Fill up the pension?

[Smartie]

"Mr Osborne says that if people choose to take their pension pot early, instead of 55%, it will be taxed at a normal marginal tax rate - typically 20%."

And,
""We will legislate to remove all remaining tax restrictions on how pensioners have access to their pension pots. Pensioners will have complete freedom to draw down as much or as little of their pension pot as they want, anytime they want. No caps. No drawdown limits. Let me be clear. No one will have to buy an annuity.""

Time to stash more in the pension perhaps?

[Dallas]

So the governmane has run out of cash and decided tomake Pensions and Isas look prettier .... cant you see what will follow ....

remain diversified IMHO

[Smartie]

Wasn't arguing against diversification, but this change makes pensions a much more flexible vehicle in my mind.

With an ISA (NISA now), you invest from taxed income. With a pension you have tax relief on the money going in.
Taking the money out of a pension is now vastly easier and I'll probably increase my contributions because of this.

No-one knows what changes will be made in the future - you can only act on what you know now.

[Dallas]

Wasn't arguing against diversification, but this change makes pensions a much more flexible vehicle in my mind.

With an ISA (NISA now), you invest from taxed income. With a pension you have tax relief on the money going in.
Taking the money out of a pension is now vastly easier and I'll probably increase my contributions because of this.

No-one knows what changes will be made in the future - you can only act on what you know now.

If I was <10 years to retirement it would be more attractive, as I am not, it is not

[Smartie]

If I was <10 years to retirement it would be more attractive, as I am not, it is not

Good for you. I'm not there yet either but it comes up faster than you expect ;-)

[Scrag Meister]

I am topping up my pension, about to max for this year to £50k, with a big topup.

[Dallas]

Good for you. I'm not there yet either but it comes up faster than you expect ;-)

Its not about faster than you expect it is about tweaking your risk profile as you near retirement

[Maslins]

So the governmane has run out of cash and decided tomake Pensions and Isas look prettier .... cant you see what will follow ....

remain diversified IMHO

Yes, I think a few people are of the mindset "if it seems too good to be true...".

I'm 32 now. Pension rules get changed radically quite frequently. Making big decisions on what I put in now based on current rules for taking out is potentially a bit premature.

...but yes, if we put cynicism to one side, I think the new rules do look good for the majority.

[Smartie]

Its not about faster than you expect it is about tweaking your risk profile as you near retirement

Easily done within a SIPP. You can 'tweak' all you like, but taking £15k out of the company to put in an ISA for retirement savings rather than making a company pension contribution is currently not an attractive option

[Dallas]

Easily done within a SIPP. You can 'tweak' all you like, but taking £15k out of the company to put in an ISA for retirement savings rather than making a company pension contribution is currently not an attractive option

I currently do well doing both and have decades to go so it makes no difference to me - best of luck with your approach