More than half a million older savers will be handed radical new freedoms from today as the start of a new “21st century pensions system” gets under way.
People aged 55 and over will be handed new powers to make one of the most important decisions of their lives – what to do with retirement savings that they have spent decades building up.
Older savers will no longer be required to use their pension pot to buy an annuity when they come to retire.
Instead, they can access their pots how they wish, subject to their marginal rate of income tax. They could take their pot in one go, or use it like a bank account and withdraw cash in slices.