Is a taxed benefit better than no benefit at all?

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The lifetime allowance drops to £1.25m in April ushering in a whole new protection regime. Mike Morrison asks whether it is always right to take up this protection.

I have spent a lot of time over the past few weeks, talking about the reductions to the lifetime allowance (LTA) and the annual allowance due to take effect from April, and looking at the various options available to individuals. The proposed changes in April means there will be five different protection regimes, with the ability, in some circumstances, to double up on the various options. I am not going to go into the detail of each regime, but the big difference is that two of them allow you to continue making contributions (Primary Protection and Individual Protection 2014), while ...

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