The surging costs of retirement

April 18, 2024
According to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA)1, a ‘moderate’ standard of living that includes £55 per week on groceries, a two-week all-inclusive holiday, £10 a week on takeaways and £100 a month to take others out for a meal, could cost a single [...]
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What’s your retirement dream?

March 20, 2024
Research1 has revealed that the ultimate retirement dream is actually very simple – financial security for the rest of your life. This is according to a survey1, which questioned 2,000 respondents aged 50 and over on their aspirations for later life. Hopes and dreams Nearly [...]
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Spotlight on pension changes

July 27, 2023
During the Spring Budget the Chancellor announced several changes to pensions including increasing the Annual Allowance and the Money Purchase Annual Allowance. The changes, the most significant since pensions freedoms in 2015, have largely been met with positivity, bringing greater flexibility and opportunity. Some higher-paid [...]
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IHT reporting – all change

June 21, 2022
Keeping up to date with tax changes can be challenging and you may have missed this one in relation to the reporting of Inheritance Tax (IHT), especially as it’s not something most of us will deal with very often. ‘Excepted estate’ The changes came in [...]
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In your 40s? Is your pension age changing?

June 8, 2022
More than four in five people in their 40s are unaware that the age at which they can access their pension might be about to change, according to research from the Pensions Management Institute (PMI)1. The normal minimum pension age (NMPA) is set to move [...]
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Pensioners sitting on cash ISAs

June 8, 2022
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 [...]
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Gen up to protect yourself from pension scams

March 3, 2022
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 [...]
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Autumn: a time of change and preparation

October 21, 2021
As the darker evenings and colder days of autumn approach, our thoughts often turn to hunkering down and preparing for the winter months. A season traditionally associated with change, preservation and preparation, autumn is a perfect time to get your finances organised before the rush [...]
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Taking emotion (and colour!) away from investment decisions

August 18, 2021
It is fascinating to consider the psychology of investing. There are many behavioural traps that investors could find themselves falling into during times of market volatility, when knee jerk reactions can take hold. One example being ‘the anchoring trap’, which is where investors rely too [...]
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