Jargon Buster

A-C   D-F   G-I   J-N  O-S  T-Z

we make it child's
play

A- C

A-Day: A really big day on the UK pensions landscape, 6 April 2006 to be precise, when the UK government implemented a new single tax regime for pensions.   The purpose was to reduce all the complexity surrounding pensions and just make things a lot simpler to understand.

Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC): These are payments that can you can make to top up your occupational pension schemes to boost your retirement savings.

Annual allowance: The Revenue sets an annual allowance on the amount that can be paid into all your registered pension schemes, without incurring a tax charge.  The annual allowance rates are:

2007/08 - £225,000        2008/09 - £235,000       2009/10 - £245,000        2010/11 - £255,000

Annuity: An annuity provides you with a regular income.  The income can either be a fixed amount or can increase annually at a set rate, and is normally paid until death of the person receiving the income.

Appropriate scheme: A registered pension scheme which you can use to contract out of the state second pension or a registered pension scheme that accepts "protected rights" (contracted out) transfers.

Assurance: Also known as insurance but generally used for life assurance. Insurance covers an uncertain event whereas life assurance covers a certain event (i.e. death) only where the date is unknown.

Basic State Pension: The benefit provided at state pension age to those with a sufficient National Insurance Contribution record.

Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV): The amount offered to a member of an occupational pension scheme who wants to transfer to another pension scheme.  This is the value that you will be quoted in a pension transfer to New Zealand and is the amount that the transfer would be for.

Company pension policy: A pension policy operated by an employer for its employees. Generally, the employer helps fund employee contributions. However, some company schemes exist only for administrative convenience.

Contribution: Also known as a ’premium’ and usually used with regard to personal payments into a pension scheme or into investment-based products.

Crystallisation Event: An event where pension benefits become payable i.e. annuity purchase, death, starting an unsecured pension etc, and at which time a test against the lifetime allowance is carried out.

While others try and confuse you with complex and fancy language we like to keep it real and simple.

about us  |  privacy policy  |   legal  |  testimonials  |  jargon