Educated guesses are key to financial planning. No matter how diligent we are when gathering information about a client, financial planning is about the future, not the past. As such we will need to make some “guesses, or assumptions, about what will happen in the future. Whilst these guesses need to be as educated as
Read more
The discounted gift scheme is an arrangement which allows you to make a gift for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes while retaining the right to a fixed income (in the form of regular withdrawals) for your lifetime (or until the trust fund is exhausted). Firstly, from the amount of capital which is to be gifted you
Read more
Level term assurance policies have a known level of cover that will be paid out in the event of death within a known period of time. Premiums remain level throughout and should you survive the policy term, there will be no benefit. As this type of contract only provides cover in the event of death
Read more
Unit trusts and OEICs (open-ended investment companies) are collective investment schemes which allow individuals to participate in a large portfolio of assets by pooling their money together with other investors. This gives the individual access to a much wider spread of holdings than can normally be achieved with smaller sums of money, which in turn
Read more
a Accumulation Units A type of fund where any income generated (dividends/savings interest) is used to purchase more units in the fund. An accumulation unit will have ‘Acc’ at the end of the fund name. This differs from Income Units. Allocation Rate The insurer may decide to allocate more or less than the contribution to
Read more
A Whole of Life Assurance policy with guaranteed premiums promises payment of a known level of cover upon death of the life / lives assured whenever death occurs, provided that premiums are maintained. The premium and sum assured are fixed throughout the life of the policy (in some cases it is possible to include an
Read more
One of the most valuable assets of a business is its staff, with business success or failure depending on them. Some of these people because of their specialised knowledge, skills or contacts, are vital to the profitability of the business. They are often referred to as ‘key persons’ as their death or incapacity could result
Read more
Lifetime ISAs aim to help people aged between 18 and 40 save for their first home or retirement. A Lifetime ISA (LISA) lets you save up to £4,000 per year. At the end of the tax year, the Government will top up your ISA with a 25% bonus. These bonuses are available on LISA contributions
Read more
The Government introduced personal pensions in 1988. This allowed the self-employed or employees of companies not offering a pension scheme to have a pension. They are money purchase schemes where contributions receive tax relief. Pensions underwent a radical change from 6th April 2006 with the introduction of Pensions Simplification and the March 2014 Budget announced
Read more
Anyone, who is a taxpayer and has money to save or invest, should look at Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). These are “wrappers” in which someone can hold a range of savings and investment products. They are free of UK income and capital gains tax by anyone aged 18 or over (16 or over for cash
Read more
Junior ISAs (JISAs) became available from November 2011. Both cash and stocks and shares JISAs are available. Children can hold one of each at a time (two accounts in total). Who is eligible? All UK resident children under the age of 18 who do not have a Child Trust Fund (CTF) are eligible for JISAs.
Read more
