Savers say goodbye to £34m in LISA bonuses During the 2020/21 tax year, HMRC reclaimed £34m in Lifetime ISA (LISA) withdrawal charges1. Although the government reduced withdrawal charges for LISAs from 25% to 20% in 2020 (to 5 April 2021) to help those who had no choice but to access their savings during the pandemic, […]
Category archives: Pensions & Retirement
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 […]
Preserving your retirement from the risk of mental decline
Many of us can now look forward to a longer retirement, due to increased life expectancy, however this unfortunately comes at a cost. The prevalence of age-related cognitive decline is on the rise, which could leave us vulnerable to costly financial errors. There are nearly 885,000 people living with dementia in the UK1, with estimates […]
The ‘Late Financial Bloomer’ faces a complex retirement journey
A new group of consumers, dubbed the ‘Late Financial Bloomers’ are set to change the face of retirement1. An array of socioeconomic factors, such as later home ownership, are the primary drivers behind this shift. Divorce and marriage trends are also key contributors, as is later childbirth. First marriages now take place four years later […]
Gen up to protect yourself from pension scams
With pension scam losses totalling millions each year, good news came in November, when new regulations came into force to protect pension savers and stop suspicious scam transfers. From 30 November 2021, pension trustees and scheme managers received new powers to intervene. Previously pension providers were not allowed to refuse to carry out a transfer […]
Time to consider external factors
The Autumn Budget may have left a sense that nothing much had changed in the realm of personal financial planning, as no major changes to Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Income Tax or pensions, were announced. Despite this, a prime consideration needs to be how external factors such as frozen rates and higher inflation, could […]
Great expectations as a new year dawns
We could be forgiven for focusing on life’s trials and tribulations heading into 2022, given the challenges that we’ve faced over the last couple of years. Despite inflation-related concerns, new COVID variants and supply chain disruption, which may be disconcerting for investors, there are indications that the coming year will present opportunities as well as […]
Blocking out ‘noise’ for the good of your portfolio
It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the endless barrage of negative news or ‘noise’, which can stoke anxiety about the performance of your investments and doubts over whether your investment strategy is on course. Learning to block out this noise, which may influence hasty or erratic investment decisions, is essential. By keeping a record […]
Financial advice and wellbeing: a match made in heaven
Recent research has found that those who receive professional financial advice are four times more likely to enjoy high levels of financial wellbeing1. In addition, clients who take advice build up three times more pension wealth on average (£246,000) than those who don’t (£95,000). Advised clients also accumulated more than double the non-pension savings (£65,000) […]
Becoming a financial wellbeing ‘all-rounder’
Financial wellbeing is closely aligned with the control people have over their financial future. People with high levels tend to meet their long-term financial goals and have a clear idea about what makes them happy and what they want from life. This allows them to identify and achieve more meaningful life goals before and during […]