Category: Financial Planning
Following the financial crisis of 2008 when a number of big British banks came close to collapsing, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) was strengthened by the government to the extent that the FSCS currently guarantees the first £85,000 of a person’s cash savings per banking licence in total, and including interest. But what does… 
Income Tax – The personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000 (*) Consider transferring income yielding assets to a spouse or civil partner to maximise your allowances. Capital Gains Tax – The annual exemption for 2020/21 is £12,000 (*) Married couples and civil partners can consider transferring assets to…
“When we have shuffled off this mortal coyle …the rest is silence” … but not for our pension death benefits, methinks! Hamlet’s words in Shakespeare’s longest play (30,557 words if you want to count them!) reminded me of a very, very important aspect about death. Well, not so much about death – more about the…
Whenever we are in market conditions such as those affected by Brexit, it is sensible to review the balance of our investment portfolios – and to assess our income and capital needs over the next few years. For example, looking at asset allocations, many balanced portfolios contain holdings in property funds when appropriate. While such…
I started writing this Newsletter on the 1st January 2020. The first day of the first month of the new decade. The Romans dedicated January to their god Janus – god of Endings, Transitions, and new Beginnings. He is depicted with two faces since he looks back to learn from the past and the year…
You and I know that life is not all plain sailing but, as far as financial planning is concerned, if you plan ahead you can maximise your resources for your future income and capital needs and for those of your family – and reduce the risks while on life’s journey. We call it Lifetime Financial…
“Planning” is the process of deciding in detail how to do something before you actually start to do it – it’s sensible and it fits a calendar! It’s what we do! Failing to plan where financial planning is possible, is the process of witnessing opportunities disappear through the perforations of our financial life – it…
Research by Direct Line(see 1) suggests that over 12.6 million people (about 24%) would contest a will if they were unhappy with it – and incidences of wills being contested are growing in number. But we can take steps to reduce the risk of that happening to our own will. A first step that may…
You will have read in the first item in our Techie Stuff section (oh yes you have … you know you have!) about HMRC’s concerns about taxpayers making gifts without appreciating that rules exist about how, when gifts are made, there may be Inheritance Tax consequences. But HMRC are not the only ones to have…
We all remember the refrain from our childhood about gathering nuts in May. But aren’t nuts gathered in the autumn? You will know that that phrase about nuts is actually a corruption of ‘gathering knots of may’. The ‘knots of may’ being the hawthorn blossom we see at this time of year. I am being…