A business couple in their late fifties had a need for capital to assist their son in the purchase of a property.

Although they had some cash and a share portfolio,they did not want to disturb these as their existing cash was needed both personally and within their business and their shares would trigger a capital gain if sold,therefore they needed advice on the options available to them.

Following a full review we discovered that they had personal pension funds which jointly were valued at £360,000. As they were both over age 55, we advised them to move funds into a drawdown arrangement and take the maximum tax free lump sums (25% of fund value, £90,000), this released sufficient capital to assist with house purchase.

As the  clients were still working and in receipt of salaries as directors of their own company,they had no need of further income. However we advised them to take the maximum pension allowable and recycle this as a pension contribution, therefore allowing them to reclaim tax at their highest rate on this contribution. The additional pension contributions, funded by the income withdrawals, now went into a fund from which they could take further tax free cash withdrawals in the future and should either of them die before age 75, the whole of the fund in the new plan would be available to the surviving spouse free of all taxes, thus creating a much more effective tax planning strategy, whilst safeguarding their financial security.