Using insurance to pay for care fees tax efficiently One of the big challenges facing elderly people these days is how to pay exorbitant care fees when you have savings but not enough to pay such fees. Well the good news is that it is possible to buy long term care...

The death of trusts, long live trusts Trusts have been wonderful instruments for protecting wealth for future generations for literally centuries. In fact the history of trusts can be traced back the the Middle Ages when knights would go off to battle and leave their...

Prepaid funeral plans and prepaid probate A client of ours died a few years ago and his widow, in a state of shock, said she did not have enough money to pay for the funeral! On further investigation it turned out that she did have enough cash in the bank to pay for...

The lessons to learn from the failure of Toys R Us and Maplin The recent failure of Toys R Us and Maplin bring home to us just how much the Internet is shaping and changing the world. Toys R Us is an interesting example. It is widely acknowledged that one of the...

How you and your family can benefit substantially from ISAs In recent years there has emerged a confusing alphabet soup of differently named ISAs. The ones most people have heard of are as follows; Help To Buy ISA LISA (Lifetime ISA) IFISA (Innovative Finance ISA)...

Using your home to pay for long term care Long term care is a regular topic in the media these days as the health service is in the midst of a funding crisis in coping with the increasing demand for care due to our ever aging population and ever growing care costs. If...

Why minimising taxation on your investments is critical We recently reviewed our clients’ investments with us and I was delighted to discover that 85% of our funds under management are in tax free pensions and ISAs! Let me qualify that statement. Both pensions and...

Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Advanced Directives Most people are aware of the importance of Wills but it is staggering how many adults do not have one. A 2013 report by Unbiased.co.uk and Certainty.co.uk revealed that nearly 60% of the UK adult population...

The Importance of Pension Reviews Do you have a pension you no longer pay into whether it is an ex-employer’s pension or a private one? Such pensions are known as paid up (private) or preserved (final salary). Technically private pensions are also known as defined...

Warning signs for final salary pension scheme members The recent collapse of Carillion which has left behind the largest ever UK pension scheme deficit to be rescued by the lifeboat scheme, The Pension Protection Fund or PPF for short, should serve as a stark warning...

Maximising the returns from your cash deposits We are delighted to announce a couple of new services for Wealth And Tax Management clients which will benefit you significantly. Both services are designed to help you to maximise returns from your cash deposits. The...

Happiness In retirement The latest NHS annual survey of the nation’s wellbeing found that men reported higher levels of happiness than women from their late teens up until retirement. It's not until 65 that men and women were found to be equally happy and women's...

An easy way to save money and earn money year after year Regular readers of this blog will be conscious of my regular advice to save money and earn more money, especially passive income, as the foundation stone of sound financial planning. Saving money and earning...

The Millennials’ golden future We read and hear a lot about how fortunate are the baby boomers of today and how unlucky are the Millennials. However, when you dig a bit deeper the facts reveal an altogether different story. Baby boomers are generally considered to be...

Global equities soar to highest levels since 2009 The FTSE All-World Index advanced 22% in 2017, its biggest increase since 2009, the year after the global financial crisis, and its fourth-best annual return since the benchmark started in 1993. A remarkable year by...

New Year Resolutions A Happy New Year to all of our regular readers! As this is the traditional time of year for people to make New Year Resolutions I thought it would be interesting to find out what are the 10 most popular ones. It will be no surprise to find that...

The power of price comparison sites   I’ve been using price comparison sites for many years admittedly mainly for car and home insurance but there is a plethora of financial cost saving areas to choose from. Moneysupermarket.com lists the following 9 areas. Car...

Festive season present buying tips It’s that time of year yet again when you have to plan what presents to buy for people and how you are going to fund your spending. I don’t know about you but I find it increasingly difficult each year to choose presents to buy that...