Blog

Financial Scams – How to Protect Yourself Are you saddened each time you hear a report in the media that another unfortunate person has lost their hard-earned money as a result of unscrupulous fraudsters? It is easy to think, ”it must have been a ‘Scam’” – why didn’t the victim spot it before it was… Read more

Succession Planning and your Pension Do you own a business? Do you consider your business to be your pension plan, that one day you will be able to turn it into a handsome pot of cash to fund a comfortable retirement? If the answer to these questions is yes, we can help!   What are… Read more

What should you consider when choosing an Independent Financial Adviser? Whatever stage you are in your life, the advantages of taking control of your finances can never be underestimated for enjoying your life to the full and sleeping soundly at night! So you’ve decided the time may be right to take positive action to plan… Read more

SIPP – Self Invested Personal Pension – A Case Study Could a Self Invested Personal Pension Plan work for you? Our example below gives guidance on when it may be appropriate to use this option. Background Andrew is considering a purchase of a commercial property he has seen with a good rental yield available for… Read more

Brexit – what implications does this have for your finances? With the Brexit result on 24 June marking the start of the process of the UK extricating itself from the EU you may be thinking about how this is going to affect monies which you are holding either within your pensions or investment portfolios. Market… Read more

Lifetime Allowance – Will your pension be hit? From April 2016 the government has restricted the tax-breaks on pensions by reducing the ‘Lifetime Allowance’ (LTA). If the combined value of your pensions exceeds this allowance you could face additional tax charges.   Read on to find out: if you are affected how to calculate the… Read more

A brief history of the debate to date……. The government wants to make the state pension age 65 for men and women by 2018, and keep raising it after that. It means that some women who were preparing to retire in the next few years will have to wait longer. The campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality… Read more

How is the current stock market turmoil affecting your investment or pension portfolio? Have you considered how your investment or pension portfolio is faring at the start of the new year? The start of 2016 has seen volatility (turmoil) in global stock markets. This can be attributed to the slowing down of the Chinese economy…. Read more

Could you get a better deal on your life cover policy? Buying a new home usually involves a mortgage which is then protected by a suitable life cover policy. Have you considered if you could get a better deal? Why it pays to shop around This is a very sensible thing to do as you… Read more

Pension Changes – “How to blow your pension”. On Monday evening, (12th January 2015)    Channel 4’s Dispatches current affairs programme was entitled “How to blow your pension”.  Michael  Buerk presented the results of various surveys which highlighted that most people who will have greater freedom of access to their pension funds in April this year,… Read more