Recent changes to the original personal pensions of Margaret Thatcher

Learn what new changes are happening for personal pensions and what to expect.

14:16 16 April 2013

The advent of personal pensions began during Margaret Thatcher’s political career in 1988. The compulsory scheme was cancelled that year as well.

 

Though systems in the past were thought to be imperfect by some, perhaps Thatcher contributed to shaping the idea of how personal finance should be treated?

 

Personal pensions are arguably part of a previous scheme. Here are some current features when it comes to personal pensions:

 

• Auto enrolment
• Employer contributions for anyone aged 22 or older (depending on income)
• Choice to opt out of the plan if you want to
• Increased number of people receiving personal pension plans
• More people will receive income for retirement in the future
• Assist with creating a workable budget

 

Personal Pensions allow a person the opportunity to save and plan for their own futures, and to know what they can expect as they are working. There are pension laws which also govern the total amount which can be put into pensions during the year, but if the employer contributions haven’t maxed out the limit, it’s a good idea to deposit your own money.

 

You’ll have the options to either deposit a lump sum, or to make multiple deposits of smaller amounts in order to try and take advantage of the capped deposit limit.

 

Don’t forget that the annual caps reset in the month of April, so even if you recently made deposits into your personal pensions at the beginning of the month, you’ll still be able to put some more money in now because of the new fiscal year.