Barclays Wealth

Stakeholder pensions

Stakeholder pension plans are 'money purchase' arrangements, meaning that the money you contribute to the plan is invested to build up a fund.

Designed to encourage more people to save towards their retirement, stakeholder pensions can offer you a cheaper and more straightforward alternative to most personal and company pensions, depending on scheme rules - but usually with less investment choice.

The key benefits of stakeholder pensions include:

• Low cost
  The government has capped stakeholder charges at a maximum of 1.5% per annum for the first 10 years of a plan's life and 1% per annum thereafter. Some providers charge less than the maximum.
• Low minimum contributions
  Each contribution to your plan must be at least £20 per month.
• Flexibility
  Beyond the requirement to pay the minimum contribution, you decide how much and how often you want to contribute. Investments can be lump sums or regular payments and your premium can be altered. You can also stop contributions without penalty.
• Portability
  You can transfer a stakeholder pension to another pension plan or another pension provider free from penalties.
• Simplicity
  A default investment fund is automatically allocated to you if you don't want to choose one yourself, although the funds available are often limited.
• Widespread accessibility
  The low cost of a stakeholder pension means that they are accessible to almost everyone - even children.

The amount of income available from your stakeholder pension fund when you retire will depend on:

• How much you save
• The performance of your chosen funds over time, after charges are deducted
• The size of any pension commencement lump sum taken from your pension fund
• The rate of your annuity or the arrangement used to convert your pension fund into a regular income.

As part of our retirement planning service, Barclays Wealth can assess whether stakeholder pensions are right for you. If appropriate, we’ll find the plan or plans that best suit your needs in the context of your overall investment strategy.

Find out more about stakeholder pensions

To learn more about how Barclays Wealth could help you, please contact us and we'll be in touch as soon as possible.

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