News room

2022 was a difficult year for financial markets, with a variety of factors causing uncertainty, and you may find that this has affected your pension fund. Please read our article for further details on the impact of recent market volatility on your pension fund.
The pandemic’s undermining affect upon commercial property values has been striking – and rising interest rates will continue to exert downward pressure across the sector. It is here that increasingly advantageous investment opportunities will continue to present themselves to company directors who could be in a position to jettison existing rental overheads by acquiring commercial premises, thereby strengthening their business’s balance sheets.
We catch up with Roger Grosvenor, our Pensions Consultant for Options EBC. Here he shares his career backstory and what sets Options apart from their competitors.
Our Business Partnership Manager - Lisa Bardell. Here she shares her time at Options and her hobbies.
Today, pensions have become the largest component of household wealth, a fact of economic life which even the pandemic has been unable to change. How will soaring inflation, strikes, and a very real risk of recession impact your pension?
Following the “mini-budget” announced by the new Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the subsequent response by the Bank Of England, you may have seen news stories talking about pensions, or UK markets, and become concerned about your own pension. The Trustees want to reassure members that they invest funds in a wide and varied range of asset classes and countries. This helps protect our members’ pensions funds from significant falls in value by spreading out their exposure to risk. The value of your fund will go up and down over your lifetime, but over the long term your investment value should grow.
Options UK will be able to significantly expand its SIPP and SSAS portfolios following acquisition plans announced by its parent company, STM Group Plc. The cross border financial services provider has entered into an agreement to acquire the portfolio, net assets, and trustee companies of the SIPP and SSAS businesses, from JLT Benefit Solutions Limited, part of Mercer Limited.
The climate emergency, plus many other economic and political crises, have made many of us think more carefully about how our investment decisions affect the world around us. That trend is continuing to fuel the growth in ESG (environment, social and governance), and Sharia-compliant investing (sometimes referred to in terms of Islamic finance or Halal investing).
Hardly a day goes by without more bad news about the rising cost of living. Its impact on food and heating bills is always in the headlines, but it’s also worth thinking about what it means when you are saving for your retirement. To help you get started, here are 3 points to consider when you speak to your independent regulated financial adviser about your workplace pension, personal pension, SIPP, or other investment plans.
Options For Your Tomorrow is quoted in this lead article on International Investment - According to Christine Hallett, CEO of Options For Your Tomorrow, "If you have not used your full annual allowance during the past three tax years, carry forward enables you to ‘plug' any gaps, provided you were a member of a registered pension scheme during the relevant period. "For example, someone who earned £50,000 in 2019-20 and saved £1,200 a month into their SIPP could theoretically use their excess savings and invest up to £25,600 into their pension for the tax year ending April 2020. Such an investment would attract tax relief of £6,400.