If you are saving for retirement, there are several rules of thumb that you can use. 30 years ago, an American financial advisor called Bill Bengen developed the 4% rule. The 4% was the safe annual withdrawal rate from a portfolio to last a 30-year retirement. He later clarified his research to state that this was designed […]
How Much Do I Need to Save? Read More »
When you reach state pension age at 66 (rising to 67 by 2028 and 68 by 2044) you will be offered the option to defer your state pension. On the face of it this can look attractive if you don’t need the money immediately. By deferring the state pension you can increase the income that
Should I Defer My State Pension? Read More »
When working with clients in their 20s and 30s, one of the most important advice needs they have is for human protection (life cover, critical illness insurance and income protection). When you are that stage of life, often you have debts and higher levels of expenditure than your capital can sustain if you were to
This all depends on your planned lifestyle in retirement. Pension & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) research show us that the average couple wanting a ‘moderate’ lifestyle will need £43,100 per year in retirement but if you are reading this blog post you are probably not average. If you know your likely retirement spending, then you are at
What Will My Retirement Cost Me? Read More »
Lifetime ISAs are only available to people between the ages of 18 and 40. Unlike standard ISAs, LISAs come with a HMRC top-up. If you invest £4,000, the tax man will add £1,000 to it. So, the limit is £5,000 and this uses up part of the annual ISA annual allowance of £20,000. It is
Should I Buy My Adult Child a Lifetime ISA? Read More »
The state pension is rapidly becoming a very nice bedrock income for retirement (we dealt with the issues here). On track to be £12,000 per year, a married couple can enjoy £2,000 per month of untaxed income before needing to dip in to any other capital resources. It is not a base income we would
The Best Investment You Can Make – State Pension Top-Ups Read More »
If you are a high earner, it is likely that you are frustrated by the lack of tax avoidance now available to you. If you earn over £360,000 you are limited to a net contribution of £8,000 per year to a pension, which is income tax relief from the government of £4,500. You have £20,000
Are VCTs a Good Idea? Read More »
Most mornings I drive my daughter to the train station near to our office, to catch the train to school. We have a habit of listening to Capital Radio and our 10-minute commute lines up nicely with the breakfast show’s Bong Game. The concept is simple, a man reads out a rising series of numbers
The Power of Regret Read More »
For most people that we see, there is a golden decade between ages 55 and 65 or there abouts. The first breakthrough should be getting rid of the kids financially, if you have them. I am never fully convinced that children ever completely leave the family profit & loss accounts but hopefully it at least
Your Golden Decade Read More »
On the 6th April 2024 the Lifetime Allowance regime for pensions ended and was replaced by three new allowances – the lump sum allowance, the lump sum and death benefit allowance, and the overseas transfer allowance. This post today is going to focus on the lump sum allowance as some of you will need to
Urgent action – have you drawn a pension? Read More »
