With the pension reforms, accessing benefits flexibly has been one method that retirees are using to assist their children, although careful consideration should be given to ensure you have sufficient assets remaining for your own needs, especially if long term care could be an issue in the future. This method could also give rise to a tax liability depending on the amount withdrawn.
I have touched upon personal vulnerability before. It is a subject close to our hearts for clients. The conviction of the Church Warden over the killing of a vulnerable elderly man after first ensuring his Will had been changed in his favour, as well as defrauding an elderly woman (and potentially others) reminded us that we all need to be vigilant
When the advisers surveyed were asked the minimum amount of assets required to make it viable to take on a client, only 16% said they would take on a client with less than £100,000, down from half of advisers in 2014. In reality, this means around one third of advisers have left the sub £100,000 client market in just five years.
Although Brexit is still not finalised and we have experienced some volatility as a result of the uncertainty, the UK stock market is currently yielding over 4% per annum, an absolute level of yield rarely seen outside of recessions and historically predicts a ten year boom! This suggests that much of the gloom surrounding no-deal is already reflected in share prices.
