18 March 2025
Next month marks the ten-year anniversary of the introduction of what’s commonly known as ‘pension freedoms’.
On 6 April 2015, new laws came into force that gave pension savers greater flexibility to access their savings how and when they want. For example, you can use your pension account to:
- Take some cash and invest the rest (drawdown)
- Buy a guaranteed income for life (annuity)
- Take a cash lump sum
- Or any combination of the above.
With all of these options, you can also take 25% of your money as a tax-free cash lump sum (although the amount you can take may be restricted if you have used up the allowances for tax-free cash as set by HMRC).
If you want to use drawdown, you’ll need to move all or some of the money in your pension account to a different pension arrangement that offers this as an option.
We’re working on a retirement guide that will explain your retirement options in more detail, so check back soon to see if it’s available.