Finance Choices
HSBC Pensions
HSBC pensions will have to become more flexible in order to reflect the changing needs and expectations of people in modern society, a new study by the bank has suggested.
"The Future of Retirement", a comprehensive study on global attitudes to ageing and retirement, shows that for many people today traditional retirement is no longer a reality.
The changes in attitude are thought to be due in part to the ageing of the "baby boomer" generation, declining fertility rates and increasing lifespans, all of which are changing the way in which people see pensions.
In particular, the study found that more people thought the retirement age should be raised to cope with increasing pressure (45 per cent), with 26 per cent saying they would prefer higher taxes and only 15 per cent in favour of reducing pension benefits.
"This new way of thinking highlighted by the research should change the way governments, companies and financial institutions deal with ageing and retirement," said Dr Ken Dychtwald, president of US-based consultancy practice Age Wave, which managed the research for HSBC.
Sir John Bond, group chairman of HSBC Holdings, said that the changes posed "real challenges" to the way in which HSBC pensions would operate in the future.
He concluded: "We remain committed to exploring this area more fully, using our findings to guide our own products and services to better fit the increasingly complex, increasingly flexible demands of consumers as well as adding a new dimension to the global debate."
About HSBC Pensions
HSBC Pensions allow you to prepare for a healthy retirement. For the third consecutive time HSBC has been awarded a coveted Five Star Award for its Stakeholder and Personal Pensions. HSBC Stakeholder Pensions are both a flexible and low-cost way to prepare for retirement. You can contribute to a Stakeholder Pension whether you employed, a fixed-contract worker, self-employed, or even not working but able to afford contributions. HSBC will even allow you to make lump-sum contributions whenever you like. At retirement you use your pension fund to buy an annuity. The annuity will pay you a regular income during your retirement. You can even choose to receive up to 25% of your fund as a tax-free lump sum.
"The Future of Retirement", a comprehensive study on global attitudes to ageing and retirement, shows that for many people today traditional retirement is no longer a reality.
The changes in attitude are thought to be due in part to the ageing of the "baby boomer" generation, declining fertility rates and increasing lifespans, all of which are changing the way in which people see pensions.
In particular, the study found that more people thought the retirement age should be raised to cope with increasing pressure (45 per cent), with 26 per cent saying they would prefer higher taxes and only 15 per cent in favour of reducing pension benefits.
"This new way of thinking highlighted by the research should change the way governments, companies and financial institutions deal with ageing and retirement," said Dr Ken Dychtwald, president of US-based consultancy practice Age Wave, which managed the research for HSBC.
Sir John Bond, group chairman of HSBC Holdings, said that the changes posed "real challenges" to the way in which HSBC pensions would operate in the future.
He concluded: "We remain committed to exploring this area more fully, using our findings to guide our own products and services to better fit the increasingly complex, increasingly flexible demands of consumers as well as adding a new dimension to the global debate."
About HSBC Pensions
HSBC Pensions allow you to prepare for a healthy retirement. For the third consecutive time HSBC has been awarded a coveted Five Star Award for its Stakeholder and Personal Pensions. HSBC Stakeholder Pensions are both a flexible and low-cost way to prepare for retirement. You can contribute to a Stakeholder Pension whether you employed, a fixed-contract worker, self-employed, or even not working but able to afford contributions. HSBC will even allow you to make lump-sum contributions whenever you like. At retirement you use your pension fund to buy an annuity. The annuity will pay you a regular income during your retirement. You can even choose to receive up to 25% of your fund as a tax-free lump sum.
posted by Barbara Gordon at 12:49 PM
HSBC Pensions
5 Comments:
Hi,
I hope some of you can advise/help me with the following as I really know very little about this sort of thing.......
Back in 2000 I worked for a brief period of time for a friend's company (very small, not overly welll run show). The MD decided to try and be a 'proper' company and set up a pension scheme for us, which was an HSBC Grouped Personal Pension Plan. Being a fresh faced graduate, I knew nothing about pensions and just thought "oh, pension, I'll be needing one of those" and paid into it. Unfortunately I was made redundant, and kind of forgot all about it until recently when sorting out some old paperwork.
Well, I've been in contact with HSBC and been told that there is a value of £210.35 with NI contributions of £695.48. I know its not a great deal of money, but I now need to decide what to do with it. The guy I spoke to on the phone gave me a very brief outline of my options and is arranging for me to speak to one of their pension managers to discuss in further detail. I have been assured they won't give me the hard sell, but am still wary!
The options given are:
1) Do nothing (apparently this is a stupid thing to do, the guy on the phone said)
2) Re-start payments into it (I can't really afford this at the moment and if I did choose this option it would only be a couple of quid a month).
3) Transfer to another pension scheme (I currently have a government pension scheme which I pay into and have had running for the past two odd years).
Thanking you all in advance!
Alley
1) Doing nothing for the rest of your life means you will earn about £4600 a year (in todays terms) in retirement. Whether you decide thats enough or not is your choice. Virtually everyone will say its not enough and doing nothing is foolish.
2) Hardly worth it unless you are looking towards contributions of around 5-15% of your salary.
3) This bit should have been mentioned higher up as it basically invalidates all other points. Depending on which of the Civil Service schemes you are in, you may end up finding that there is no need for any other pension arrangement as this will be enough. Therefore just building up a lump sum savings would be more appropriate.
Transferring into the scheme is a valid option and may be the best one depending on what the occupational scheme give you for the amount of the transfer.
Although we cannot give advice here, if the HSBC tied agent suggests you pay into the personal pension, then walk away.
Has anyone got an HSBC stakeholder pension? I got one last year, and now so has my wife. I am only putting in about £75 a month before tax added, and I have 80% on international fund and the rest on FTSE. I know this is high risk, but I am 28 yrs old. I am more or less fully self employed, so this is all I am putting into a pension at the moment. It's all I can afford, but hopefully i can put more later.
Is this a good idea?
Is HSBC good?
Has anyone had any experiences with this?
HSBC Bank is launching a stakeholder-ready pension for those 14.5 million adults who are unprepared for retirement.
In a further move that is costing the bank several million pounds this year alone HSBC is also reducing charges and abolishing monthly policy fees for all its existing pensions customers. This rewards existing customers and ensures they will benefit from stakeholder terms.
HSBC pensions initiative meets the government's expected stakeholder blueprint. It means a customer could have an extra £6,600(2) in their pension fund if they start saving today rather than waiting for the official launch in 2001.
HSBC's new stakeholder-ready pension offers:
No monthly policy fee
No transfer penalties
No charge for fund switches or redirections
No bid/offer spread
No minimum term
Contributions can start from as little as £20
100% of customers contributions go `straight' into their pension
Life cover and waiver of premium available
Only 1% annual management charge
"We are the first high street bank to offer customers a truly stakeholder friendly pension and we're rewarding existing customers," says Harpal Karlcut, Head of Life, Health and Pensions at HSBC Bank, "No matter how large or small their contribution, we want to help everyone save for their retirement - and we aim to more than triple our market share to over 5 per cent.
"The message is loud and clear - people can no longer count on the State to look after them when they are old. If it's in their best interests, we will make it easy for customers to transfer into stakeholder plans with HSBC or any other provider. We guarantee that no additional charge will be made."
Despite the simplification of pensions many people still regard this as a complex area. HSBC has financial planning managers who can conduct a full financial review for any customer arranging a new pension. Unlike other direct providers of stakeholder compliant pensions, these reviews can take place face-to-face in any one of the bank's 1,700 high street branches.
I wondered if anyone knows about the Grouped Personal Pension Plan with HSBC? I wanted to know if i was able to take the money out that i have saved?
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