Why is this? I genuinely don't know how accessing a SIPP at an earlier age advantages the holder. If argue in the current economic situation it might make sense to allow people to retire earlier (if they have means within their pensions) to free up room in the employment chain for other workers. So back to the question, why shouldn't someone be able to access their SIPP at 50 if they had half a million quid in there or whatever?
Can only agree Ryan...I am 51 with a private pension i put in a HL sipp seems daft it’s inaccessible until i am 55 should i feel the need ...but those are currently the rules i just hope they dont move the goal posts in next 3 1/2 years....as i have my eye on a 5726
To make you work as long as possible so you're paying more income tax & NI to the government. Also if the age is too low you could run out of money too early and then rely on more state benefits??
I'm quite happy it's 55 - i'm actually surprised it's not older to be honest. Nothing to stop you funding earlier retirement with selling off ISA, investments, property, gold, watches etc is there..
It gets worse. In 2028 it goes up to 57....
The official answer is that the access age increase reflects increasing longevity and encourages people to remain in work.
The change will affect you if you are younger than 47 just now.
You can access private pensions before the minimum access age but the possibility of a 55% tax charge means it would rarely be in your interests to do so. If anyone offers to ‘help’ you access your pension before the earliest access age you should run a mile as it’s likely an unregulated scam
After tax relief’s been obtained there’s going to be an age restriction so why not 55?
If you want access at 50, why not 45 or 40 or even earlier?
On a side note about pensions - I attended an interesting IFS webinar today - overall the self-employed save a pitiful amount for pensions and what they have managed to save declines every year:
https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/15103
Straight bat answer is that the (alleged) benefits of pension savings is to encourage you to save for retirement and, given life expectancy at birth of 79 (male)/83 (female), giving access at, say, 50 means that savings would be spread thinly. (And, indeed, if you make it to 50, your life expectancy is 84/87 so 34/37 years.)Originally Posted by ryanb741
More crudely, I think they were worried about people taking their money out and p***ing it away double quick to then be potentially benefit claimants. vulcangascompany also makes a good point about keeping people in the "active" economy.
Which then adds weight to my point about needing to make savings last by allowing access only at older age.
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