Interesting curation of Blacktower Financial Management news

Few financial decisions are as important to an expat as the question of how and where they invest into a pension scheme.

This is why the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index is so useful in terms of assessing the adequacy, sustainability and integrity of different nations’ pension systems. The 10th edition of the index was recently published and makes for interesting reading from an expat pension perspective.

The top spot in the list of 34 national pension systems was gained by the Netherlands having scored 80.3 – just a tenth of a point ahead of last year’s winner, Denmark.

Readers may remember the pension freedoms announced by George Osborne in 2014.  These became effective on April the 6th this year. The fanfare accompanying the announcement and indeed subsequently is often set against the backdrop of pensioners sat in Daimlers or on Yachts having drawn all their money out and lavished it on some frivolous purchase.

The reforms promised that over 55’s would have access to their pension cash as they pleased whether it was the full amount or in small payments. Or indeed it could be left invested. The choices on offer appeared staggering, always bearing in mind that there are tax implications for taking large sums.