Personal Pension Plan

A Personal Pension Plan is very similar to the Stakeholder Pension although the charges and rules are not governed by law in the same fashion as the Stakeholder. The charges and fund options for a personal pension are determined by the Insurance Company or institution offering the Personal Pension Plan. This means that often they can offer a wider range of investment fund options, as the charges they can impose can be higher than those under a Stakeholder plan.

The Personal Pension is a flexible pensions account that is held in your own name, and can receive both regular and lump sum contributions. It may be contributed to you by yourself, your employer and other third parties to assist you in saving for retirement.

They usually offer flexibility to customers over the ability to change their investment amount, fund choice and retirement age, they may have minimum levels of contributions that the contract will allow, and sometimes impose charges for transferring to another provider. Each contract however will be different and it is important to assess the features and benefits of individual personal pension plans to determine their effectiveness with your retirement planning.