Make the most of valuable tax allowances, reliefs and exemptions

It’s important to make the most of your valuable tax allowances, reliefs and exemptions. Once we enter January, the end of the 2019/20 tax year will be just over three months away on 5 April. As this date approaches, the window of opportunity reduces if you want to make the most of valuable allowances, reliefs…

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Sleepwalking into retirement

Are you sleepwalking into retirement? How much will you need to save to afford a comfortable retirement? There is a widespread and common-sense-based perception, back to some extent by evidence, that planning and preparing for later life is associated with increased wellbeing in older age. Despite this, it’s concerning that some people at mid-life have…

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Income Protection Insurance

Income protection insurance can help to provide you with a monthly income in case you are unable to work. Have you ever considered what would happen to you or your loved ones if you couldn’t work due to a long-term illness or injury which results in a loss of earnings? It’s important to be able…

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Saving and investing for a child’s future

We’ve put together a guide to saving and investing for a child’s future and ensuring your children or grandchildren can get the best financial start in life. Whether you want to teach your children or grandchildren smart money-management strategies, help them pay for university or set them up for financial success as adults, it’s important…

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5 tips to teach your child about money

We’ve put together 5 tips to teach your child about money. Understanding how money works is an essential life skill. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, these lessons come later than they should, and often as the result of something going terribly wrong. Not enough people make financial education a priority for children, which results…

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Lasting the distance

The early retirement dream lives on, but at what cost? Whether you choose or need early retirement, having a plan can give your money the best chance of lasting the distance. Whether lifestyle preferences or circumstances beyond your control are behind your decision to retire early, you’ll need to make a plan to help your…

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Tangible benefits older workers bring to the workplace

The future of work is coming as we look at the tangible benefits older workers bring to the workplace. The days of an employee turning 65, getting a gold watch or carriage clock and being ushered into a new world of golf, retirement communities and early-bird specials are rapidly disappearing. People are living longer and…

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Taxing Times Ahead

Don’t be penalised by the tax system when you exercise your freedoms. The ‘pension freedom’ reforms of 2015 were welcomed by consumers, as they vastly widened options available to most savers at retirement. Pensions freedoms allow savers to have the flexibility on how and when to spend their money without being penalised by the tax…

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Making Financial Gifts

Some people like to transfer some of their assets whilst they are alive – these are known as ‘lifetime transfers’. Whilst we are all free to do this whenever we want, it is important to be aware of the potential implications of such gifts with regard to Inheritance Tax. The two main types are potentially…

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Critical gap in consumer awareness

Drawdown allows most pension holders to withdraw a tax-free lump sum and reinvest the remainder as an income. But hundreds of thousands of DIY drawdown investors are unaware they can scale back or stop their withdrawals, putting them in danger of draining their retirement savings too rapidly, according to new research [1]. Half (52%) of…

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How to give away your wealth and keep some control

Trusts are not a one-size-fits-all solution, but they are incredibly useful for protecting and giving you control over your assets. Appropriate trusts can be used for minimising or mitigating Inheritance Tax estate taxes, and they can offer other benefits as part of an integrated and coordinated approach to managing wealth. A trust is a fiduciary…

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6 things to help preserve your wealth

We’ve put together a list of 6 things you need to help to preserve your wealth. Whether you have earned your wealth, inherited it or made shrewd investments, you will want to ensure that as little of it as possible ends up in the hands of HM Revenue & Customs. With careful planning and professional…

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