 |  | Welcome to the first edition of Teachers’ Insight, your termly e-newsletter packed full of relevant, timely information and updates for teaching staff.
We have had the pleasure of visiting your school to provide you with fresh insight into your teachers pension. Our aim is to ensure that you find these sessions to be informative and interesting.
The current economic climate, coupled with the changes that came into effect in January 2007 increasing the pensionable age from 60 to 65 for all new entrants into teaching, has left many individuals concerned about their financial future. Please read our article below to find out how you can boost your retirement potential.
To make future editions as interesting as possible, we would love to hear from you and would welcome your questions and comments. Simply click on the box opposite to 'ask Insight4schools'.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful summer holiday!
Craig McClurg (BA Hons) Cert PFS
Director
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 | |  And the winner is...
Last term we launched our competition to win a iPOD Shuffle. To enter all you had to do was attend our presentation, complete our feedback form and correctly answer three multiple choice questions to win a iPOD Shuffle. Congratulations to Leon Micher of Harefield Academy the lucky winner of the iPOD Shuffle. | |  |
 | | How can I plan for early retirement, I am concerned about missing years and reduced income?
At Insight4schools, we believe in advising you on creative ways to supplement your main pension income provided by the Teacher’s Pension Scheme (TPS). Some ideas are highlighted below:
Did you know that under the new scheme you have the facility to purchase an additional £5,200 worth of additional pension provision per annum? This is a direct replacement to the old “added years” facility, which could buy you back the missing years of your service, these extra years will be worth additional income and offer additional tax-free cash at retirement. This can be bought in small amounts of £250, although you should be aware that this makes no enhancement to the tax free cash you may be entitled to from the main scheme.
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC's) - Prudential still run the Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme and although very different to the previous enhancement method, this also offers a number of considerable tax advantages. However, you should be aware that this is a money purchase plan, and therefore your pension, which is available at retirement will be dependent on several factors such as contributions made and fund performance, that are areas that you don’t have direct control over, rather than the more guaranteed pension which is highlighted above.
However, rules have changed on how and when you can take the benefits from the AVC and the Teachers’ Team at Insight have become increasingly aware of some of the frustrations that AVC members have had. It is important that all members are aware that these plans are now more flexible than they have ever been before. For example, you can now take up to a quarter of the fund as a tax-free cash lump sum, and you can also look to start to take the income from the fund at a different time to when you draw your Teacher’s Pension Scheme income.
In certain circumstances, you can even look to transfer your AVC fund (even if you have stopped paying into it) to a Personal or Stakeholder pension, so whether you are interested in saving money on charges, or are looking for a far greater fund choice than is currently offered by Prudential, we would recommend a free financial review with a member of our teachers specialist team, click here if you would like to arrange an appointment.
Even if you’ve never contributed to an additional Teacher’s Pension or an AVC, you now have the option of direct investment into a Personal or Stakeholder pension plan that can run alongside your TPS to provide you with both additional tax free cash and income in retirement at a time to suit you (between age 55 and 75 from 2010).
This method of pension contribution attracts tax relief and tax efficient growth on the funds, and since its availability to teachers since 2006 has proved to be a very successful, tax efficient and cost effective way of building up additional pension provision.
Property - Long-term, property has proven to be a great investment, as long as you buy correctly. The current market conditions means that there are a number of great investment opportunities that are available and only a short window of opportunity exists in order to seize some of these amazing deals. Remember, its all about yield and you make money not only when you sell, but also when you buy if you buy below market value. Purchasing a rental property in a great location is vital to ensure a good return on your investment. If you would like to find out more about purchasing below market value property, please contact us. | |  |
If you would like to receive advice on any of the information above, please call Natasha Howard on 01603 268080 or Sue Green on 01604 414814 to arrange your review.
Insight Financial Associates Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority
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