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Retirees urged to seek financial advice before transferring pensions abroad
4 March 2008 12:00
Britons moving abroad and seeking to take their pension with them tend to find it much easier if they have professional guidance, according to one independent financial adviser.
Latest government figures indicate that the number of people moving abroad for 12 months or more rose by 11.4 per cent year-on-year to roughly 400,000 in 2006, with Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain and the US the most popular destinations.
According to Siddalls' pension adviser Robert Brearley, travellers can transfer their pensions abroad once the overseas scheme is registered with the Inland Revenue, adding that the process can be made far simpler with the right advice.
Yet he warned that transferring funds to an overseas pension is not always the best course of action, explaining that there are UK-based schemes that pay out in foreign currencies while at the same time enabling people to put cash away free of tax.
Mr Brearley noted that Britons could potentially make more of their money by moving their pensions abroad but that this depends on the individual's standard of living and concluded that proper planning is the best way to optimise benefits and reduce tax.
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