The style, content, quality and presentation of personal financial plans varies immensely from financial adviser to financial adviser. So how do you dare to part with your money to enable your financial adviser to produce your initial report?

Well, quite often, financial adviser firms like mine will offer new clients a free initial meeting. This allows you to meet with your potential adviser to see if you could enjoy a long term advisory relationship with them.   The meeting will also allow the adviser to understand what your financial goals and objectives are along with a summary of your current finanical position.

During this initial meeting there is lot of information for you to take on board as you find out about the firm, it’s services, what the services cost, the adviser experience, qualifications and so on. You should also ask them what their personal financial plans look like.  Is it a “one size fits all” or is it bespoke to your own circumstances.  Afterall, this could be the most important piece of work you have ever paid to be done. 

Here’s what ours look like for a typical family that you may have heard of before.

Homer & Marge Financial Plan

Our costs for preparing your initial report start from £500 depending  upon the complexity of your current financial circumstances so please contact us if you would like an accurate estimate andwould like to book your free initial consultation.

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.

It has been a tradition of pension schemes for many years that the earliest age you can get at your pension benefits is age 50.  However, about 3 years ago the rules changed to increase that age to 55 but the change was not immediate.  In fact, the rule change wasn’t to come into effect until the 6th April 2010.  I am finding it hard to believe that this is only 7 months away now!!! 

We are experiencing an increased amount of enquiries from clients and prospective clients who are able to access their pension funds now but won’t be able to do so after April 2010.  They are looking at this for many reasons such as early retirement, loss of employment income, home refurbushments and starting up businesses.  Are you looking to release the tax free cash from you pension fund?  Are you affected by the age increase?

We can advise you on all the different ways you can receive benefits such as an annuity, open market option, phased retirement, income drawdown, 3rd way annuity, with profit annuity etc.  Contact us now for more information and to book your free initial consultation. голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс

At last!  Safeguarded Rights are now only a distant memory in the world of pensions.  This badly thought out and inappropriatley named type of pension fund is now to be brought in line with the rest of Contracted Out pensions funds.

The Pensions Act 2008 (Abolition of Safeguarded Rights) (Consequential) Order 2009 (SI 2009/598) removes references in pensions secondary legislation to safeguarded rights – eleven SIs in total are modified. Safeguarded rights arise when a member’s rights in an occupational or personal pension scheme which is contracted-out of the state second pension are shared on divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership. PA 2008 s.100 and the related repeals in Schedule 11 Part 2 abolish safeguarded rights altogether with effect from 6 April 2009. From that date, shared rights that derive from contracted-out rights will be treated in the same way as other shared rights.

And the best news is that if you are a policy holder who owned a Safeguarded Rights fund or were about to receive such a pension fund through your divorce then you are now able to take 25% of the fund as a tax free cash lump sum.  Thi sis subject to the normal rules surrounding all pension such has a earliest retirement age of 50.

Call me now if you want to discuss your Safeguarded RIghts in more detail.

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.

Make the most of your ISA allowance

Whatever your savings needs, you’ll want to make sure you choose the most tax efficient option.  After all, you need your money to work hard for you.  Your valuable annual ISA allowance may have an important part to play in helping you achieve these objectives.

The important thing to remember is that you can’t carry forward your allowance so, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. 

If your not sure what an ISA or you need a refresher on the guidlelines for investing then your should read the FSA Money Made Clear Saving and Investing  publication.  You can download a copy here.

If you would like to arrange a convenient time to talk through your options with me before the end of this tax year, please give me a call on 02476 251100.

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Scottish Life have developed new software which they are providing free of charge to employers who take out a pension scheme for their staff.  This is an anticipation of the government requirements on compulsory pension schemes for all employers so why not take the initiative now.

If you are thinking of putting in a new pension scheme for your staff or would like to change your existing providers to obtain the software then please contact us on 02476 251100

Want to know more? –  Scottish Life Benefits Administration details are here.

We are all look for valautions on our investments and assetts and pricing any residential property has been difficult of late as valuations have been falling.  However, there do seem to be signs that the valuations have reached a point where they are now acceptable to buyers and investors with cash to hand.

Firstly, one of the most high-profile luxury developments in the UK is to be taken over in a deal worth less than a third of what Icelandic bank Kaupthing paid when it teamed up with property developers Nick and Christian Candy three years ago.  The control of the Noho Square scheme in London’s West End is to be acquired by Stanhope, the property company run by David Camp and backed by entrepreneur Ian Laing.

Secondly, Rightmove yesterday said there were early signs of a recovery in the market with the return of near- record volumes of traffic among would-be housebuyers monitoring the falling market.

So, is this now the time to buy?  We don’t have a crystal ball to help you with this decision on timing but you should be confident that the property you buy now will have cost you about 25% more 2 years ago.

Call us to discuss your plans in more detail.

Everyone should know what they spend each month.  Most of us know what we receive each month.  I’m also sure a lot of people have taken time to do a budget planner.  A budget planner allows you to make sure that your income always exceeds your expenditure.

With some people now experiencing a lower income through the current economic downturn it is time to revisit this exercise to make sure that you don’t fall into the debt trap.  If you want a blank budget planner then contact us and we can email the one we use or you can download one from Money Saving Expert here.

But, once a planner has been done, what do you do with it?  Whether it keeps you solvent or sends you into debt it is worth asking an expert on personal finance for thier opinion.  We can offer you a free consultancy on this.  Call our office on 02476 251100 to arrange a meeting in our Coventry Office.  If this is not geographically possible then please visit IFA Promotion to find a suitable adviser in your area.