SSAS schemes are registered pension schemes that are not regulated by the financial services authority. The members are usually directors or key employees of the sponsoring employer. A SSAS, whilst subject to the same rules relating to contributions and benefits as an insured company arrangement, has considerably greater flexibility and control over the scheme’s investment policies and its underlying assets

One of the benefits of this is that a SSAS scheme can loan back money to the company. This is attractive for the company and the pension fund as the pension fund can release cash on which it was probably getting very little interest into a secure loan, as according to HMRC rules, the loan has to be secured on an asset, at typically a couple of percentage points above base, which is probably much cheaper than any bank funding in today’s market.

a SSAS scheme can loan back money to the company.

Up to 50% of the value of the scheme can be lent to the sponsoring company and the scheme has to charge a minimum of 1% above base. The pension scheme would also need a first charge on an asset for the value of the loan plus interest, though this does not need to be a company asset.

The length of the loan cannot be longer than five years and it cannot be interest free. Assets purchased have to be acceptable assets, but can be commercial property or intellectual property.

Also, loans from the pension fund can be used to buy both physical and intellectual property. With intellectual property, such as a trademark, there will be recurring royalty fees and these can then be paid into the pension fund tax free. for instance, one of our pharmaceutical client companies recently used 50% of the value of its SSAS fund to buy the company’s intellectual property and then the royalty payments were paid back tax free into the scheme.

Over and above providing funding, SSAS funds have one further benefit – they can be converted into a scheme pension, which means at age 75, the company owner does not face the possibility of a potential 80% tax charge as can happen with some self invested pension schemes. A consequence many business owners would be more than happy to avoid.

Do you want to save money?

We undertook a study recently to see the merit in clients paying a monthly fee for our advice rather than us earn commission when we sell a financial product such as a personal pension. We looked at different types of clients (age, sex, earnings, wealth) and found that just on cost it was mainly beneficial for clients to pay a monthly fee.

Take an average couple who are both 40.  They have life cover of £250k costing £42.28 per month, save £200 per month into a pension which is projecting a fund of £140k at age 65 and they save £100 per month into an ISA.

If they were a fee paying client of ours and we set up identical products the life cover would cost £31.86 per month, the pension fund would be projecting a value of £150k at retirement and they would not suffer an initial cost of 5.25% on every ISA contribution they made.  By the age of 65, purely on cost they would have saved £14,701 in charges against a fee of say £30 per month.  A net saving of over £5000.00

This doesn’t even take into account the ad hoc phone support we provide, the annual review we carry out with our fee paying client to try to improve fund performance, maximising all  cash saving returns, improving their mortgage rate, investing their baby’s Child Trust Fund voucher from the government and genral financial guidance on meeting their lifestyle goals.

We aim to make you money, save you money and save you time and I think the above example demonstrates how we can save you money.  Call us now to arrange a consultation to see how much we could save you.

With the level of interest you earn falling on cash savings accounts with bank and building societies by about 75% you might be facing the prospect of not enough income to meet you expenditure.  Of course, you could cut back on what you spend or even start using some of the capital but how long are you prepared to do this for?

In the world of investments, the more you want and the quicker you want it the more riskier the scheme tends to be.  We are not talking about 100% return/100% loss on the spin of a roulette wheel though.

By careful analysis of your income requirements and the level of risk you would be comfortable with (non, minimal, minimal to low, low, low to medium, medium etc.)  We can carefully advise you on both the most suitable style of investments scheme (ISA, Bond, OEIC, Unit Trust) and the most suitable underlying asset classes (Gilts, Fixed Interest, Corporate Bond, Equities etc.)

We have many years of experience in the area of investing for income and a number of satisfied clients.  If you would like to discuss you requirements with us then please contact us for a free initial consultation.

There has been an awful amount of publicity surrounding pensions this week.  Sir Fred Goodwin and The Royal Mail have been getting pension pelters.  Goodwin’s was agreed, presumably when he decided whether to take the job or not, so it forms part of his contract and must be paid.

The same goes for the Royal Mail.  One of the factors of interview candidates being offered a job must have been the pension entitlement.  So that must stand also.

Not so long ago we have had strikes in both Council offices and the Fire Service.  Ok, these have been about pay, or equipment, but the amount of public funds that has to go into their pension scheme means there just isn’t enough money left over to give these folk a pay rise which, at an absolute minimum, must equal inflation.

If the government is really serious about following the private sector and oboslishing these long term, under funded state promises then it must begin with axing its own MP scheme.  This, amongst all public sector pension schemes, is one of the most generous.

Go on Gordon.  Put your pension where your mouth is!

Whether you are an individual or a business you might have approached your bank or building society for a loan.  I too have been here and felt the pressure applied by their financial adviser to take the various insurances on offer in order to secure the much needed borrowing.

Now, with my 11 years as an Independent Financial Adviser, I can appreciate the importance of having those insurances.  What I cannot tollerate is how much I was overcharged for the insurance policies.  Fortunatley, I addressed this 11 years ago and have been paying less for my insurance ever since.

This is becasue Independent Financial Advisers have access to the whole market and some insurance is bought purely on price.  Life cover, for example, pays out a lump sum if you die.  No grey areas here.   Other insurance like private medical insurance is a little different due to the various benefit levels insurers offer.

If you have bought your insurance from the bank then I am 99% sure that we can offer you the same cover for a lower premium or better benefits for the same price.   Why don’t you contact us now and see how we can improve your own circumstances.

Whenever we see a new client in need of financial advice, or revist the existing financial plan for an existing client, we need to gain a thourough understanding of the current financial circumstances.  This helps us to satisy the Financial Services Authority guideline to financial advisers regarding “Know Your Client”.

If you are wanting us to operate on a fee basis then you may want to collate this information yourself so here is a copy of the form for you to download and print.  Then we won’t have to charge you for us doing it.  It can be posted or emailed back to us before your first visit to our Coventry office.

personal fact find

corporate fact find

One of our areas of financial specialism is providing advice to owner managed businesses and we suggest that both documents are completed by potential clients in this situation.

However, we do require very exact detail about some of your pension, investments, insurances and other benefits so we may still have to write to some of your current product providers directly to obtain this.  The small print in some of those older pension contracts can be quite valuable to you with the passage of time.

Weatlh managers, Simpson Financial Services, are proud to announce a new service to our existing clients who hold a broad range of investments.  Wether in pension funds, bonds, trust etc.  The system has taken 10 months to develop and clients are now able to obtain a real time portfolio valuation via the client log in section shown on every page of our website and there is no limit to the number of valuations you can do.

Consider a common situation where various investments have been made, assets accumulated and insurances bought.  The ability for you to report on your asset allocation, investment performance and benefits can become difficult for you.  This tool is provided to remove that problem. 

Not only does this online reporting allow you to produce Portfolio Reports on your invested assets, you can now use the tool to notify us of any changes to your personal financial circumstance. 

Our position of being responsible for the management of your financial planning has also been improved in line with our priciples of Treating our Customers Fairly (TCF).

This new service is available to all Platinum and Gold clients so please contact us to make the new service live. 

If you are considering appointing us as your financial adviser please contact us for an initial discussion on 02476 251100.