Lifetime allowance concerns for pensions

KEY POINTS

• The problems when clients’ pension funds are at the lifetime allowance limit.
• A buoyant stock market can increase pension values and cause a problem.
• A further benefit crystallisation event will apply to drawdown funds on the 75th birthday.
• Significant difference in inheritance tax liability if money is taken from pension fund.
• Explaining the tax rules is not regulated investment advice.

I don’t aspire to advise high net worth individuals. None of my clients has a superyacht or private plane. I’m happy dealing with people who earn little enough not to have had their personal allowances withdrawn. But a couple of my clients have a ‘problem’ with their pension funds – they have hit the lifetime allowance (LTA). This is a tricky area because advising on the pensions themselves involves investment...