There will be a short wait - a year, to be precise - before savers are finally able to dip into all of their pensions for however much they require, whenever they please.
That dramatic relaxation of government rules, which ends the compulsion to turn a pension fund into small monthly payments during retirement, was the highlight of the Budget 11 days ago. The Government will now give pension providers time to adjust their systems and practices.
However, many of the 320,000 people preparing to retire over the next 12 months need not delay their plans. Last Thursday a number of temporary measures were introduced that will give pensions freedom to tens of thousands of people.
These new rules are particularly beneficial to those with small subsidiary pensions of less than £10,000 which were saved alongside a final salary pension. The over-60s can now cash in up to three pensions of this size, taking a quarter of each tax-free.
Several other measures, detailed below, also give savers greater choice over how to use money reserved for later years. They will enable some to clear mortgage debts or fund activities or gifts to children that were previously thought to be out of financial reach.
The Budget changes also represent a call to action for workers in their 50s. Many pension plans are designed specifically to be converted into an annuity when the saver retires.
In addition, the City watchdog will this summer initiate an inquiry into old pension plans and other investments sold before the turn of the millennium, which could offer an escape route to those trapped in high-charging policies. However, some older policies contain perks such as guaranteed payout rates that turn each £100,000 into as much as £11,000 a year.
Read full: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/10730617/How-to-tap-into-your-small-pension-pots.html
Video streaming provider Netflix is reportedly negotiating with Chinese media firms in a bid to enter the country's huge market. However, it could possibly be faced with challenges like censorship along the way.
According to reports, Netflix is currently in talks with several Chinese firms that hold content license in the country. Most notable among them is Wasu Media Holding, co-owned by Jack Ma of Alibaba.
Shares of Netflix increased sharply after reports of its possible operations in China became public. It increased by 5%, gaining around 30% since April and passing the USD 600 threshold for the first time. Moreover, the online video streaming service got almost 5 million new customers, reaching the all-time high of 60 million subscribers -- with 20 million coming from its foreign markets.
Doing business in Beijing will present a number of concerns for the company like potential censoring of certain programs and questions about streaming rights in the country. Netflix has been licensing some of its programs to Chinese companies before but is now looking to acquire global rights to its content.
However, Deep Blue Publications Group LLC reported that Netflix is cautiously saying that the company's plans in China is a modest one -- just a "small service" if things work out well with their negotiations.
"If we go, it will be a modest investment. Because we won't have that much content, we're going to be very cautious and feel our way along through that process, if we're able to get that license," said Netflix's Reed Hastings.
Their video streaming service has recently launched in New Zealand, Australia and later Japan. Looks like Netflix is getting closer to its goal of being available in two hundred nations as it has already reached 50 at present. Perhaps it's trying to boost its international presence more than ever as domestic growth is slowing down, according to Deep Blue Publications Group LLC. Indeed, its foreign markets' growth is overtaking that of its d
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