Press Releases

Equity markets are rallying into the year end and many indices trade at multi-year or all-time highs, but the dollar's strength warns against complacency in 2015, says investment platform provider AJ Bell.

The full results of the American mid-term elections will not be known until after a run-off in Louisiana (6 December) but history shows the US stock market has an uncanny track record of performing well during a President's third year in office, says investment platform provider AJ Bell.

According to the film “The Third Man” Switzerland's tradition of democracy produced little more than the cuckoo clock but on 30 November the country holds a referendum which could have huge implications for financial markets, says investment platform provider AJ Bell.

It will become one of those events – “where were you when the Chancellor gave his 2014 Budget Statement?” Yes the changes are that radical!

Investment platform provider AJ Bell has today announced the launch of its ‘Hit for 6K Charity Challenge'. It's an idea that should add to the excitement of the NatWest T20 Blast at Emirates Old Trafford, while potentially raising thousands of pounds for the LCCC Foundation in the process.

There still seems to be a bit of a feeling that the ideas put forward by the Chancellor in the Budget were not really what he meant. His actual words from the Budget speech were: “No caps. No drawdown limits. Let me be clear: no one will have to buy an annuity.”

I forecast a quiet Budget for pensions, my thinking being that a year before an election would be the wrong time for anything too radical.

AJ Bell has today announced that it will be hosting two ETF Summits this year, the first in Manchester on 17 June and the second in London on 18 June.

The dust is settling on George Osborne’s pension proposals, and now that we have passed the tax year end and the Easter holidays I am sure we will see reams of research and, hopefully, product innovation.

AJ Bell has announced its ten-point check list for advisers who use investment trusts as part of their portfolio planning process.

AJ Bell has today announced details of the changes it will make to its Sippcentre platform as it accelerates the move towards clean share classes.

In pension circles, 19 March 2014 will be remembered for the Budget that changed the rules. Suddenly, and without prior warning, a large part of the pension rule book was torn up and thrown away. (I am assuming here that nothing untoward happens between now and implementation next April – as 2015 is an election year, who knows?)

I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks, talking about the reductions to the lifetime allowance (LTA) and the annual allowance (AA) that are due to take effect from this April, and looking at the various options available to individuals.

Most weeks I have a range of subjects and deadlines to juggle, with the aim of producing whatever I have committed to in the form of articles or blogs by the stated deadlines. Usually I have something of a mental checklist of relevant subjects, but sometimes this can be usurped when a new ‘hot topic’ arises or, on rare occasions, when something annoys me such that I really feel it needs saying.

Andy Bell’s notes and comments based on a 12.30 Treasury briefing on today’s Budget.

For many years an annuity was the only way of converting a retirement fund into a lifetime income. Then, in 1995, the introduction of income drawdown radically changed the picture by making it possible to take an income from the pension fund whilst leaving the rest of the fund invested.

In the Autumn Statement in 2013, a couple of weeks before Christmas, there were no real changes to the private pension regime, perhaps due to an election in 18 months? However, there was one particularly interesting statement about ascertaining a framework for drawing the state pension. Apparently people should spend, on average, up to one third of their adult lives drawing a state pension, and this assumption should underpin future reviews of the State Pension Age (SPA).

One of the things that you quickly learn in the financial services industry is that subjects rarely go away, and they often come back in different guises.

Alan had been reading the financial press and was particularly concerned as he was coming up to retirement and had to make some important decisions about how to convert his pension fund into an income. As he figured, it was down to either buying an annuity or opting to take an income from the fund in the form of income drawdown.

Peter was one of those lucky few who had been in a good non-contributory defined benefit pension scheme for over 20 years, and had built up a significant pension. He had never really told anyone that he had been close to opting out of the scheme many years ago. Now, twenty years of inertia later, he was pleased that he had not got around to leaving the scheme.

I have spent a good amount of time in the last few weeks talking to financial advisers about the changes to the lifetime allowance (LTA) due from April this year, and the types of protection available to particular individuals.

Recent projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) highlight the importance of saving for retirement, and the need for a pension regime that is fit for the 21st century.

At this time of the year I always get a little bit misty eyed as to what could have been! As far as I’m concerned, 6 April is more than just the start of the tax year, with all the necessary planning and paper work that entails. For me, the date has an almost mythical status. Do you remember 6 April 2006 - ‘A-Day’ - and the utopia that was to be ‘pensions simplification’?

Following the success of last year’s sellout event, AJ Bell today announces details of their 2014 Investment Conference. One of the headline speakers at the event will be Mark Barnett, Invesco Perpetual's Head of UK Equities, who takes over their two flagship UK equity funds from Neil Woodford on 29 April.

Having just returned from a few days snowboarding with my teenage son, I sat earlier reflecting on a hectic few days. Mountains are interesting places. You see all types of people of varying experience up there all with the same aim, navigating a safe route down the mountain whilst avoiding those painful tumbles. The conditions can change in a moment and with that the nature of the challenge changes. There is more than one way down; ultimately you choose the route, take responsibility for what it brings you and accept that some lines will present more of a challenge than others. Also, you accept that you may occasionally take a tumble - and some of those hurt, a lot.

Governments cannot resist the low-hanging fruit offered by pensions when it comes to generating tax.

A recent AJ Bell survey shows that advisers are behind the investment platform’s CEO, Andy Bell, and his seven proposals to Government for change to the current pension regime.

Andrew was a bit confused; it had been a long year and the RDR had taken its toll - not in a negative way, but in the sense of having a new client proposition and way of working. Indeed, as a business they had been as busy as ever. Now with Christmas and New Year approaching, Andrew was starting to think about some of the enforced deadlines for next year.

AJ Bell is delighted to announce that John Tomlins joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director and as the chair of the Audit & Risk Committee with effect from 1 January 2014.

It has been interesting to witness the changing perception of annuities and income drawdown.

Typically most of us start the New Year focussed on hopes rather than fears, so will begin there. In doing so we must start with an appreciation of where we are. FCA thematic work and consultation on SIPP operator capital adequacy has been to the fore.

AJ Bell’s Chief Executive, Andy Bell, today called on the Government to deliver simplicity, fairness and certainty in pensions, and announced seven proposals he believes would assist the Government in delivering on those aims.

AJ Bell has today announced that it will be hosting four Sippcentre seminars across the UK in early February 2014.

Alex was 70 and although he felt physically fit, he had started to find that he was having what his wife termed a ‘senior moment’ more and more frequently. The last episode had been a few days earlier when he had been to visit his adviser, Andrew, to discuss his income drawdown portfolio.

American monetary policy will continue to hold the world in thrall, especially as the US Federal Reserve will have a new chairman on 1 February.

I am forever saying to people that we are too short-termist in pensions, so doing a review of one year does not feel quite right because one year is usually just part of a bigger work in progress. However, tradition dictates that this is our currency. The big work in progress that has encompassed 2013 is auto enrolment, which has already passed its first anniversary.

So we are told that the economy is recovering with the signs being an increase in consumer confidence, the level of activity on the high street and growing retail sales. We will undoubtedly be told that this Christmas should be a good one for the retailers - the upward trends must show that at least some are spending more money.

AJ Bell Youinvest the award winning provider of online investment platform and stockbroker services today announces their new pricing structure for “clean” funds.

AJ Bell has announced that Sippdeal, its award winning provider of administration and investment services, is changing its name to AJ Bell Youinvest from the 23 November 2013.

AJ Bell has closed registrations to its inaugural annual investment conference, due to reaching full capacity with 275 advisers registered to attend the event. The conference will be held at London’s Millbank Tower on 14 November 2013.

Andy Bell, Chief Executive of investment platform and pension provider AJ Bell has called for the Government to carry out a fundamental review of pension rules.

AJ Bell has announced the launch of a new ‘Infocentre’ on its Sippcentre platform. The online resource is a one-stop shop for advisers seeking market, technical and educational information.

AJ Bell’s Mike Morrison deconstructs the latest OFT report on the DC pension market.

AJ Bell today announces that non-executive Chairman Jim Martin intends to retire from the board in December, after almost 7 years as Chairman. He will be succeeded by Les Platts, currently senior non-executive director.

A couple of statistics recently caught my eye – the ONS reported that the number of people in occupational pension schemes fell from 8.2 million in 2011 to 7.8 million in 2012 (the peak being 12.2 million in 1967). This does not include group personal pensions or stakeholder plans.

When I first started in this industry retirement was fairly well defined – stop work at State pension age, 60 for women or 65 for men and salary was replaced by a final salary pension scheme which normally came into payment at the same time.

Alex was looking at a schedule of clients that had come off the computer. He was looking at segmenting his client bank to see what value he could add to existing clients and if it was felt that he could not really offer anything then he would contact the client to offer alternative options.

Pensions never cease to interest me, as the complex mass of legislation that has developed over the years always seems to lead to a few unintended consequences around the edges. There is also nearly always a link to at least one of the major political questions of the day.

At A-Day in 2006, under the guise of ‘simplification’, two key changes were introduced into the already complex world of pensions.

AJ Bell has today announced its inaugural annual investment conference, to be held in London on 14 November 2013.

Investment platform AJ Bell has secured a nine-year stadium naming rights partnership with Sale Sharks Rugby Club. The deal will see what was previously called Salford City Stadium re-branded and re-named AJ Bell Stadium.

There has been a lot of noise in the press recently about annuities. The need for advice, or not; the need to consider factors other than just the initial rate (spouse provision, death benefits and inflation proofing); the crossover point at which an annuitant will get back the full value of their pension fund (age 82 has been quoted as the age at which full value will be returned and 90 to get ‘good value’).

Platform provider AJ Bell has today announced a new addition to its existing sports sponsorship activity by becoming title sponsor of the AJ Bell World Squash Championship 2013.

Jim is 45 and wishes to retire at 65. His wife is a non-taxpayer. Jim has a pension fund that is currently worth £500,000 and consists of a property valued at £400,000 and trustee investments valued at £100,000.

Mike Morrison looks at how people make retirement income decisions and concludes they are not always rational.

Probably the one subject that I get asked about most is annuity rates and whether I think they will go up again - invariably my prognosis is not good.

I started working with SIPPs right at the very beginning of their existence when, in 1989, the then Chancellor introduced a measure to allow people to take more control over the management of their pension scheme. The result of this was Joint Office Memorandum 101 from the Inland Revenue, which set out the concept of self-direction and gave a brief explanation of some of the dos and don’ts.

AJ Bell today announced the addition of 70 Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and investment trusts to its Sippcentre platform Regular Investment Service.

Alan is a partner in an accountancy firm. He was coming up to age 65, but realised he needed to work for a few more years. He was aware the default retirement age (DRA) had been removed. He understood he could just ask the partnership and they should let him continue to work.

EveryInvestor - Choosing a SIPP platform

Mailonsunday.co.uk - I've been texted an offer to get a third of my pension early through a loophole that makes it 'commission' and not 'liberation'

Telegraph.co.uk - Sipps: How to retire early on a DIY pension

Peter was a 65-year-old entrepreneur who had built up a £1 million pension, currently in flexible drawdown.

MoneyMarketing.co.uk - Mike Morrison: 7 years on from A-day, whatever happened to simplification?

YourMoney.com - Trying to time the stock market could result in ‘significant’ losses

TheMadHouse - 10 ways to encourage children to save

BabyBudgeting - Ways to save for your child’s future

SundayTimes.co.uk - Investors told to stick with stocks

IFAonline.co.uk - Platform paper PS13/1: The end of the 'free' SIPP?

Citywire - Sipp Spotlight: All you need to know about the AJ Bell Platinum Sipp

EveryInvestor.co.uk - How does income drawdown work?

Peter was a 65-year-old entrepreneur who had built up a £1 million pension, currently in flexible drawdown.

6 April 2013 went very quietly in pension terms. Okay, there were the usual rushes with regard to paying contributions before the end of the tax year and using carry forward provisions, plus there was the last time to get 50% tax relief but, all-in-all, nothing drastic.

You’ve saved for what seems like an eternity, utilised your tax reliefs to make the most of the hard earned cash you have available to save and now the day has come to turn your pension into an income for the rest of your life. What now?

FTAdviser.com - Income drawdown a real alternative to annuities

FTAdviser.com - AJ Bell creates new regional arm

The lack of access to money in a pension scheme before age 55 is often one of the main excuses people give for not having one. Imagine the outcry if we restricted people on taking their money out when they reach age 55!

Citywire - Sipp shopping spree gathers pace as cap ad specrtre looms

thesundaytimes.co.uk - Route to a top retirement income

he lack of access to money in a pension scheme before age 55 is often one of the main excuses people give for not having one. Imagine the outcry if we restricted people on taking their money out when they reach age 55!

Telegraph.co.uk - My pension went from £50,000 to £15,000

Moneywise.co.uk - Make your pension work harder

MoneyMarketing.co.uk - Billy Mackay: Certainty for platforms is worth celebrating

MoneyMarketing.co.uk - FCA urged to ban cash rebates to Sipps

MoneyMarketing.co.uk - Platform paper: Industry reaction

Citywire - Clients need a reality check before taking drawdown plunge

It was coming up to tax year end and Peter had been overwhelmed with pensions business. There had been a significant amount of money paid to get the 50% rate of tax relief, while it was still available, then there was some carry forward plus all the usual contribution top ups, ISA and JISA subscriptions too.

In the run-up to the FCA Policy Statement 13/1 announcement, speculation was building that something big was on the cards. The twitter faithful were twitching and all interested parties were present and accounted for at their desks 7.00 am sharp.

Citywire - Why Woodford's head was turned by 8 exciting firms

The Platforum - An alternative view on the FCA Paper

The debate on pension tax relief continues. In the Autumn statement it was announced the annual allowance would be reduced from £50,000 to £40,000 in 2014.

Telegraph.co.uk - Income drawdown: Low cost ways to draw on a pension pot

MoneyMarketing.co.uk - Industry warns auto re-reg for platforms is still a long way off

FTAdviser.com - Are these products just for higher net worth clients?

FTAdviser.com - Confusion about third way pensions

FTAdviser.com - The pros and cons of drawdown

FTAdviser.com - Clients that are best suited to drawdown

FTAdviser.com - An introduction to drawdown

FTAdviser.com - Guide to Income Drawdown and Third Way Products

Citywire - Client triumphs part 2 10 more advisers share their favourite cases