Chartwell Wealth Management

Pension Insights

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£31.1 Billion Missing: The Pension Crisis

£31.1 Billion Missing: The Pension Crisis

There are now over three million ‘lost’ pensions worth over £31 billion. We all lose things, be it the proverbial change down the back of the sofa or TV remote. But how do you lose a pension? The answer is very easy as suggested by recent research from the Pensions...

The NICs Top-Up Countdown Has Begun

The NICs Top-Up Countdown Has Begun

A third deadline for topping up State Pension entitlement is now coming into view. “Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?” The words of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, recorded over half a century ago, always come to mind when...

Pension Decisions For The New Government

Pension Decisions For The New Government

Autumn won’t leave much time for the new government to settle before important pension policy decisions need to be made. When MPs return to work after the summer recess, many areas of policy will require attention. Some are inheritances from the last government, while...

Light my FIRE – could you really retire early?

Light my FIRE – could you really retire early?

Do you dream of retiring much earlier than your peers? Many ideas which originated in the US have made their way across the Atlantic. The latest financial innovation to join index-tracking investments, budgeting apps and exchange traded funds is the FIRE movement –...

The WASPI saga continues

The WASPI saga continues

Many women born in the 1950s should be paid compensation for a shortfall in their pensions according to a new report. The WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign has been running for nine years. In that time, it has consistently argued that women born...

The NICs Top-Up Countdown Has Begun

Pension Dashboard Programme Delayed…

Pension Dashboard Programme Delayed… 12 June 2023 was a day of procrastination for the new Pensions Dashboard Programme, with a new deadline set for 2026. “[The Treasury] should challenge the industry to make a pensions dashboard available to consumers by 2019,...

Born after 1978? Keep an eye on State pension age

Born after 1978? Keep an eye on State pension age

An independent report suggests that the State pension age (SPA) should rise much faster than planned. The next SPA rise begins in under two years with a phased increase to 67 ending in April 2028. Yet, neither main political parties are likely to say much about...

Born after 1978? Keep an eye on State pension age

Getting a head start: retirement planning attitudes in 2023

A survey of 6,000 people, aged 18 to 80, revealed starkly different views on retirement across the generations. According to the Office for National Statistics, the median age of the UK population in mid- 2021 was 40.7 years, up from 39.6 in mid-2011. Perhaps that...

The NICs Top-Up Countdown Has Begun

Working to 72? The retirement procrastination problem

Recent research on planned retirement ages has produced some unexpected and perhaps unrealistic results. The next increase in State Pension Age (SPA) to 67 will start to take effect in about two years’ time. Under current legislation the move to a SPA of 68 begins in...

The WASPI saga continues

How much does retirement cost?

New research has put some surprising numbers on the income needed in retirement. Each year since 2019, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has set about answering the question of how much retirement costs for couples and single retirees. It considers...

Born after 1978? Keep an eye on State pension age

The future of the State pension

Public opinion is pessimistic about the future of the State pension. Ask yourself these two questions: Do you believe that the State pension will be around in 30 years’ time? Do you think that the State pension will keep pace with prices over the next ten years? If...