Monday, November 4, 2024

Helpful Basics: Pension vs ISA

What You Need To Know

  • Putting money IN.
    • ISA – No special treatment when you put money in. Five Types. £20,000 contribution allowance annually. Grow tax-free.
    • LISA – Cash or S&S. Up to £4,000 contribution (out of the £20,000 total allowance). 25% gov bonus – max £1,000. Intended for buying first home (under £450k). Have to be under 40 to open one, under 50 to pay in.
    • Pension – Specifically Defined Contribution (DC), not Defined Benefit (DB). Tax-relief when paying in. Relief at source or net pay employer scheme, they decide which version to use. Higher or additional rate taxpayers have to claim the rest through tax return. Annual allowance – £60,000 or 100% of NREs, whichever lower. Grow tax-free. Three contributors: you, your boss and HMRC.
  • Taking Money OUT.
    • ISA – No tax to pay and no limits to what you can take out. Some cash ISAs might have specified limits.
    • Lifetime ISA – No tax when take money out, BUT Penalty of 25% of what you take out unless for first home or after age 60.
    • Pension – Can’t take money out until age 55 currently, rising to age 57 from 2028 and 58 from around 2034.
      Will stay in lockstep with state pension age (minus ten years). Unless you have a protected pension age. Terms are written into the scheme, or are in a prescribed occupation, eg. sportsperson. 25% of fund is tax-free – balance will be taxed in whatever form you take it: Annuity, Flexi Access Drawdown (FAD), UFPLS.
  • What happens when you die?
    • ISA and Lifetime ISA – Stop being ISAs when you die. Underlying funds/asset sold and passed to your beneficiaries. Spouse or partner can take it on under a special additional subscription allowance. In practice this means they can wrap all the money they inherit from you in an ISA. No LISA penalty on withdrawals after death. Possibly subject to inheritance tax.
    • Pension – Expression of wishes. Free from IHT (currently – may change in the Budget!)
      Before age 75: Beneficiaries get tax-free lump sum (up to LSDBA) or a beneficiaries’ drawdown pot, tax-free withdrawals for life, even before National Minimum Pension Age.
      After age 75: Beneficiaries get lump sum (taxed as income in the year they get it) or beneficiaries drawdown (tax at marginal rate on any withdrawals).

Everything You Need To Do

  • Join your employer’s pension, or stay in it, or open one if self employed.
  • Use ISAs for medium term savings.
  • Use LISAs for first-time house purchase or to supplement retirement savings.
  • For basic rate taxpayers: Pay into pension up to employer match, otherwise start with 5%. Then LISA if you want to buy a house. Normal ISA to provide access to tax-free money in the medium term, i.e before pension age.
  • Higher rate and additional rate taxpayers should favour pensions simply due to the tax relief
  • Be intentional – review regularly.

We’re going to spin out the listener questions into a separate Q&A show which we’ll drop into the feed every 2-3 weeks or so. These will be in addition to the main feed, most likely, but they’re easier for us to produce because they require less writing! Send your questions to hello@meaningfulmoney.tv Subject line: Podcast Question


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The post Helpful Basics: Pension vs ISA appeared first on Meaningful Money – Making sense of Money with Pete Matthew | Financial FAQ.



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Saturday, November 2, 2024

Budget 2024: Financial Planning Implications

The UK government has just unveiled its Budget for 2024, and while the details are now in, there are no real surprises in store. In this video, I summarise what this means for your financial planning, highlighting the key points and implications that could impact your savings, investments, and retirement strategy. Tune in to get an insightful overview without the jargon, so you can stay informed and make confident decisions for the year ahead.

Autumn Budget 2024 documents.

Live post-Budget Q&A on the YouTube channel on Monday 4th November, so make sure you subscribe and hit the notification button to make sure you don’t miss those.


Head over to Meaningful Academy Retirement Planning This is my site with courses on all aspects of financial planning, but given today’s subject I want to remind you of one key benefit of the paid courses in the Academy – a year’s included access to the powerful financial planning app I use every day with clients – Voyant Go. If you decide to try one of the paid-for courses, use the coupon code YOUTUBE for a discount.


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The post Budget 2024: Financial Planning Implications appeared first on Meaningful Money – Making sense of Money with Pete Matthew | Financial FAQ.



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Friday, November 1, 2024

Wednesday, October 30, 2024