What is a Lifetime Savings Account? Who is it for?
From April 2017 the government are introducing a new aspect to the Individual Savings Account, the Lifetime ISA. This new ISA offers individuals under the age of 40 to open an account and save with flexibility for the long term. The LISA makes it possible to save simultaneously for your first home or for your retirement. Read more
The new legislation brought in by the government from 6th April 2016 introduced a differential of the state pension in England. The pension plan provides a higher rate of up to £155.65 per week to those who are eligible, supporting a more comfortable lifestyle. The new legislation is a confusing array of eligibility criteria on who can gain the State Pension, who has the old pension plan and who is not eligible at all. Read more
State Pensions have the obvious benefit of providing part of your income in retirement. They could be considered as the base level of your retirement income. They can also be a versatile part of financial planning. Read more
There will probably be times in your life when you’re not sure what to do with your money or what decisions you need to make about your financial future. There are thousands of different financial products on offer Read more
Sequence risk, also called sequence-of-returns risk, is the risk of receiving lower or negative returns early in a period when withdrawals are made from an individual’s underlying investments. Read more
Cash interest rates are extremely low as I’m sure anybody sitting on substantial cash deposits will know. Cash ISA rates are getting lower and the favourite current account for interest on your cash has just slashed their interest rate in half. Read more
When I asked for Steve’s advice several years ago I had an old fashioned pension with struggling investment performance. Steve immediately sorted this out and the returns on my investment to date have been exceptional. Read more
The Governor of the Bank of England has lowered base rates in the UK to the lowest ever amongst a range of measures designed to keep the economy in the UK on a stable footing whilst we negotiate our Brexit. Whilst this is generally good news for those with mortgages it’s not great for savers that use cash deposits. Read more
Following the recent vote to leave the EU there has been a wave of property funds being suspended from multiple providers. Nearly £18 billion of assets have been frozen within the funds that have temporarily seized trading. The decisions to suspend property funds have been made by each provider to protect shareholder’s interests by avoiding having to make heavily discounted sales. Read more
We’ve now had the weekend to try and take in the fact that we, as a nation, have voted to leave the EU. Whilst over the last few days I’ve listened and read a wide variety of political input to try and understand what happens next, we are in uncharted waters and with this comes uncertainty. Read more