Retirement Funding

Are you looking forward to a time when you can wind down or retire altogether?  Are you unsure about how much money you will have to support you as life changes?  At Spofforths, we have an experienced team that specialises in planning your move towards retirement.

Are you confused by your pensions? do you know what your pensions are worth?

If you are, you can at least be sure that you're not alone. This is what our clients are telling us:

"I want to know what my pensions are worth but I don't want to be sold another one"

"I'm putting plenty of money into my pensions, but I have no idea whether I will be able to afford to retire"

"I get eight pension statements a year, I understand none of them"

As a result we have developed a service for our clients which demystifies their pensions, allowing them to plan for the future.

You can find more information on our service here

You can find a sample of the completed report here 

Are you wasting money on pension contributions?

The purpose of a pension plan is to assist with the recruitment of new staff and retention of existing staff. A good pension is a factor which employees take into account when considering career moves. Our experience shows that many pensions are failing to achieve this, in spite of generous contributions being made by employers.

There are two solutions to this problem:-

· To replace the pension with an alternative employee benefit, for new staff only or for all staff

· To improve the perception of the pension scheme amongst your staff

The root cause of the poor perception of pension benefits amongst staff is often a lack of understanding of the value of those benefits and this is often the result of poor access to information and advice. Our approach combines access to information and focussed advice to staff whilst emphasising the value of the pensions benefit. Where we have used this approach, the perception of the pension scheme has improved dramatically and many of the schemes have become a useful human resources tool rather than just another employment cost.

There are occasions when a pension scheme is not the right option for your company. If this is the case we can help you to reduce any ongoing liability and replace the scheme with a non-pension alternative.

If you require further information please contact us.

stakeholder pensions

It is important that employers receive unbiased advice about whether they should make pension contributions for staff. Whilst pension contributions are often a good employee benefit, it is important to consider the cost and whether other employee benefits would be more effective. Spofforths will provide this advice.

Compliance with the stakeholder rules is monitored by the Pension's Regulator which has the power to fine companies up to £50,000 and has jailed a director for non-compliance with its existing rules. It is important also that you do not fall foul of the Data Protection Act or the Financial Services Act.