Is it time to take Pensions out of the hands of politicians?

20 Nov 2014
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Tim Stalkartt

Speaking at the Westminster and City Annuities and Drawdown Conference in London yesterday on the forthcoming changes to the pensions rules, Tim Stalkartt, Managing Director of Financial Planning at leading advisory firm Tilney Bestinvest warned that the rules governing pensions have steadily become a “political football” and that a pattern of regular upheaval has progressively undermined trust in the system.

Stalkartt said: “Clients’ long term planning decisions are being influenced by uncertainty around the stability of the pension system: in short there is mistrust that future governments will continue to “meddle” with pensions and that means people want to get their money out as soon as possible.”

Stalkartt’s question to the audience was “is it time to take politics out of pensions?” He suggested an independent body (perhaps akin to the Bank of England’s role in determining interest rates) and suggested that this would result in certainty, confidence and the ability to plan and “this really would make a difference.”

Stalkartt confirmed that Tilney Bestinvest applaud the Chancellor for the reforms that will go a long way to changing the perception of pensions, however he pointed out that they do not address the basic fear of running out of money: “The Chancellor has introduced more candy into the sweet shop: a new flavour of smartie, more temptation! Our job as adviser is to say “resist” – don’t spend all your pocket money at once – it’s got to last a lifetime.”

His conclusion was there will be little practical difference in advice post April for wealthier clients.

- ENDS –

Important information:

This article is not advice to invest or to use our services. Prevailing tax rates and the availability of tax reliefs are dependent on your individual circumstances and are subject to change. Investments can go down as well as up.

Press contacts:

Jason Hollands
0207 189 9919
07768 661 382
Jason.hollands@tilneybestinvest.co.uk

Roisin Hynes
020 7189 2403
07966 843 699
Roisin.hynes@tilneybestinvest.co.uk

About Tilney Bestinvest

Tilney Bestinvest is a leading investment and financial planning firm that builds on a heritage of more than 150 years. We look after more than £9 billion of assets on our clients’ behalf and pride ourselves on offering the very highest levels of professional client service with transparent, competitive pricing across our entire range of solutions.

We offer a range of services for clients whether they would like to have their investments managed by us, require the support of a highly qualified adviser, prefer to make their own investment decisions or want to take more than one approach. We also have a nationwide team of expert financial planners to help clients with all aspects of financial planning, including retirement planning.

We have won numerous awards including UK Wealth Manager of the Year, Low-cost SIPP Provider of the Year and Self-select ISA Provider of the Year 2013, as voted by readers of the Financial Times and Investors Chronicle. We are pleased that our greatest source of new business is personal referrals from existing clients.

Headquartered in Mayfair, London, Tilney Bestinvest employs almost 400 staff across our network of offices, giving us full UK coverage, and we combine our award-winning research and expertise to provide a personalised service to clients whatever their investment needs.

The Tilney Bestinvest Group of Companies comprises the firms Bestinvest (Brokers) Ltd (Reg. No. 2830297), Tilney Investment Management (Reg. No. 02010520), Bestinvest (Consultants) Ltd (Reg. No. 1550116) and HW Financial Services Ltd (Reg. No. 02030706) all of which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 6 Chesterfield Gardens, Mayfair, W1J 5BQ.

For further information, please visit: www.tilneybestinvest.co.uk

Disclaimer

This release was previously published on Tilney Smith & Williamson prior to the launch of Evelyn Partners.