Money lessons

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5 tips that add up to teaching your child about money matters

Understanding how money works is an essential life skill. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, these lessons come later than they should, and often as the result of something going terribly wrong.

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Saving adequately for the future

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How much should you try to save to have a comfortable retirement?

The good news is that the number of people saving enough for a comfortable retirement has hit its highest ever level, with almost three in five Britons (59%) now saving adequately for the future[1]. This is a significant improvement from the 55% proportion recorded 12 months ago, suggesting this April’s auto-enrolment step-up had an immediate positive impact on saving habits.

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Tax relief and pensions

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Annual and lifetime limits

When it comes to managing money, one of the things some people find most difficult to understand is the tax relief they receive on payments into their pension. Tax relief means some of your money that would have gone to the Government as tax goes into your pension instead. You can put as much as you want into your pension, but there are annual and lifetime limits on how much tax relief you get on your pension contributions.

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Pension lifetime allowance

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Putting a value on your pension savings in the future

The pension lifetime allowance is a limit on the value of payouts from your pension schemes – whether lump sums or retirement income – that can be made without triggering an extra tax charge. The lifetime allowance for most people is £1,055,000 in the tax year 2019/20.

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State Pension

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The foundation of most people’s retirement plans

Data for people qualifying for the full new State Pension following its introduction in April 2016 reveals that almost two in five pensioners (365,290 people, or 38% of claimants) receive less than £150 a week, while a further 314,290 people (33% of claimants) receive more than £150 a week[1].

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Women’s State Pension age changes

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Government’s bid to ensure ‘pension age equalisation’

On 3 October, campaigners lost a significant legal battle against the Government’s handling of the rise in women’s State Pension age. Up until 2010, women received their State Pensions at the age of 60, but that has been increasing since then.

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Defined contribution pension schemes

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Building up a pot of money to provide an income in retirement

With a defined contribution pension, you build up a pot of money that you can then use to provide an income in retirement. Unlike defined benefit schemes, which promise a specific income, the income you might get from a defined contribution scheme depends on factors including the amount you pay in, the fund’s investment performance and the choices you make at retirement.

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Defined benefit pension schemes

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Paying out a secure income for life which increases each year

A defined benefit pension scheme is one where the amount paid to you is set using a formula based on how many years you’ve worked for your employer and the salary you’ve earned, rather than the value of your investments. If you work or have worked for a large employer or in the public sector, you may have a defined benefit pension.

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Personal pensions

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Saving tax-efficiently for retirement

A personal pension is a type of defined contribution pension. You choose the provider and make arrangements for your contributions to be paid. If you haven’t got a workplace pension, getting a personal pension could be a good way of saving for retirement.

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Self-invested personal pensions

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Providing greater flexibility with the investments you can choose

A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a pension ‘wrapper’ that holds investments until you retire and start to draw a retirement income. It is a type of personal pension and works in a similar way to a standard personal pension. The main difference is that with a SIPP, you have greater flexibility with the investments you can choose.

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