Award Winning Pension Advice - Stakeholder Pension Schemes
Stakeholder Pensions commenced on 6 April 2001.
We have a whole website dedicated to Stakeholder Pensions - The Stakeholder Cafe.com.
Whether you are young, old, working, not working - you are able to contribute to a Stakeholder pension. You can even invest in them for your children or grandchildren!
Stakeholder pensions are single charged, simple and transparent pension schemes that the Government introduced.
It is not a State Pension - it is a private pension on top of the State Pension.
Low Charges - the maximum charge on this type of pension scheme is up to 1.5% of the fund per annum. This is great news for savers, having low and simple charges means that savers get better value for money and a potentially larger pension fund when you retire. The maximum annual charge when Stakeholder was first launched was 1.0% pa and many providers still work to this low charging level.
Compare these charges to any existing pension schemes you have - you may be surprised!
Simple - Stakeholder is simple - there is only one charge - an annual management charge, this is deducted from the pension fund. Gone are the charges that may be applied to other types of pension scheme e.g. policy fees, initial charges, bid/offer spreads etc.
Transparent - These style pensions are penalty free with no entry charges, no exit charges, no transfer penalties, no early retirement penalties. Whatever your pension fund is worth - that is what you get. Gone are the days of 'paper values'.
Value for money - Stakeholder Pensions are also an excellent way to save money. For individuals who save you will get 28% growth on your fund straight away. For every £1 you invest, the government will invest on top an extra 28p. That's a 28% return on your money overnight - compare that to the returns on your building society or bank account. It may take you 5 or 6 years or more to get that sort of return.
Who can have a stakeholder pension plan?
Under Pension Simplication rules you are now eligible to contribute to such a plan if you are a UK employer or a UK Relevant Individual and receive tax relief on contributions made.
Even if you do not live in the UK you may still be able to pay into a UK pension plan.
What can I pay into a stakeholder pension plan?
You are allowed to contribute premiums to as many Stakeholder Pension plans or indeed any other pension plans as you want up to the Annual Allowance. The Annual Allowance started in 2006/07 at £200,000 pa. This means you may be able to pay huge sums into your pension without any complex calculations.
