Before you begin taking money from your pension, your assets are known as ‘uncrystallised’ money. When you set aside money from your pension to provide you with an income, that portion set aside is known as ‘crystallised’ money. For tax reasons, uncrystallised and crystallised savings are treated as separate ‘pots’. Previously, both of these ‘pots’ were held in one account within your pension.
On the new technology, to allow you and your adviser to manage these pots separately, they are set up as separate accounts with different account numbers. In some instances, such as where you have transferred assets from another provider to us, you may be given more than one crystallised account, meaning you could have three or more accounts within your pension.
If your CRA holds both uncrystallised and crystallised money, when you log in to our online services, or you look at your statement, your CRA appears as two or more separate accounts: i.e. housing your uncrystallised and crystallised money. You can see the value and fund selection for each account separately. In some scenarios, for example if you have fully crystallised your entire pension or are using our tax-efficient regular income facility, then one of these accounts may show a zero value; this is because your money is safely held in your other accounts.
If you are looking to take income from your Collective Investment Account, we always recommend that you speak to your financial adviser in the first instance.