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Joslin Rhodes •

Equity Release Council - What Does It Do?

Established in 1991 and initially called ‘Safe Home Income Plans’, SHIP as it was known, became The Equity Release Council when it changed its name on 8th May 2008. With consumer safeguards at its core, The Equity Release Council (ERC) is a voluntary trade body for the equity release sector. It represents over 400 members including providers, qualified financial advisers, solicitors, surveyors and other industry professionals, and seeks to make Equity Release a mainstream product for the UK. Sin
Joslin Rhodes •

Is Equity Release A Scam? Is It Safe? Good?

How to tell if an equity release company is legitimate

Equity Release is a highly regulated financial product in the UK. Your first port of call when you’re considering whether or not you should use a particular company is the Equity Release Council.
• You can quickly check here: equityreleasecouncil.com/find-a-member/advisers/

Whether or not the company you’re considering has signed up to the voluntary code of practice.

You’re next port of call is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), where
Joslin Rhodes •

Alternatives To Equity Release - What Are They?

Equity release can be a viable option to support you in retirement as well as giving you the financial flexibility to do things you wouldn’t normally be able to do. Before considering equity release it’s well worth looking at the alternatives available to you. Here we’ll take a look at some of your options and what it may mean for you:

There are two ways to manage your cash flow. The first is by increasing your income and the second is to decrease your expenditure. A great place to start decrea
Joslin Rhodes •

What Interest Rate Can I Achieve On Equity Release?

Can I reduce the rate of interest I pay on my equity release scheme?

When you’re looking at releasing equity and want to reduce the rate of interest you’re liable to pay on your equity release scheme, there are a number of product features that can help:

A drawdown Lifetime Mortgage allows you to release an initial sum of money and create a reserve account of further funds that can be accessed at a later date. Interest isn’t charged on the reserve until the money is released.

Downsizing prote
Joslin Rhodes •

What Is An Annuity Pension? How Exactly Do They Work?

An investment linked annuity guarantees income of a certain level, and the rest is linked to how your investment performs.

You choose your guaranteed level of income and part of your pension pot funds this. Then the rest of your pot is invested and pays extra money based on how well it’s doing. You would get a good income if the markets do well but might only get the minimum guaranteed income amount if the markets perform poorly.

What options do I have when I buy an annuity?

You’ve got lots o
Joslin Rhodes •

Do You Pay Tax On A SIPP? How Much Tax Will You Pay?

When is tax relief added to a SIPP?

Different SIPP providers will have their own ways of working. The cut-off points for claiming tax back will be different for each one.

Usually, you make your SIPP contribution every month. Then your SIPP provider will reclaim the basic rate of tax back from HMRC and pay it into your account the following month. If you pay a higher rate than the basic rate you may have to claim back the excess yourself via tax self-assessment.

How much can you contribute to
Joslin Rhodes •

What Is Pension Drawdown? What Are The Rules? UK (2021)

When we approach retirement age, deciding how to access our pension can be confusing. This article will attempt to break down some of the facts surrounding pension drawdown. Pension drawdown is a method of withdrawing funds from your pension to supplement your income during retirement. To access your money in this way, you must be 55 years or older and have a defined contribution pension. You can receive up to 25% of your drawdown as a tax-free amount.

What are the pension drawdown rules? The m
Joslin Rhodes •

Can I Retire At 55 - 300k, 500k, 700k How Much Is Enough?

After spending most of our lives working, it’s normal to start to ask ourselves questions like, when can I retire? Do I have enough in my pension? Can I retire at 55? In the UK, you don’t need to wait until the state pension age to retire. Providing you have enough savings and pension pot to fund your retirement lifestyle. You can retire at age 55. This is a viable option at age 55 because we are allowed access to our pension pot.

If you want to retire early, it’s important you have enough in