Stakeholder Pensions Explained
If you are reading these articles in order, so far you will have read about the basic state pension, the additional state pension and what is known as personal pensions.
The next type of pension to understand is called the Stakeholder Pension - this one confuses people as the word stakeholder can be quite unfamiliar to many.
These are actually a subset or type of the personal pension, and there are certain standards that are imposed by the government on stakeholder pensions - the reason for this is to ensure that they are good value for those that hold them.
Everyone can have a stakeholder pension, and are ideal for those who are either self-employed, or for whom their company doesn't offer a pension scheme.
The minimum you can put in is £20 on a monthly basis, and also whilst people assume pensions are only for those who work, you don't have to work in order to pay into a stakeholder pension, and another notable feature is that if you are unable to contribute every month then you don't have to do so.
Income comes out from these at the age of 50, which will be 55 in 2010, and there is also tax relief on these pensions, which is as explained in the personal pensions article.