Don’t put pension planning on the back burner
Assurances have been made that the State Pension age is ‘unlikely’ to rise to 68 years-old but the ongoing speculation does bring into focus the need to have a clear understanding of the issues and to plan for retirement.
The current age is 66 and the Work and Pensions Secretary recently said in parliament it...
Do you fall into the 60% tax trap?
Higher earners are being warned not to fall foul of the ‘60% tax trap’ that could eat significantly and perhaps unnecessarily into their earnings.
This will not affect everyone, of course, but as of April, the additional rate tax threshold for income tax was reduced from £150,000 to £125,140, dragging more people into the higher...
Planning ahead: Money changes still to come in 2023
What else is likely to happen in the months ahead to affect your outgoings and money matters, especially with costs continuing to increase, at least in the short term?
London-based newspaper Metro has undertaken an interesting exercise looking at possible changes to household bills still to come in the rest of this year.
Most are fairly...
When will the State Pension age go up?
News the state pension age is unlikely to rise to 68 will be welcome for those seeking to banish uncertainty from their retirement plans.
A week is a long time in politics, let alone 17 years, but the Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride has said it is likely to be ‘2040 or thereabouts’.
He said...
Pension customers ‘overpaying’ thousands in temporary tax
Those who have made flexible withdrawals from their pension pot could have paid thousands more in tax than they should have done – if only temporarily.
New figures show the ‘temporary overpayment’ is more than £1billion since 2015 and £48million in the first three months of this year alone.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will repay...
Are you now liable for Inheritance Tax?
Inheritance Tax has become a ‘mainstream tax’ for many and people are being warned to put their finances in order to make passing on their wealth to the next generation as tax efficient as possible.
The Government has taken £7.2billion in Inheritance Tax (IHT) receipts for the 2022-23 tax year, HMRC figures have revealed and...
Will pensions ‘political football’ stay on the pitch?
The removal of the lifetime allowance (LTA) from pensions in the Spring Budget was widely welcomed by most independent financial advisers (IFAs), but recent research has shown that many believe it will not last.
A survey by Standard Life has shown that more than two thirds (69%) of IFAs think that planning around the LTA...
UK stock market is one of the best for dividends
Despite the cost of living crisis, high interest rates and ongoing uncertainty, 2023 looks set to be the 'year of the dividends' for investors and in that regard the UK remains one of the best-valued markets around.
A recent study of markets by Evelyn Partners said the firm was expecting investors to seek securities yielding...
