ICR305: What should I do with my defined benefit pension?
In this episode of the show, I’m joined by Nick Bamford to talk about defined benefit pensions. These are a hot topic in the world of financial planning at the moment and Nick has written a comprehensive white paper explaining the key issues at stake.
There’s also a roundup of the latest personal finance news and, of course, the aftershow, where I talk about what we’ve been up to at Informed Choice this week.
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Personal finance news
-Citizens Advice has warned that customers who fail to switch household utility providers are paying hundreds of pounds unnecessarily each year. Citizens Advice estimate that long-standing customers of utility providers could be paying up to £987 extra each year.
-According to the latest ONS figures, private rental prices paid by tenants in London grew by 0.4 percent in 2017, stretching the budget of the average London house hunter. Further insights from the LSL Rental Index found that London rents were the highest in the country, with an average monthly asking price standing at a staggering £1,280.
-Parents have received almost £1m in lieu of the tax-free childcare they should have received under a flagship government scheme. The scheme was designed to top-up parental childcare payments by 20%, up to £2,000 a year for each child.
-An interest-only mortgage timebomb has been forecast for hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are ignoring how they will repay their debt. The Financial Conduct Authority has warned that almost one in five mortgage holders have an interest-only mortgage which will need to be repaid with a lump sum in the future.
-Social network Facebook has banned advertising for cryptocurrencies, due to suspicions many of them are being placed by scammers. A new clause in its prohibited content advertising policies says: “Ads must not promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency.”
Useful links
–Nick’s White Paper on Defined Benefit pension transfers
Get answers to your personal finance questions
Do you have a personal finance or investing question for Martin?
Email martin@icfp.co.uk or ask on Twitter @martinbamford.
You can call our dedicated podcast voicemail line on 020 8144 2745 with your question or visit www.icradio.co.uk/voicemail to leave an online voice message.
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