personal accounts

The proposed charging system for personal accounts is ‘flawed' and unachievable according to Scottish Widows.

Inheritance tax and estate planning is an issue which is getting more attention following the changes made to trusts in March.

A hybrid scheme which might include financial advice has been put forward by Fidelity International as an alternative to the government's proposed personal accounts.

More than 70% of consumers believe they will need advice on whether to opt-in or out of the new personal accounts.

Low administration charges are not the most important aspect of the proposed personal accounts, claims the Pension Policy Institute.

Personal accounts could lead to 80% of employer pension schemes reducing their contributions for new employees and those not yet in their existing scheme.

A default annuity option could be added to personal accounts as the government is switching its focus onto the decumulation phase of the retirement income system.

Pension officials say current government proposals for pension personal accounts auto-enrolment are likely to increase administration costs but still will not reach the main target market.

Being relatively new to the pensions game, I have to admit I was expecting summer to be nice and relaxing, as with parliament in recess I thought news emerging would be limited.

While the government does its best to decide whether it is ‘naïve or misleading', as suggested in the Public Administration Select Committee's report, the question outstanding is how will this affect personal accounts?