In recent times the importance of expert financial advice has become greater than ever, as people seek reassurance that their pensions, investments and protection plans are being professionally looked after during uncertain times. Good financial outcomes are obviously important, but these can only be measured over the long term and are just one way of […]
Category archives: General Financial News
FCA outlines plans to get people investing
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a new strategy to give consumers the confidence to invest, safe in the knowledge they are supported by a high-quality advice market; and to help them do so safely, which should lead to fewer people being scammed or investing in products that are too risky for their needs. […]
Pensioners sitting on cash ISAs
An alarming set of data has come to light. Over three million pensioners are holding all of their ISA savings in cash!1 The analysis highlighted that during the most recent year for which figures were available (2018/19), there were 5.8 million over-65s holding ISAs, valued at just over £305bn in total, the average amount held […]
Life admin personality types – are you a forward thinker?
When it comes to mundane but crucial organisation tasks – what life admin personality type are you? Do you tend to have an ‘I’ll do it later’ approach to tasks? If you live in the moment and avoid life admin completely, tend to run late, lack motivation or structure, resulting in poor organisation – you […]
Financial freedom in retirement
When are you thinking of retiring? With many pre-retirees reassessing their lives and priorities in the wake of the pandemic, there really is a seismic shift for many people towards achieving life balance. People need a plan to flex with their changing aspirations – it’s become more about living life rather than going through the […]
This is your life – look after it
Only a quarter of Brits have life insurance or critical illness cover policies in place, despite two in five knowing someone who has had a serious accident or been too ill to work, a study1 has found. Compared to protection for our homes (55%), cars (53%) and travel plans (20%), the take-up of insurance policies […]
Get your ducks in a row for the 2022/23 tax year
Effective tax planning strategies can help shield you from the chill this spring. While there’s minimal change in the operation and structure of the taxation of UK individuals in the 2022/23 tax year, the ‘no change’ element is significant. Excluding the 1.25 percentage point increase to National Insurance and Dividend Tax rates from April 2022, […]
Second-best year on record for fund inflows
Despite the pandemic, new stats from The Investment Association (IA)1 show investors added over £43bn to funds last year, the second highest recorded. The IA details a key finding ‘inflows to responsible investment funds totalled a record £16bn, up £4.3bn on 2020.’ In December, net retail sales reached £2.3bn. Equity funds were the most popular […]
Wealth – In the news
Dividend growth 2022 – cautious optimism A recent report1 has revealed a dramatic rebound in UK dividends in 2021, increasing 46.1% last year to total £94.1bn. This figure was boosted by a record £16.9bn in special dividends, three times the normal level. Special dividends are non-recurring and usually larger than a typical dividend payment. For […]
Pension wealth increasing
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Wealth and Assets Survey1 has revealed that the largest single component of household wealth is private pension holdings. In the latest recorded period (April 2018 to March 2020) pensions represented 42% of aggregate wealth, up from 34% (2006-08), an increase in pension wealth of nearly £70k […]