Pension Contributions and Your Tax Return: What to Claim by 31 January
If you file a Self Assessment tax return and you're a higher or additional-rate taxpayer paying into a personal pension or SIPP, the 31 January deadline…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 17th 2026
Inheriting a Pension: What Beneficiaries Need to Know
Pensions are treated differently from almost every other asset when someone dies, with their own distinct rules on who can inherit them, how they're taxed,…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 15th 2026
What Happens to Your Pension If You're Made Redundant
Redundancy is stressful enough without also worrying about what happens to your pension. The good news is that your pension itself is protected and stays…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 13th 2026
Women and the Pension Gap: Why It Happens and How to Close It
The gender pension gap is larger than the gender pay gap, and it compounds over an entire working life rather than a single year's salary. Different…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 11th 2026
The State Pension Age Is Rising: What It Means If You're in Your 40s or 50s
The age at which you can claim the State Pension has already risen once in the last few years, and it's rising again. If you're in your 40s or 50s, the…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 9th 2026
Drawdown vs Annuity: How to Turn Your Pension Into an Income
Once you reach the point of actually needing an income from your pension rather than just growing it, you're faced with a genuinely consequential choice:…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 7th 2026
The Pension Carry-Forward Rule: How to Use Unused Allowance From the Last 3 Years
We've covered carry forward in detail in our ISA & SIPP tax planning series - this is the pensions-focused version, for anyone who came here first. If a…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 5th 2026
Should You Increase Your Pension Contributions After a Pay Rise?
A pay rise is one of the best moments to increase your pension contribution, precisely because you haven't adjusted your spending to the new amount yet.…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 3rd 2026
Self-Employed and No Pension? Here's Where to Start
Self-employed workers in the UK are far less likely to have a pension than employees - largely because auto-enrolment, and the employer contributions that…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 1st 2026
SIPP vs Workplace Pension: Where Should Your Next £100 Go?
If you've got a workplace pension already and you're thinking about saving more for retirement, it's not automatic that a SIPP (Self-Invested Personal…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 30th 2026
Small Pension Pots, Big Impact: Why Ignoring a £1,000 Pension Is a Mistake
A pension worth a few hundred or a couple of thousand pounds is easy to dismiss as not worth the hassle of tracking down or managing. That instinct is…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 28th 2026
Should You Consolidate Your Pensions Into One Pot?
If you've had several jobs, you've probably got several pensions - and combining them into one can make life simpler and sometimes cheaper. But…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 26th 2026
How the Pensions Dashboard Will Change the Way You Track Your Retirement Savings
For years, keeping track of multiple pensions has meant contacting each provider separately, or using the free Pension Tracing Service to hunt down old…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 24th 2026
How to Track Down Old Pensions Before They're Lost for Good
The average UK worker holds several jobs over their career, and it's common to lose track of a pension from an employer you left a decade or two ago. With…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 22nd 2026
What Happens to Your Pension When You Change Jobs
Changing jobs is one of the most common reasons people end up with multiple pensions scattered across different providers. Here's what actually happens to…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 20th 2026
How Much Should You Have in Your Pension by 30, 40 and 50?
'Am I behind on my pension?' is one of the most common - and most anxiety-inducing - financial questions people ask themselves. There's no single right…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 18th 2026
Tax-Free Cash Explained: The 25% Pension Lump Sum and Its £268,275 Cap
The ability to take a chunk of your pension tax-free is one of the most well-known pension perks - and one of the most commonly misunderstood in the…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 16th 2026
The Pension Annual Allowance for 2026/27 Explained: Still £60,000
The pension annual allowance is the single most important number most people never check - it caps how much can go into your pension each year with tax…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 14th 2026
State Pension 2026/27: How Much You Get and the Triple Lock Explained
The State Pension is the foundation most people build their retirement around, but the amount, the rules for qualifying, and the 'triple lock' that…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 12th 2026
Auto-Enrolment Explained: What the Minimum 8% Actually Gets You
If you've ever glanced at a payslip and seen a small pension deduction without really understanding how the number was calculated, this is why.…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
August 10th 2026