John D Rockefeller reportedly stated that "The only thing that gives me pleasure is to see my dividend coming in." Investors are often anxious, sometimes even scared, when equity markets suffer the sort of day to day volatility seen in August and January of last year. However, these moves need to be put into perspective. [...]
Over the past 12-18 months I have been contacted by many customers looking for advice and guidance in terms of their employer-sponsored final salary / defined benefit pension schemes. Firstly, what is a Final Salary / Defined Benefit Pension Scheme? A defined benefit (DB) pension scheme seeks to provide members with retirement benefits based on calculation methods set out in the rules of [...]
7 Popular Ways to Reduce your Tax Bill As Benjamin Franklin once famously said “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. The end of the financial year is quickly approaching and now is undoubtedly a good time to take steps to reduce your tax bill and put yourself in [...]
Is Specified Illness Cover worth paying for? Life is complicated enough when you’re healthy, fit and have a steady income coming in. But we often take our health for granted, especially when we’re younger. No one needs the added financial and emotional problems that a serious illness can bring. Sometimes, without warning, these things happen [...]
Retirement and pension planning might seem complex to most of us, but the basic idea is straightforward. It is important to understand their benefits to you and your family, because the State Pension – whilst providing a reasonable foundation for you in retirement – will more than likely not be enough for you to live [...]
SME Business Succession Planning At a certain time in the business cycle and as people approach a certain age, they must begin to plan for their exit from the business. Organising a successful exit from your business is a process, and one that needs to be planned carefully, whether you make your exit through a [...]
Should you Self-Administer your own Pension? With the combination of historically low deposit rates, high taxation along with rising property prices and rents, many investors have considered using a portion of their pension funds to purchase a property. Because of the generous tax exemptions within a pension fund, investors can often get a much better [...]
Benefits of Financial Planning – Let’s Make a Plan This week I will look at the benefits of professional financial planning and how it can have an extremely positive effect on you, your family and your business. It can help you plan for the future you want. As with any journey, particularly when it comes [...]
What is Investment Tax Diversification? When it comes to your income and investment returns, it's not only what gross investment return you generate that's important, but what you keep after taxes that really counts. And in the current environment, with higher income, capital gains and inheritance taxes, being mindful of investment tax is more important than ever. According [...]
What are Structured Products? Structured products are a combination of an underlying investment (equities, currencies, bonds, commodities) and one or more derivatives that are structured into one financial instrument. These investment instruments can be tailored specifically to a client’s exact market view in order to match their chosen risk profile and return expectations. They are [...]
