not confident enough to pull the trigger out of fear of making a costly mistake. I'd happily pay for one-off financial advice to help build a more sophisticated portfolio, but not sure where to turn to find it and how much I should be paying? Two experienced and independent-minded advisers, Justin Modray and Henry Tapper (pictured left and right respectively), give their takes on your situation.

Complaints about lost state pension top-ups cash continue to stream in to This is Money, despite the Government telling us this month: 'There is no general delay in the processing of payments.' While most problems date from the big rush to boost state pensions from around January onwards, we have also heard from readers whose payments have been stuck in the system for years. Expat teacher Liz Milintacupt-Taylor, pictured right, paid £9,000 for top-ups in early 2020.

I pay her a monthly allowance of £1,100 and set up a fund managed by me to provide for her old age. The fund has now been removed from my control as I set it up in her name and she has informed the company that I should be denied further access. She has refused to discuss this with me and ignores all calls and emails. Someone who knows her has told me that she has also changed address. I consider she has had more than her fair share of any inheritance during her lifetime. I now intend to disinherit her completely. Are there any precautions I should take? My wife is in full agreement. Chris Gilbert (pictured), a partner at Nalders Solicitors, replies.

Pensioners will be relieved Jeremy Hunt honoured the 'triple lock' pledge, which means the state pension should increase every year by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5%. The Government was widely expected to keep this promise to older voters ahead of an election, even though inflation is now easing and fell to 4.6% in the year to October.

Retired American businessman Mark Radin (pictured) has taken on one of Britain's biggest insurers and helped hundreds of frustrated customers get the money they are rightfully owed. Mark has become a one-man vigilante for the thousands caught in a customer service meltdown at pension provider Scottish Widows.

I have one son married but one of them is a spendthrift. I would like to give them enough in the will to clear the balance of their mortgage and say enough to live on per year, with a clause that in case of a rainy day problem they could with good cause draw money out for that. Where could I look?

Older homeowners have a collective 10 million spare bedrooms between them, new research has suggested. The research by Zoopla says many people over 65 are living in larger homes than they need, which the property portal claims is preventing young people from getting onto the property ladder. More than four in ten homeowners aged 65 or over say they live in a home which is 'larger than they need.'

As many as 750,000 couples of pension age use the marriage allowance to cut their tax bills by sharing part of their income tax allowance. However, a combination of frozen tax thresholds and rising state pensions mean that many couples could face unexpected demands from HM Revenue & Customs next April because they will no longer be able to benefit fully from the tax break.

Jeremy Hunt is reportedly considering a shake-up of inheritance tax in his pending Autumn Statement. What are his options, and how might the savings for estates stack up? Some 4 per cent of families pay inheritance tax - 27,000 in the 2020/21 tax year - but it is unpopular with the public who consider it a tax on death, property and the natural desire to pass wealth down the generations.

The bond market crash in recent months has drawn attention to a little-known or understood investment strategy that many workers are 'defaulted' into in the run-up to retirement. Some older workers have discovered to their horror that they are sitting on huge losses right on the brink of retirement , which they might be forced to delay as a result. Here's what you need to know about pension lifestyling...

Back yourself or no one else will, so the saying goes. But that does not hold true in the case of Britain's leading companies. Many of the UK's largest pension funds are turning their backs on British businesses, investing as little as 0.3 per cent of their billions of pounds in companies listed in the UK, we can reveal. Meanwhile, conversely, foreign pension funds are pouring money into UK businesses to enrich their pensioners, experts warn. The pension funds that manage the retirement savings of millions of retirees - including MPs, university academics, pilots and bankers - are unpatriotically shunning UK stocks.

Among people on the brink of retirement, the employment rate has soared for those with only average levels of wealth in recent decades. In the early 2000s, the percentage of people who had retired by the time they reached age 55-64 was fairly similar no matter how well off you were, according to the influential think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies. But managing to take early retirement is increasingly the preserve of the wealthy, unless you are forced to give up work by becoming permanently sick or disabled, or a carer.

Many of us are acquiring an ever increasing number of pension pots whenever we change jobs, so having just one that we keep saving into throughout our working life is an attractive idea. The typical comparison is with bank accounts. We wouldn't be happy if every new employer forced us to open yet another one, then keep on top of all the admin that involved, yet that is what we are expected to do with our pensions. So is there another way...?

Buying top-ups can be a good value way to boost your state pension, but it is a torturous process. Many people experience long delays just to get to the point of making a payment, then suffer the stress of large sums going missing and for all they know getting lost for good in the system.

It doesn't require complex trusts or bonds, expensive advice or endless admin. The exemption is known as gifting out of surplus income. In other words, you can pass on as much money as you like so long as it comes from your income rather than existing assets. Unlike most other gifts, those made in this way are not affected by the seven-year rule, whereby gifts may be subject to inheritance tax if you die within seven years of making them. Gifts made from regular, surplus income are immediately tax free and won't incur a bill later on.

A 68-year-old retired taxi driver told us he felt 'terrible' and 'very stressed out' about the loss of such a huge sum, after making futile calls to HMRC and the DWP. We were also contacted by a 66-year-old business owner who handed over a total of around £3,300 in December and February, and likewise got nowhere trying to find her money. HMRC is responsible for taking in extra contributions and updating National Insurance records, then the DWP recalculates forecasts or payments.

The financial cost might be huge, but so might be the political damage of breaking - or finding some way to fudge - the popular 'triple lock' pledge to pensioners. This means the state pension should increase every year by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent. Today it was confirmed that recent wages growth, including bonuses, was 8.5 per cent and would therefore determine the next rise this spring.

Many people never or only rarely check up on what's in their pensions. Even if you are among the more diligent, you might not get much beyond the headline 'projected income' figure. Here's a practical guide on how to check your work fund is up to scratch, so you can make the most of even a brief visit to an online pension account.

'We contacted the local Registrar, who confirmed that although dad had lost mental capacity, he could still get married,' says money expert Sarah Coles, who tells her family's story to raise awareness of the risks of elder abuse. 'We knew that wills are automatically voided when you marry, and we realised that because he didn't have mental capacity, he couldn't make a new one.'

My understanding was that if I only owned a property in Australia, showed that my ties to the UK were cut (only occasional trips back to visit relatives) and lived here long enough my estate would fall outside of any UK Government inheritance tax claim. Australia, being a far more enlightened country, does not have this death tax - pay during your lifetime and get clobbered again when you die. Am I correct in thinking I will be exempt from inheritance tax having been 'out' of the UK for 18 years and counting?

The stereotypical retirement destination, in most peoples' minds, is a quaint seaside town such as Penzance, or perhaps Bournemouth. But instead a new ranking system has calculated that regions such as the Outer Hebrides, Exeter and Kirklees are the top places for retirement when all pensioners' needs are factored in.

The Government is considering tighter tax rules for pots inherited from loved ones who die aged under 75 starting from April 2024, news of which prompted an outcry over the summer. Introducing a tougher regime risks sowing confusion and upsetting the plans of many people invested in drawdown schemes who want to pass on pension wealth to the next generation, according to industry pundits. Some people have transferred out of valuable final salary pension schemes - which have benefits for surviving spouses but not children - primarily for that reason since the pension freedom reforms in 2015.

Savers have slammed their 'terrible' treatment by the Department for Work and Pensions after many futile attempts to trace state pension top-ups - which in one case vanished for 10 months. A retired computer technician aged 69, who paid around £4,400 to boost his state pension in November 2022, says he rang many times and was continually passed from one department to another. A retired chiropodist aged 66 who paid around £4,700 in March made a log of her four back-to-back calls to the DWP one day this month. She was told to ring another department twice, heard 'lots of crashing and bashing' then was cut off once, and failed to get through on her fourth attempt.

While many people dislike the idea of an annuity, the alternative means keeping your pension invested in retirement and managing it yourself - a process that can be confusing and full of pitfalls. So here's a checklist, from investing, to income, taxes, the state pension, inheritance, illness, financial advice and much else.

This depends on when the surviving partner reaches or has passed state pension age and their spouse's date of birth and National Insurance record. What you might get if anything is far more limited if you reached or are still due to reach state pension age after April 2016.

Modern work pensions are essentially cheap investment products provided and subsidised by employers. At a time when money is tight, it's worth exploring what they can do for you - including some obscure and surprising add-on benefits. Auto enrolment into work pensions takes the hassle out of saving for retirement, but you could be missing a trick or two by not looking any further than that.

Elderly women could receive nearly £1.5billion in state pension arrears after being shortchanged for decades, the Government admitted this week. A lot of women are understandably asking if they missed out on thousands of pounds in state pension, and we explain how to find out and what to do if you are owed money by the DWP. The scandal was uncovered by former Pensions Minister Steve Webb and This is Money, after we launched an investigation into a reader question to his weekly column in early 2020.

No one wants to save up all their working life for a decent retirement only to get stuck with an avoidable tax bill. Unfortunately, there are many tax traps for the unwary when it comes to pensions. It's especially important to find out about them if you decide not to get financial advice when you start tapping your fund. We asked pension experts for their tips on what trips people up the most often, and how to keeping a retirement fund as safe as possible from the taxman.

There are many legal ways to dodge the dreaded 40 per cent 'death tax' if you want to pass on the maximum sum possible and are prepared to plan ahead. Here's our round-up of 10 ways to reduce or avoid a large inheritance tax bill, some of which can be undertaken easily by any ordinary person without the need for elaborate arrangements or to pay for professional help.

Hoard your pension and spend other cash and investments first, to keep your money away from the taxman. That's the advice experts dish out to retirees worried about inheritance tax. But anyone who wants to minimise their annual income tax, or use up their capital gains tax allowance efficiently, might also benefit from not spending a pension first.

Job switching, auto enrolment with every move, and people's tendency to lose pension information and not update schemes with contact details are all behind the rise in orphaned pots. The cost of living crisis has highlighted the importance of tracking down lost pensions to boost your eventual retirement income, according to an industry campaign to help people find them.

We decode some of the jargon, from the more commonplace to the exotic, that you might come across when exploring your pension options. It comes as research shows that while savers heartily welcomed pension freedoms launched in April 2015, they feel baffled and overwhelmed when dealing with the new choices opened up to over-55s of spending, saving and investing their retirement pot.

To avoid in the future potentially my brother's wife being entitled to some of the inheritance we have discussed the option of my grandmother leaving 100 per cent to myself. My brother and I have a very good and close relationship. This would keep the money safely under my control. I would then when the time is right use the money to provide things for my brother such as a car, holiday and so on. My question is are there any tax implications on me spending potentially large amounts on 'gifts' for my brother?

A few years ago I employed a financial adviser to consolidate all my company pensions, and my personal pension into one pension. Since signing up, I now pay a percentage of the value in fees to the financial adviser each year and I don't feel I'm getting value for money. Basically I have an annual review where they advise not to do anything with the pension. Do I have to have a financial adviser or am I allowed to manage my pension myself? Veteran money expert Henry Tapper, pictured, replies.

My sister lives two hours away from me, two miles from mum's bungalow, and we both have power of attorney for mum as she has early onset dementia. We have decided to sell mum's bungalow, but my sister wants to split the proceeds of the sale between myself and her, about £100,000 each. She will use that and the sale of her own home to buy something for her, her husband and mum to be able to live nearer to me, and other family, so we are able to help and give them a break from time to time. The question is, can we legally have this money? Something doesn't sit right with me. Could you give me any advice please?