So you have been through the trauma of a marriage breakdown. Like most – it is unlikely to have been the easiest of times, and you may have found yourself in a very acrimonious split up. Now after some considerable time – possibly years, the court have granted you a pension sharing agreement which will allow you to transfer some of your former partner’s pension into a pension fund in your own name. But now what? Typically at this point you are on your own. The legal people have done their job, but your pension fund is still with your former partner.

How do you go about transferring it ? – Who will help you understand your options? – Who will help you manage it in the future ? – Who will do all of the work for you ? The answer – We Will.

In the case of a pension sharing agreement, it is typically the case that the partner who originally built up the pension fund, took most of the financial decisions in the relationship – or at the very least was the main income provider. The other partner relied upon them to provide for them both in retirement. The court judgement aims to ensure that both partners now have their own independent retirement fund. This is all well and good, but in some cases this will be the first time the recipient of the pension sharing agreement has had to make their own decisions about their retirement planning.

Over many years we have worked with customers in all kinds of circumstances. We have built a good reputation of helping customers understand their options and putting them in control of their pension fund. We provide information to you and explain your options in easy to understand language. You make all the decisions. We then act on your instruction.

We make things easy for the customer by explaining what your various options are. You can ask our qualified team any question you want and get them to explain how things would work under various scenarios you may want to present to them. As a quick guide the following list represents the most common options:

If you are not yet 55 then you will have to find a pension provider to look after the money until you are able to use it to provide for your retirement.

You will most probably want: your money to be safe, not invested in anything you are uncertain about, have the opportunity to grow the fund, have the fund regularly reviewed and most importantly - for you to be in control. We believe we can offer all of the above. We also provide a friendly expert for you to discuss your pension whenever you want.

Once you are aged 55, you can start to take benefits from the pension fund. Benefits would be a tax free lump sum and / or an income.

It is very important that we make you aware that you don’t have to take any benefits at 55, or any age for that matter, but if you want to we will help you by providing quotes and information to help you decide what your best course of action could be. So obvious options are :

There is no rush, or obligation on you to take benefits from your pension fund. Generally the longer you leave the fund invested, the better chance it has to grow, although you should remember the value of your fund could also fall.

A general rule of pension planning is that the older you are before taking benefits, the greater those benefits are likely to be as the income you receive will be based on your age and life expectancy. Very simply, all other aspects of the pension (fund size, benefit options, etc) being equal - a 65 year old would receive a bigger pension income than a 60 year old.

It may be that while you don’t need an income yet, the tax free lump sum from the pension fund could help your post-divorce circumstances be more tolerable. For example, it could help repay a mortgage and thereby release some of your earnings from servicing the debt.

We can help you release the tax free cash from your pension fund, and also help you manage the remaining 75% until you need it to retire.

Your circumstances may dictate that you also need to take an income from your fund. It may be that you need as much income as possible or that you can get by with a smaller income as a top up to the income you earn via your employment.

There are products that will enable you to achieve your goal. You will also be able to take a lump sum if you wish.
Your circumstances may change over time – assuming that you haven’t already made a decision that is binding for life, you may need to use a range of pension retirement products to achieve various goals at various stages of your life. Our fully qualified team are always willing and able to discuss your options with you. They will explain everything clearly and without putting you under any obligation whatsoever.

To find out more about your options and to find out how we can help you call 020 33 55 4827 Now !