Latest News & Views
Topping Up Your State Pension
Topping up your State Pension before you get to your State Pension Age could give a significant boost to your retirement income for the amount it costs. For a relatively small one-off payment, you could increase your State Pension for the rest of your life. In...
Why You Should Consider A Phased Retirement
Rather than completely giving up work at a set age why not consider a phased retirement? It used to be the case that once you hit your retirement age that was it, you packed up work to enjoy your twilight years. Or worse, you were forced to retire. Thankfully, age...
Retiring After A Redundancy – This Trick Could Boost Your Pension Pot
If you were already planning to retire then retiring after a redundancy is the jackpot position to be in. Not only were you going to leave your job anyway but now you also get a pay-out to add to your retirement savings and make the transition into retirement...
Paying Inheritance Tax Correctly Before HMRC Investigate
Despite dealing with the pandemic HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have had no problem opening investigations into recent deaths and ensuring that people are paying Inheritance Tax correctly. Inheritance Tax is a tax that could be due on the value of a person’s wealth...
Maximising Your Retirement Income
The problem when you retire is that you lose the safety net of your salary and therefore it is vital that you are maximising your retirement income. You are left with the savings you have built up through a lifetime of working and it’s unlikely those savings are...
Defined Benefit Pension Transfer Time Limits
Are you considering transferring your defined benefit pension and are you aware of the transfer time limits? Defined benefit pensions need to have their transfer value manually calculated by the scheme administrators. This transfer value is only valid for a short...
Pensions After Death – Easing The Pain
Do you know what happens to your pensions after death? After all, your pension pot is likely to be the second biggest asset you own after your home. The pension pot you leave behind after death can provide a huge benefit to those you love. However if you have the...
Cheers! Autumn Budget 2021
There has already been a lot written about the Autumn Budget 2021 last week which is strange as there wasn’t really a lot to talk about compared to some years. You might think it’s a good thing that no major changes were announced, as that means no major...
Trying To Get Defined Benefit Pension Advice
If you are trying to get defined benefit pension advice you might struggle. I’ve written before about why it’s nearly impossible to transfer a defined benefit pension. The rules and regulations are now so tough for Financial Planners, leading to very high...
Easy Investment Access – No Money Locked Up
When I speak to potential clients who have very little experience of investing, the main reason they give for never having invested before is because they don’t want their money locked up. There’s something worrying about not being able to get your hands on your...
A Private OEIC – Your Own Family Investment Fund
A private OEIC (Open Ended Investment Company) could be the solution if you have maxed out the allowances available for tax wrappers such as pensions and ISAs. It is an alternative tax efficient way of investing large sums of wealth for you and your family. What...
Cash ISAs Are Still Worth It
Rock bottom interest rates have led to the returns from cash ISAs being pretty useless. Especially when compared to the returns from stocks and shares ISAs that are invested in global equities. So should you be ignoring cash ISAs? Well, there is a handy little...
Should We Be Ignoring The UK As An Investment?
Surging gas prices, a shortage of food and panic at the petrol stations. If you are following the news closely at the moment you are probably feeling the UK is a gloomy place to be living right now. But what about when it comes to investing, should we be ignoring...
Working And Receiving A Pension
Since April 2011 employees cannot be forced to retire from their job meaning you could still be working and receiving a pension. Working and receiving a pension doesn’t reduce the amount of pension you are entitled to but it can require a bit more tax...
Defined Benefit Pensions and the Lifetime Allowance
The pension Lifetime Allowance was introduced in 2006 and is the total amount you can build up in pensions savings before incurring a tax charge. For defined contribution pensions e.g. personal pensions and auto-enrolment company pensions it is easy to work out the...
The Best Way To Avoid Any Rises In National Insurance Payments
In recent days it has been reported that the government are going to raise National Insurance payments in order to fund social care reform and help clear the NHS backlog. At the time of writing no official announcement has been made and we are not certain on...
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