Retirement Account

A flexible personal pension which allows your client to save through single or regular payments, make transfers from other pensions, chose from a wide range of funds and access benefits flexibly.

Product details

Next steps

Key Documents

Learn about our improved online service

Our latest update to the Retirement Account online services offers enhanced functionality to improve the experience for you and your clients.

Learn more

Features

Helps your client save for retirement in a tax-efficient way using either a Pension Savings Account or a Pension Income Account.
This product provides flexibility for your client and offers a wide range of investment choices.
This product allows single or regular contributions and withdrawals or the ability to take a lump sum.
They can also transfer in other pensions they may have.
The ability to choose from a wide range of investment options, including our PruFund range of funds and hundreds of collective funds within one pension.
Contributions can be made by the client, their employer, a third party or by transferring money from an existing pension scheme.
It offers your client flexibility to change their retirement income in the future if their circumstances change.
Your client can monitor their Retirement Account online at any time by registering for our Retirement Account Online Services.

Risks

Withdrawals could deplete the fund before death, your client could run out of money in their lifetime.
The value of your client’s investment could go down as well as up. They may not get back what they have paid in.
Inflation will affect the value of the money your client gets back.
If the total of charges and costs are higher than the investment growth, your client's plan will fall in value. Charges may also increase in future.
The amount of income your client takes could push them into a higher tax bracket.
If your client is transferring their pension to us, there is no guarantee that the overall amount they receive will be as high as what they could have received from their previous provider, also any guaranteed rates that they had with their previous provider will not be transferred.

About the Retirement Account

The Retirement Account has two parts, the Pension Savings Account and the Pension Income Account, and your clients can choose to invest in either or both of these parts. We also offer the flexibility to phase money from the Pension Savings Account to the Pension Income Account.

Pension Savings Account

Contributions and transfers are paid in and invested in this account, with the exception of drawdown to drawdown transfers which are invested straight into the Pension Income Account.
Taken from the normal minimum pension age (currently 55), UFPLS (Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sums) can be withdrawn from the Pension Savings Account.
Every time your client takes an UFPLS, 25% will usually be tax-free and the rest of the money will be treated as a source of income and taxed accordingly.

Pension Income Account

Investments from the Pension Savings Account are moved to this account to access drawdown and tax-free cash.
Up to 25% of the amount can usually be taken tax-free, then the rest can be taken as taxable income if required.
Transfers from other drawdown plans are paid in and invested here.

Eligibility

The Prudential Retirement Account is available to anyone who is a resident of the United Kingdom. It can be opened up on behalf of children under the age of 18.

Clients can make payments in to the Retirement Account until they are aged 75.

Money from another pension can be transferred in before and after the age of 75.

Contributions

There is no maximum contribution or transfer amount, but for any requests to invest a total of £1 million or more, please contact your account manager. Contributions must be made in Sterling from a UK bank account.

Drawdown

Drawdown allows clients to take a tax-free lump sum and income payments directly from their pension fund, thereby allowing potential investment growth on the remaining fund.

Clients can normally start taking pensions benefits from drawdown from age 55.

Our Retirement Account offers two drawdown options:

Flexi-Access Drawdown

A form of drawdown which allows you to take an unlimited amount of income or lump sums from a pension fund.

Capped Income Drawdown

Restrictions apply to the amount of income that can be withdrawn.
Capped Drawdown is no longer available for new arrangements and can only be taken if transferring from an existing Capped Drawdown arrangement.
Our Capped Drawdown GAD Calculator can be used to find out the monthly gilt yield and impact of this on the amount of income that can be taken from income drawdown as well as seeing historic gilt yields in a chart and table format.
Three yearly income reviews are required.

Benefits of Drawdown

Currently up to 25% tax-free lump sum can be taken, and without starting to take a regular income.
Client control over investment - may be able to take an increasing income if investment grows, but equally, this may be reduced if it falls in value.
Investment continuity for clients moving from our Pension Savings Account into Pension Income Account.
Pension pots or drawdown plans held with other providers can be transferred across quickly and efficiently.

Please remember that your client's fund could be depleted before their death and they may run out of money in their lifetime if they continue to take income from their investment.

Taxation is dependent on your client's individual circumstances and can change in the future.

Investment options

The Retirement Account offers a wide range of investment choices. Your client can hold any combination of investment options, including our established PruFund range of funds and hundreds of collective funds, within one pension.

Remember that the value of your client’s investment can go down as well as up. They may not get back what they have paid in.

PruFund range of funds

The PruFund range of funds aim to grow your client's money whilst smoothing the investment journey. For more information on the PruFund funds, see our PruFund Fund Guide (PDF).

For Expected Growth Rates (EGR) and historical performance, check our EGR hub.

PruFund Planet Fund Range

A choice of five risk-managed, multi-asset funds each with its own risk profile, actively managed by M&G's Treasury and Investment Office (T&IO). PruFund Planet enables advisers to design an investment strategy that suits the client’s appetite for risk and reward, whilst helping to ensure their money works to deliver positive environmental and societal outcomes.

More about PruFund Planet Fund Range

Prudential Risk Managed Active Range

A choice of five risk-managed multi-asset collective funds each with its own risk profile, investing at least 70% in active collective investments. M&G Investment Management Ltd, part of M&G plc, are the investment managers for the Risk Managed Active funds. They make the relevant adjustments to the portfolio based on M&G Treasury & Investment Office recommendations.

More about the Risk Managed Active Range

Prudential Risk Managed Passive Range

A choice of five risk-managed multi-asset collective funds each with its own risk profile, investing at least 70% in passive collective investments. M&G Investment Management Ltd, part of M&G plc, are the investment managers for the Risk Managed Passive funds. They make the relevant adjustments to the portfolio based on M&G Treasury & Investment Office recommendations.

More about the Risk Managed Passive Range

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Funds

We’ve increased the choice of funds available on Retirement Account by adding a range of ESG funds (including the PruFund Planet Fund Range detailed above) which invest in asset classes such as equities, fixed income, property and alternatives, from a range of M&G and external fund managers.

Within the range there are both sustainable and climate focused funds managed by M&G, meeting high ESG standards and investing in companies driven by sustainability.

More about the ESG Funds

Collective Funds

Your client can also access hundreds of collective investment funds from a variety of fund management groups, allowing them to choose funds with different managers or management approaches.

We provide a fund filtering tool, fund fact sheets and fund reporting documents to help you review and suggest the right investments for your client.

Other investment options

For even more choice, we also give access to other investment options, such as direct investment in UK stocks and shares, investment trusts and exchange traded funds through Stocktrade.

PruFund guarantees

The PruFund Protected Funds are currently unavailable to new investments.

If your client invests in certain PruFunds from the PruFund range of funds, two different kinds of guarantee may be available, at an additional charge.

A capital guarantee that can secure all or part of certain PruFund investments at a set date in the future; this is the guarantee date.
A minimum income guarantee that can secure a minimum income from all or part of certain PruFund investments in your Pension Income Account.

Charges and costs

There are a number of charges which may apply to the Prudential Retirement Account:

product charge
investment charges and costs
trading and nominees charges
guarantee charge
adviser charges

There is more information on all of the applicable charges below. Alternatively, download our Fast Facts (PDF) document.

Product charges

We will make an annual charge for administering the Retirement Account, taken monthly as a percentage of the Fund Value. The Fund Value may be eligible for a Fund Size Discount.

Total Value Of Retirement Account	Yearly Product Charge After Discount
£0 - £99,999	0.30%
£100,000 - £249,999	0.20%
£250,000 - £499,999	0.15%
£500,000 - £749,999	0.15%
£750,000 - £999,999	0.125%
£1,000,000+	0.10%

The product charge is taken from all investments in the Retirement Account, including the Cash Account, and is deducted differently depending on the type of investment. Charges may vary in future.

PruFund

Taken by unit deduction for guaranteed and non-guaranteed unit holdings.

Cash Account and Collectives

Payment made from the Cash Account of the Total Product Charge minus the PruFund Product Charge.
If the value of the Cash Account cannot cover the Product Charge, disinvestment of assets will be required.

For more information, including the charges and Fund Size Discounts, please see our Fast Facts document (PDF).

Investment charges and costs

Yearly charge

This is a charge for looking after the investment. This may vary between funds and may change throughout the lifetime of the Prudential Retirement Account. Where your client has invested in PruFund, this charge can also be referred to as an Annual Management Charge.

Further costs

There are other costs that aren’t covered by the yearly charge. These can include, for example, maintenance costs for property investments and costs associated with investing in infrastructure, such as utilities, transport and renewable energy. These costs can vary over time.

For external funds, they are described as "ongoing charges" and quoted as a percentage in the Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs).

Additional information on Further costs for our PruFund range is available in the PruFund Fund Guide (PDF).

For all fund types, the charge is calculated daily and reflected in the fund's price.

Guarantee charges

The PruFund Protected Funds are currently unavailable to new investments.

There is a charge for both types of guarantee, taken monthly. The price paid is set when your client takes out a guarantee and applies for the length of time the guarantee is in place. Although our guarantee charges may vary in the future for other investments, your client will continue to pay the charge fixed at the beginning of their guarantee.

If a new guarantee is taken out, a different charge may apply.

If your client turns off a guarantee, they can't have another guarantee of the same kind for 12 months unless:

they are adding a guarantee to new payments to their plan, or
they have switched off a guarantee in their Pension Savings Account so they can move money to their Pension Income Account where they want a guarantee to apply

Guarantees will automatically come to an end on your client's death and can't be passed on to any beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will be able to take out guarantees of their own.

Adviser charging options

The Retirement Account offers flexible adviser charging options, which you can tailor to your business model and client requirements.

The charge is deducted from the cash account or in line with the disinvestment profile provided if insufficient cash exists.
Adviser charges can be taken proportionally across all of your client's funds or you can specify which funds you want charges to be taken from.

Initial Adviser Charge

Deducted prior to investment for new business.
The initial adviser charge is taken from the cash account (disinvestment of assets will be needed if insufficient cash exists).
For single contributions and transfers, the Initial Adviser Charge can be expressed as a percentage of the contribution or a fixed monetary amount. The maximum adviser charge that can be facilitated is 5% of the initial investment. The aggregate of all Initial and any Ad hoc Adviser Charges cannot exceed £30,000 in any 12 month period.
For regular contributions, the charge can be specified as a single percentage of the contribution, payable for a number of premium payments as agreed with your client. The maximum adviser charge on regular contributions is equal or equivalent to 25% of the initial 12 monthly payments.
For a percentage charge for initial advice on an unvested contribution the specified percentage is applied to the gross contribution, i.e the total of the contribution and the tax relief. The maximum amount is restricted to the value of contribution before tax relief is added.

Ad hoc Adviser Charge

Selected as a specified monetary amount. The maximum ad hoc charge is 2% of the fund value in a 12 month period.
The charge will be deducted from the cash account (disinvestment of assets will be needed if insufficient cash exists).
The aggregate of all Initial and Ad hoc Adviser Charges cannot exceed £30,000 in any 12 month period.

Ongoing Adviser Charges

Applied monthly, quarterly or annually - a fixed monetary amount or a percentage of up to 1% of the Account fund value.
The charge will be deducted from the cash account (disinvestment of assets will be needed if insufficient cash exists).

Trading and nominee charges

Charges made for Stocktrade Investments are:

Trading	Min. Fee	Fee %	Max Fee
Online Trading	£15	0.5	£75
Offline Trading	An additional charge of £30 per trade will be applied where a trade is requested offline (phone, email, fax).

Nominee

Nominee charges of £20 per quarter (payable January, April, July & October) will also apply. There is no charge for transfer in of UK stocks but a £15 stock transfer out charge will apply.

"Prudential" is a trading name of Prudential Distribution Limited. Prudential Distribution Limited is registered in Scotland. Registered Office at 5 Central Way, Kildean Business Park, Stirling, FK8 1FT. Registered number SC212640. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Prudential Distribution Limited is part of the same corporate group as the Prudential Assurance Company Limited. The Prudential Assurance Company Limited and Prudential Distribution Limited are direct/indirect subsidiaries of M&G plc which is a holding company registered in England and Wales with registered number 11444019 and registered office at 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M 5AG, some of whose subsidiaries are authorised and regulated, as applicable, by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority. These companies are not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc, a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America or Prudential plc, an international group incorporated in the United Kingdom.