Pension and benefit solutions for smaller companies.

"Fail to plan and you plan to fail" - Dash

"There's one thing I always wanted to do before I quit….retire!" - Groucho Marx

"Retirement; It's nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese" - Gene Perret

"The question isn't at what age to retire, it's at what income" - George Foreman

"Retirement is when every day is Saturday - goodbye tension, hello pension!" - Anon

"If you don't know where you're going, you are probably going to end up somewhere else" - Laurence J Peter

"Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to." - Henry Emerson Fosdick

"Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses" - Cato

"As in all successful ventures the foundation of good retirement is planning." - Earl Nightingale

"A prudent question is one-half of wisdom" - Frances Bacon

"Retire from work, but not from life" - M K Soni

"The wiser mind mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind" - William Wordsworth

"I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left" - Voltaire

"You can do without money but you can't be old without it" - Tennessee Williams

Retirement Options

If you run a pension scheme you'll know that a lot of work goes into establishing and running the scheme and communicating with employees. Yet when members reach retirement, they very rarely know about all the options they have for making best use of their pension funds.

Most people know that they can buy an annuity, where they receive a guaranteed income for life. But many don't know that they may be able to get better terms if they are ill in some way, or if they smoke. Furthermore, more flexible legislation has led to the developement of alternatives that allow the member much greater control of how much income they have at different times in their retirement years and when they eventually purchase their annuity.

Who cares?

Pension providers don't make a big deal about the options available to scheme members, because most will then default to buying the annuity from their provider. That might be a bad deal for the member.

If you're a trustee of a Defined Contribution scheme, you might understandably not feel obliged to make members aware of options that are not available under your scheme rules. But does that feel right morally? Making sure they know doesn't have to involve you doing much, especially if the employer takes the strain.

As an employer, your responsibilty ends at the point of retirement so I guess you can say that it isn't your problem. The market will take care of it. The trouble is, it doesn't. Recent surveys make that very clear.

Part of the benefit?

Pension schemes are part of the employee benefit package. Their power and perceived value is rooted in the support you are giving employees to adjust financially to the end of full time employment.

Why not make sure that the contributions that you and they have invested are used effectively once the member is retired? It doesn't have to cost the earth but could be the icing on the cake as far as members are concerned.

We can support you with a full and impartial information and advice service to make sure that members understand all the options

Click here to find out more, or why not get in touch to discuss your requirements.