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Cash interest explained |
You will receive interest on balances in your platform cash account at the prevailing rate.
Embark Investment Services Limited acts as the custodian for investments on the Willis Owen platform and is one of our strategic partners that provides our Willis Owen ISA, GIA, Junior ISA and SIPP.
Embark places cash with a number of banking partners for safekeeping and to provide the potential for you to earn interest on money in your platform cash account. By managing cash in this way, it aims to provide better protection and a higher overall level of interest than if all funds were placed with a single bank.
The rates of interest paid by banks will vary. Embark retains a portion of the interest earned to cover its costs in managing platform cash.
Current Interest Rate
The table below shows the current customer interest rate payable on cash balances along with the amount of interest retained by Embark. The customer interest rate shown is that after accounting for interest retained by Embark:
| Date From | Customer Interest Rate | Interest retained by Embark |
|---|---|---|
| 25th March 2024 | 2.46% | 1.75% - 2.00% |
Embark can change the rate of interest at any time and it reviews the position at least quarterly. Interest is calculated and accrued daily and is credited to your account on the first of each month. If you transfer out, accrued interest is applied at the point of transfer. We will inform you if and when the interest rate changes as soon as is practicable.
Interest retained
The table below shows the yearly equivalent rates of interest Embark expects to pay based on a range of possible yearly interest rates it may earn.
| Interest Embark expects to earn | Customer Interest Rate | Interest retained by Embark |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1% | 0 – 0.46% | 0 – 0.54% |
| 1-2% | 0.46% – 0.94% | 0.54% – 1.06% |
| 2-3% | 0.94% – 1.46% | 1.06% – 1.54% |
| 3-4% | 1.46% – 2.02% | 1.54% – 1.98% |
| 4-5% | 2.02% – 2.61% | 1.98% – 2.39% |
| 5%+ | 2.61%+ | 2.39%+ |
Historic Interest Rates
To see details of historic customer interest rates, along with the amount of interest retained by Embark, click here.
Investment Pathways explained |
If you choose income drawdown as a means to start accessing all or part of your pension pot, you'll need to decide where to invest the part of the pot that remains after taking any tax-free cash. Investment Pathways are ready-made investment solutions designed to help you make this choice based on how you intend to use your drawdown pot.
If you decide to use Investment Pathways to help you decide how to invest your drawdown pot, you'll choose one of four objectives based on how you would like to use your drawdown pot in the next 5 years. Each of these objectives is linked to an investment solution.
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Access your tax-free cash and take a flexible income. |
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Range of investment options including Investment Pathways. |
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View your portfolio 24/7 on our easy to use and secure platform |
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A wide range of funds, shares, investment trusts and ETFs |
| | You want to take a flexible income directly from your pension pot either now or in the future. |
| | You want to access some or all of your tax-free cash entitlement, leaving the remainder invested. |
| | You're comfortable with the risk involved. |
| | You want certainty as to the income you will receive for the rest of your life. |
| | You want to take out more than your tax-free cash but want to continue contributing more than £4,000 a year to pensions. |
| | You don't want to take any risk in relation to your pension income. |
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Income drawdown allows you take a regular income directly from your pot which you can stop, start or change at any time. |
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Any money you don't take stays invested in your pension plan giving it the potential to grow over time. You can even take out just your entitlement to tax-free cash and leave the remainder invested to be taken out later. |
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You don’t have to allocate all of your funds for drawdown in one-go and can move chunks of money into drawdown over time, taking your 25% tax-free cash entitlement each time to create a tax-efficient income. With drawdown, you decide the amount of income you want to take. It’s therefore important to think carefully about how much you withdraw and about how long you could live, in order to make sure you don’t run out prematurely. |
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There are no guarantees so if your investments perform badly you could run out early or have to reduce your withdrawals in later years. It’s also important to think about how the cost of living might increase over time. £1,000 today will almost certainly buy you more today than it will in 10 years’ time so the monetary amount of your withdrawals will usually have to increase over time to give you the same buying power. |
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If you allocate money to drawdown you can decide later to use the money in your drawdown pot to buy an annuity. This can be a good option as annuity rates improve as you get older and if your health deteriorates. |
The first 25% of any lump sum you take is usually tax-free and any withdrawals you take from your drawdown pot are subject to income tax at your highest marginal rate. The amount of income tax you pay depends on the level of your other income as well as your other personal circumstances. Think carefully before taking out large lump sums because you could end up with a substantial tax bill. There are limits to the overall amount of tax-free cash you can take from pensions as well as on the amount of any tax-free lump sum benefits which may be payable on your death.
Your drawdown pension pot will remain invested so it's important to think carefully about how your money is invested. You can choose your own investments from the wide range of investment options available on the Willis Owen Platform or, if you need help choosing an investment which is appropriate for how you want to use your drawdown pot, you can take a look at our Investment Pathways options.
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Choose your own investments Design your own drawdown investment portfolio using the wide range of funds, shares, investment trusts and exchange traded funds available on the Willis Owen Platform. |
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Use Investment Pathways Designed to make choosing your investments easier, select one of four objectives based on how you would like to use your drawdown pot over the next 5 years. We refer to these as investment pathways. Each of these options is linked to a ready-made fund solution Investment pathway options |
When investing you will pay a Willis Owen service fee as well as charges relating to the investments you choose to hold. Other than these, there are no additional charges for using income drawdown under your SIPP.
The Willis Owen service fee is a maximum of 0.4% of the value of your pot each year, and less for pots of more than £100,000. If you choose one of our Investment Pathway options, your investment charges would currently be between 0.14% and 0.21% of the value of your pot each year, depending on which option you choose.
If you choose your own investments, the investment charges will depend on your choices. If you invest in more specialist things like shares, investment trusts and exchange traded funds, you may also pay trade fees and government levies. Further details of all costs and charges can be found below and include VAT where applicable.
When investing you will pay a Willis Owen service fee as well as investment charges. If you invest in more specialist things like shares, investment trusts and exchange traded funds, you may also pay trade fees and government levies. Further details of all costs and charges can be found below and include VAT where applicable. When looking at the fees that other firms charge, you may notice that some don’t appear in our tariff. This means we don’t charge you these fees.
You can get an idea of how much you might pay in fees by using the ‘Charges estimator’.
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Access your tax-free cash and take a flexible income. |
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Range of investment options including Investment Pathways. |
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View your portfolio 24/7 on our easy to use and secure platform |
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A wide range of funds, shares, investment trusts and ETFs |
If you need more help you should seek regulated advice from a suitably qualified financial adviser. For help with finding a suitably qualified retirement adviser, take a look at the Retirement Advice Directory from the Money and Pensions Service.
If you need help considering your options, you can get free and impartial guidance from the Money and Pensions Service.
Our friendly customer service team are always on hand to answer any questions you may have although bear in mind we cannot offer personalised advice.
For a more in depth look at your options, take a look at our Guide to Taking Retirement Benefits.
Key Investor Information