Deciding on the best benefit strategy for your business is an integral part of a successful company. A good Employee Benefit strategy will enable your company to attract and retain the skilled personnel necessary to meet the challenges of a competitive business environment and to ensure that this is protected adequately so that it can prosper.
Pensions for Directors
- Personal and Group Schemes
- Self Invested Schemes (SIPPs and SSASs)
A SIPP is in effect a Personal Pension with much wider investment choices. A SIPP could be suitable for any investor, although we would usually not recommend a SIPP if the starting fund value was below £30,000. Regular premiums and or lump sums can be accommodated within a SIPP.
Below are some of the more popular wider investment options:
- Investment Funds – Pretty much any investment fund can be accommodated within a SIPP, certainly the full range of Unit Trusts and any Insurance company fund can be included, this immediately gives access to thousands of investment funds. You are able to select (with our help) the very best from the whole market.
- Quoted Shares – In addition, shares can also be held within a SIPP, you can either appoint a Discretionary Stockbroker to act for you, or if you wish to trade the occasional share, then this can simply be done via your bank, or online, for example Selftrade (www.selftrade.co.uk). Your share purchase will effectively receive tax relief at up to 40%, if bought via the SIPP. Ie say you wish to buy £10,000 worth of shares, you deposit this sum into your SIPP, if you are a Higher Rate tax payer, you receive 40% tax relief. The SIPP then buys the shares for £10,000. As the shares are held within the pension fund, there will be no Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when the share are sold.
- Unquoted Shares – A SIPP can also hold shares in unquoted companies, subject to certain restrictions
- Property – Commercial Property can also be bought via a SIPP, and the SIPP may borrow to assist with the property purchase, loans of up to 50% of the SIPP fund value are permitted.
A SSAS is available to Directors of Limited companies, and allows company directors to maintain control over their pension arrangements in a flexible and tax efficient environment. The investment powers and flexibility of a SSAS is similar to a SIPP, with the added benefit that a SSAS can lend money back to the employer company.
Loans are available of up to 50% of the SSAS value, and must be on a commercial basis, secured on a suitable company asset.
- Large contributions
- Reviewing and consolidating old Schemes
- Property purchase via Pensions
- Income Drawdown / Annuities
Income Drawdown (also called alternatively Secured Income), is an alternative to buying an annuity at retirement. Annuities are very inflexible, they usually provide a fixed level of income and have no or very limited death benefits.
Income Drawdown allows you to draw income from an actively invested fund, allowing you to benefit from future fund growth. A Drawdown arrangement also has the following benefits:
- Flexibility to be able to take maximum Tax Free Cash and an income ranging from zero to a pre agreed maximum. Your pension fund remains fully invested, allowing you to benefit from future growth (if markets underperform you could see a fall in the value of the fund too)
- Maximum income is approximately 20% higher than an Annuity
- Income may be varied between zero, and the maximum at any time
- Death benefits are available via Drawdown
- 100% spouse provision is also built in
- Maximum income can be reassessed each year, and with increasing age this usually means a gradually rising income, in effect inflation proofing your income.
As Annuities remain a very inflexible way of drawing an income in retirement, Income Drawdown provides a very real alternative for most clients.
Pensions for Employees
- Group Personal Pension and Stakeholder Schemes
- Retirement counselling
- Pension review and consolidation service
Protecting the Workforce
- Group Life
- Group Income Protection
- Group Critical Illness Protection
- Group Private Medical Insurance
Protecting the Business
Professional Relationships
We are more than happy to work with your existing Accountant and Solicitor, or if required we have tried and tested connections with other Professional Advisers and will recommend those services where we feel it can add value to our long term relationship.
