In the last few months have you stepped back to consider what is important? Have you been reviewing your future plans and finances? Have you realised the importance of ensuring your family and future are protected? After three months of lockdown, we are starting to see shops and businesses opening up. We are all getting […]
What is pension tax relief? When we are advising clients on their pension options, we often need to explain pension tax relief. Tax relief is the biggest advantage that pensions have over ordinary investments. This is an incentive set by the government to encourage you to pay into your pension pot. When you pay money […]
Divorce is stressful. We can at least help in taking part of that stress away for you. Sometimes our services are needed most when our clients are going through a stressful change in their lives. Recently Paula has been advising several clients who are going through the divorce process, working with them and their solicitor. […]
This is a question that our clients always ask us when we are discussing their private pension arrangements. Putting money away every month or year to benefit us at some point in the future is a major decision to make, and can feel very unreal, when you are more concerned about covering your day to […]
Our client asked us to review a number of pension schemes from old employers, with one of the schemes run by a well-known Scottish insurer dating back to the 1980’s. As part of our review of any pension scheme we write for detailed information on the scheme, and we look at the charges on the […]
A company which offered ISAs and bonds online, has gone bust owing £237 million to over 11,000 people. These bonds and ISAs were advertised online on a comparison site and tempted investors by indicating a return of 8% per year. The serious Fraud Office are now investigating. An 8% return on a low risk investment […]
Let us check whether this is best for you, and if it is we can normally arrange it for you, without charging you anything. That’s right. There has been a seed change in the mortgage market, with lenders trying to keep their borrowers more actively, rather than borrowers having to change lender every time their […]
It’s no secret that the cost of the “University Experience” is now higher than it has ever been. According to The Guardian, the average cost of a degree per child is now around the £85,000 mark, and it is Parents and Grandparents who are playing an increasingly significant role in funding this. The estimated cost […]
Our client had several older style pension plans with guaranteed annuity rates and asked us to look at these, to obtain the best income available for him. We obtained quotations from the provider, and these showed an annuity rate of only 7.07%. This was less than we expected from our knowledge of this type of […]
The government has today announced that the predicted rise of the state pension age to 68 will now happen in 2037, 7 years earlier than was planned. This affects about 6 million people born between 6 April 1970 and 5 April 1978. We would not be at all surprised if the state pension age were […]