Why haven’t I heard of SSAS?

It’s incredible how many people ask us this question…

Why haven’t I heard of SSAS?

We believe that all Business Owners should at the very least be made aware of the options and benefits available to them with a SSAS

Don’t worry, you aren’t the first person to wonder why you haven’t heard of SSAS. We find that many clients are bemused or frustrated that they haven’t been told about SSAS, where it clearly offers great benefits and opportunities for them as business owners.

We hear these questions every day from Clients and their Advisers;

  • Why I haven’t I heard of SSAS?

  • Why hasn’t my Accountant mentioned it?

  • Why has my Financial Adviser not recommended it?

  • It seems too good to be true?

This needs to be understood in context

  • SSAS is designed specifically for Business owners and is not a retail / mass market offering and it is not a product, rather SSAS is a stand alone legal entity that is created specifically for you and for you to control and direct as a Business Owner 
  • SSAS was created in 1973, by the Government, to recognise that Business Owners should have the capacity to make a take decisions with their Pensions in the same way that they do with their business and livelihood. This clearly is a brilliant tool, however not everybody understands the ethos of SSAS or that it even exists

  • SSAS is an HMRC approved Occupational Pension structure, like all pensions offered by all household name / large UK employers

  • SSAS is Regulated – by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), who regulate all Occupational Pension Schemes in the UK

 

Highly specialised 

SSAS is a specialist area of expertise, within a specialist sector, and whilst tens of thousands of SSAS’s exist in the UK, it is not and is not intended to be a mass-market pension structure, as it is specifically only able to be accessed by Limited Company owners and consequently far fewer people tend to talk about SSAS.

In addition, as SSAS is wrapped around a person’s Business, their Family and their Pension, it is usually a very sensitive and private matter that tends not to be discussed too widely.

Accountants?

Many Accountants are unaware of SSAS and the Tax benefits and design benefits that can aid and assist their clients. It is not their area of expertise.

Many Accountants also feel, incorrectly, that SSAS is an FCA regulated process that they should not become involved with in case of professional risk.

IFA / Financial Advisers?

Many Financial Advisers do not specialise in this sector, and many do not feel comfortable operating in a non-FCA regulated environment, or they are unable to, due to their own compliance restrictions. SSAS is of course regulated, it’s just not the same retail / consumer regulator that Financial Advisers are familiar with. As an Occupational Pension structure, SSAS is regulated by The Pension Regulator

Many other advisers feel that SSAS is not commercially viable for them, due to the self-investment nature of SSAS and the potential for an adviser to be side stepped in that process. A Financial Advisers own business is generally valued on the basis of how much client money they “manage”. Many advisers perhaps also that fear that you having control of your pension, is not advantageous to their business. Disappointing, although incredibly common.

Here are my thoughts on why you haven’t heard of SSAS until now:

Get started here

To help you start your process of understanding how SSAS can benefit you and your business, we have created our SSAS Blueprint Education  programme

SSAS is a very specialist tool, and we have found over many years that Business owners are blown away at the power and capabilities of SSAS. To ensure that we share SSAS information and open up our extensive resources and network capabilities with the right business owners, we now provide access to those specialist resources, expertise, experience and valuable contacts within our Exclusive SSAS Bllueprint Education programme

The cost of our Blueprint programme is minimal, the value within is priceless!