Schedule the future crystallisation of a money purchase pension (UK)

UK - Should withdrawals from money purchases be scheduled as crystallisations or planned withdrawals? 

This consideration is especially important if you plan to take a large lump sum withdrawal of cash from the crystallisation of a money purchase (in our UK release).

Pension Commencement Lump Sum (PCLS) withdrawals from money purchases are still best scheduled on the Pensions > Money Purchase or Defined Contribution screens. Whereas regularly scheduled incomes from pensions or even large one-off withdrawals made for special purchases or debt payoffs are best scheduled on the new Planned Withdrawals screen.

When scheduled as a general crystallisation strategy on the Money Purchase screen , the software will know to sweep any surplus lump sum from the crystallisation into the owner’s default cash account, if it isn’t scheduled to be transferred elsewhere.


Crystallisation of a Money Purchase Pension

This screen will usually be disabled (greyed out) when you first come to it unless a set of crystallisation instructions had been added to the case previously through Voyant Adviser and the “Apply Crystallisation Instructions” checkbox was ticked.

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To schedule a crystallisation in AdviserGo: 

1. Go to the Dashboard screen and open the money purchase or as you are entering a new money purchase, click the Crystallisations tab in the left navigation. 

2. Toggle on “Apply Crystallisation Instructions” at the top of the screen. This is the equivalent of ticking the “Apply Crystallisation Instructions” check box in Adviser.

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3. Click Add Crystallisation.

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Crystallisations can be scheduled based on a percentage of the account or in a fixed amount, with or without inflation. These are the same options found in Voyant Adviser.

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The same Tax-Free Cash (PCLS) options available today in Adviser are available in AdviserGo.

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The main difference between the handling of crystallisations in Adviser and AdviserGo is the exclusion of the Frequency options from AdviserGo. 

Recurring crystallisations are no longer needed since these can be scheduled easily and with more options on the Planned Withdrawals screen.

The only option that could be missed is the concept of Phased Crystallisations whereby the software evenly divides the balance of the pension over a given number of years. This will remain available in Adviser, but we are not including it in AdviserGo in order to make the screen more streamlined, less complicated.

 

Crystallising Less than One Hundred Percent of a Pension

If less than 100% of the pension is scheduled to be crystallised initially, you could click Add Crystallisation to schedule a further crystallisation.

Provided your crystallisations are set in percentages (not as an amount), logic is present so that if you crystallise less than 100% of a pensions then any further percentage-based liquidations will be limited accordingly.

For example, If you were to schedule 75% of the pension to be crystallised initially, then your next crystallisation would be automatically limited to 25%, as shown below.

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Reactivating Past Crystallisation Instructions

Even if the Crystallisation screen is deactivated (greyed out) initially, it may still show a set of legacy crystallisation instructions.

AdviserGo will retain old crystallisation instructions that have since been disabled. This is the equivalent of scheduling a crystallisation in Voyant Adviser at some point in the past and then unticking the “Apply Crystallisation Instructions” checkbox.

While the crystallisation remains onscreen, it will be inactive, at least until you decide toggle on “Apply Crystallisation Instructions”.

If you want to change this initial set of instructions, crystallising less or to change the crystallisation event, toggle on “Apply Crystallisation Instructions” and click the box showing the crystallisation instructions to make changes to them.

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How to Switch Off Crystallisation Instructions

Switching off pension crystallisations is easy. Perhaps you’ve entered crystallisation instructions only to find you are better served by allowing the software to take income from the pension as needed (the software’s default). Maybe you would rather take a more hands-on approach, scheduling a pension income on the Planned Incomes screen where withdrawals can be set as UFPLS or flexi-access. If you have entered crystallisation instructions and then later decide not to use them:

1. Go to the Dashboard in AdviserGo and open the money purchase.

2. Select the Crystallisations tab.

3. Toggle off "Apply Crystallisation Instructions", top-left. The screen should become greyed out (be deactivated), indicating the crystallisation instructions are no longer in effect.

The crystallisation instructions will remain on screen, however, should you ever decide to reactivate them by toggling on "Apply Crystallisation Instructions".

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How to Delete Crystallisation Instructions Individually

To delete an individual crystallisation instruction:

1. Go to the Dashboard in AdviserGo and open the money purchase.

2. Select the Crystallisations tab.

3. Click the crystallisation you want to delete.

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A dialogue will show editable details about the crystallisation.

4. Click the wastebasket icon, top-left, to delete the scheduled crystallisation, as shown below.

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5. Click Delete when prompted to confirm the deletion.

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