Billions in pension freedom cash 'flows into bank accounts'

£3bn 'languishing' in low yielding accounts

Jenna Towler
clock • 3 min read

People accessing their savings through pensions freedom are continuing to extract money from their retirement pots to put it into unfavourable bank accounts with £3bn transferred so far, analysis from AJ Bell has found.

The provider said its analysis showed £3bn of pension money was now "languishing" in low yielding bank accounts. It added people who had made such transfers now faced a tax "double jeopardy" on withdrawals and well as low returns.  The analysis also found just a quarter of the £17.5bn released via pension freedom had been spent on day-to-day living (£4.7bn) despite pensions usually being in place to support later life.  The investment platform said its statistics were based on a survey of 370 people who have accessed their pension flexibly since April 2015. It then applied the results...

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