Tom Selby is AJ Bell's Director of Public Policy. He joined the company in 2016 as a Senior Analyst before becoming Head of Retirement Policy. He has a degree in Economics from Newcastle University.
Following his degree, Tom worked for seven years as a journalist specialising in pensions and retirement. He spent almost six years at a leading adviser trade magazine, Money Marketing, initially as a pensions reporter before becoming Head of News in 2014. He has won multiple awards for his role as a financial journalist, and was more recently nominated for Expert of the Year at the 2023 Headlinemoney Awards.
Tom is heavily involved with the PR and external communications teams at AJ Bell. His current role involves direct engagement with senior policy makers in Government and regulators. He also sits on the industry working group for the joint review of advice and guidance boundaries being conducted by the FCA and the Treasury. In the past, Tom has successfully campaigned for a number of consumer-focused reforms, including banning pension cold-calling and increasing pension allowances, and he is passionate about improving outcomes for savers and retirees.
Tom is regularly quoted in national print and broadcast media, including appearances on a weekly BBC Radio London personal finance slot. He has also appeared multiple times on BBC’s MoneyBox as an expert, as well as BBC Radio, BBC News, Sky News and LBC.
21 May 2020
Cut to the Lifetime ISA withdrawal charge – everything you need to knowAs part of its emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has reduced the Lifetime ISA (LISA) early withdrawal charge from 25% to 20%.
So how might that affect you? To answer, I’ll first run through how LISAs work, then look at what the new rules mean in practice.
How LISAs workIf you are a UK resident aged 18-39, you can open a...
12 May 2020
1.7 million younger savers vulnerable to ‘early access’ pension scams during Coronavirus crisisThe UK National Cyber Security Centre have warned Coronavirus is the “top lure” currently being used by online criminals. One in 8 (16%) of people under 55 with a pension would consider an offer to access their fund early to help get them through the Covid-19 crisis. Younger savers are more at risk, with one in every five (21%) or 1.7 million* 18...
4 May 2020
Five things you should consider when accessing your pension during Covid-19Over 1 million people have enrolled into the Government’s furlough scheme, while millions more are facing either unemployment, pay cuts or severe job insecurity. 1 in 10 (11%) of over 55s with a pension have either already accessed or plan to access their retirement pot earlier than anticipated as a result of Covid-19*.
Tom Selby, Senior Analyst...
22 April 2020
How pound-cost averaging helped dampen the last two global financial shocksDuring periods of extreme market turmoil, it’s important to remember the cornerstones of sensible long-term investing.
Attempting to time the market can be a fool’s game at the best of times. During one of the most uncertain periods for economies around the world in living memory, it is nigh-on impossible.
Luckily there’s a simple strategy you can...
16 April 2020
Pension vs Lifetime ISA: the tale of the tape for retirement investorsThe Lifetime ISA (LISA), which is the first dual-purpose product aimed at both first-time buyers and retirement savers, has just celebrated its third anniversary.
The LISA has split opinion across the industry, with some arguing it is a useful alternative to traditional pensions and others warning it creates the wrong incentives and should be...
15 April 2020
Peak pension freedoms season: Five things to consider when flexibly accessing your retirement potThe start of the new tax year is peak pension withdrawal season for UK savers. In each year since the pension freedoms were launched in April 2015, the first three months of the tax year (from 6 April to 6 July) has seen significantly higher withdrawal levels than any of the subsequent quarters.
In most cases this will simply reflect people making...
24 March 2020
Beware rise in pension scams as Coronavirus fraud reports surge 400%While the country hunkers down in the hope of slowing the spread of Coronavirus, the economic fallout will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of vulnerable or potentially vulnerable people in the UK. In such an environment unscrupulous scammers will already be plotting ways to take advantage during what for many will be a time of serious...
6 March 2020
The personal finance announcements to look out for in next week’s BudgetNew Chancellor, Rishi Sunak will make his first Budget announcement next Wednesday, 11 March. Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at AJ Bell and Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, outline what people should be looking out for in relation to their personal finances.
Pensions Urgent measures to address the NHS pension tax taper problemWhile...
26 February 2020
Self-employed pensions: Making retirement work for youThe UK is in the midst of an entrepreneurial boom. The level of self-employment surged from 3.8 million in 2008 to almost 5 million today, according to the Office for National Statistics.
While this trend is among the defining characteristics of the post-financial crisis economic recovery, it also presents a retirement challenge. Because, as the...
18 February 2020
Is the Government about to scrap higher-rate pension tax relief?You may have read reports recently suggesting the Government is considering reforms to pension tax relief at the Budget on 11th March. We're here to separate pension fact from fiction.
How does pension tax relief work at the moment?
When you pay money into a pension it is free from income tax, with total annual contributions (including tax...
