Independent Financial Advisers Glasgow News & Guides

A new report published by the Chartered insurance Institute (CII) has estimated the UK retirement savings deficit at £9 trillion.

During these difficult economic times, one of the tools available to the Bank of England to stimulate the economy is interest rates. Lower interest rates mean that it is cheaper to borrow money and people have more to spend, hopefully stimulating the economy and reducing the risk of deflation. This is why the Bank of England has aggressively cut them. Such interest rates apply equally in Scotland; for financial advice from our Glasgow-based financial advisors, call 0141 331 0660 today.

British people are being more careful with their finances when they decide to move in with a new partner, according to new research from online bank first direct. Only 1 in 5 couples surveyed (20%) had decided to unify their money and control all their finances from a joint account.

Having the correct protection strategy in place will enable you to protect your family’s lifestyle if your income suddenly changes due to premature death or illness. But choosing the right options can be difficult without obtaining professional advice to ensure you protect your family from financial hardship.

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are not actual investments; they are tax-efficient wrappers surrounding your fund choice(s). When you make an ISA investment you pay no income or capital gains tax (CGT) on the returns you receive, no matter how much your investment grows or how much you withdraw over the years.

When deciding whether to invest, it is important that any investment vehicle matches your feelings and preferences in relation to investment risk and return. Hence your asset allocation needs to be commensurate with your attitude to risk. Another key question to ask yourself is: “How comfortable would I be facing a short term loss in order to have the opportunity to make long term gains?” If your answer is that you are not prepared to take any risk whatsoever, then investing in the stock market is not for you.

Unit trusts are a collective investment scheme that enables you to invest money with others and participate in a wider range of investments and share the costs and benefits of doing so. They have proved popular over the years because cash is invested in a broad spread of shares, thus reducing the risk of losing money if the market falls.

Established with the aim of receiving pension death benefits from personal or occupational schemes, bypass trusts can be invaluable in procuring inheritance tax savings on a second death for prudent trustees who wish to invest pension death benefits following the death of the settlor/scheme member.

Trustees have a clear duty to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries. Unfortunately, many trustees have believed, historically, that the best method of protecting the interests of their beneficiaries is to protect the capital.

I wanted to update you on some changes announced in the budget regarding VCT and EIS and how these will impact particular products for tax year end planning.

In order to protect family and loved ones, it is essential to have provisions in place after you’re gone. The easiest way to prevent unnecessary tax payments such as Inheritance Tax (IHT) is to organise your tax affairs by obtaining professional advice and having a valid Will in place to ensure that your legacy does not involve just leaving a large IHT bill for your loved ones.

A trust arrangement can ensure that your wealth is properly managed and distributed after your death, so that it provides for the people who depend on you and is enjoyed by your heirs in the way you intend. There still remain significant planning opportunities, even though changes announced in the 2006 Budget in relation to the Inheritance Tax treatment of trusts will have a bearing on the use of trusts in the future.

If you think you may have an old pension but are not sure of the details, the Pension Tracing Service may be able to help. They will try and match the information you give them to one of the schemes on their database and inform you of the results. If they have made a match they will provide you with the contact address of the scheme(s) and you can get in touch with them to see if you have any pension benefits.

Many individuals will have finalised their tax affairs for 09/10 on 31st January and will have had to write a cheque to settle their account. You have a final chance to get this back.

Many families with elderly relatives in care could find themselves in a situation of falling house prices, low interest rates and rising care home fees. For those families, the situation may be further exacerbated by local authority cost cutting.

Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) have been around since 1989, but after the introduction of Pension Simplification legislation on 6 April 2006, they’ve become more accessible.

The new employer duties under the government’s workplace pension reforms will be introduced over a four year period from 1 October 2012. This staggered introduction of these duties is known as ‘staging’. Broadly speaking, the new duties will apply to the largest employers first with some of the smallest employers not being affected until 2016. As part of the new duties firms will be enrolled into the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).

Are you looking to make potential gains from the growth in value of company shares on the stock market but don’t have the time to manage a share portfolio yourself? If the answer is ‘yes’, then open-ended investment companies (OEICs) could be worth considering. They are stock market-quoted collective investment schemes. Like unit trusts and investment trusts, they invest in a variety of assets to generate a return for investors.

BRIC is an acronym for the combined economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC nations are increasingly providing investors turning to emerging markets with growth potential for their portfolios. The four BRIC countries are the largest emerging markets by population size.

Income drawdown or ‘Unsecured Pensions’, became available in 1995. It allows people to take an income from their pension savings while still remaining invested and is an alternative to purchasing an annuity. You decide how much of your pension fund you want to move into drawdown and then you can normally take a 25 per cent tax-free lump sum and draw an income from the rest.