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Do you value your life?

November 2012

by Nick Plumb – (Plumb Financial Services) Most people take out insurance for their home contents and their buildings and we all have motor insurance to protect our cars.  Some people even have insurance for their pets.  But more than 60% of the people I meet as a Financial Adviser do not have enough life insurance in place to protect their family if they die. Unfortunately, life insurance is one of those products that the majority of people don’t have just when it is needed most.  And if you don’t have it when you need it – it’s already too late to do anything about…
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Protect your estate from the affect of inheritance tax

By Steve Hopkins FCII, Managing Director - Firth & Scott Financial Services Ltd A few years ago the Government changed the way that inheritance tax thresholds were calculated for married couples and registered civil partners, effectively increasing the threshold on their estate when the second partner dies, to as much as £650,000 in 2012-13. Protecting your estate from the affect of inheritance tax is an important part of any financial planning programme, so I think it’s always a worthwhile exercise reminding ourselves exactly how this works. Below is an example of how the…
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Should we be investing now?

September 27th 2012, by Nick Plumb - (Plumb Financial Services) Many people are asking me whether it is a good idea to move money out of cash and into longer-term investments.  The UK stock market has certainly recovered a lot of the ground previously lost to the ‘recession’ years of 2008 and 2009. However, there is still a fair degree of uncertainty about Europe and other world economies.  So, would now be a good time to put some spare cash into longer-term investments? In reality, the best time to have invested would have been four years ago at the depth of the recession when…
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Is your money in a ‘Zero Bonus’ Pension or Investment fund?

by Nick Plumb – (Plumb Financial Services) One of the most common enquiries we receive at Plumb Financial Services comes from investors who are worried about the performance of their With-Profits investments or pensions.  Once upon a time a With-Profits investment bond or a With-Profits pension was seen as a low risk home for your money that enabled you to benefit from growth in the stock market whilst smoothing out the ups and downs. However, that is no longer the case and many UK With-Profits funds have performed very badly in recent years.  Many insurance and pension companies…
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Is your business ready for…….Compulsory Workplace Pensions?

July 27 2012, by Nick Plumb – (Plumb Financial Services) Company Pension reform is on the way. If you are an employer, you can’t ignore it.  Nick Plumb of Plumb Financial Services explains why. The government is set to introduce compulsory workplace pensions from October this year and all employers, from the largest FTSE 100 companies to the smallest firms, will eventually have to provide a workplace pension scheme and will have to make contributions of up to 3% of salary into that pension for all eligible staff. Initially, smaller businesses with fewer staff need not worry too…
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Inheritance Tax – How to have your cake and eat it!

July 17 2012, by Nick Plumb – (Plumb Financial Services) Independent Financial Adviser, Nick Plumb of Suffolk based Plumb Financial Services, explains how it is possible to have a tax-efficient income from your investments whilst at the same time reducing the Inheritance Tax bill you will leave behind for your children. Many people who have built up reasonable property and investment values are concerned about leaving an Inheritance Tax bill for their children when they die.  Equally, they cannot give away their capital during their lifetimes in order to reduce the tax, as they need…
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Pension pots shrunk by valuation switch

December 30 2011, by Stewart Hood – (Arcadia Financial Solutions) PENSION pots have been reduced following a Government switch in the way they are valued and a High Court failure to block it. The switch from the retail price index (RPI) to the consumer price index (CPI) came into effect in April, after being announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the June 2010 emergency budget. The move will save the Government £6billion a year on public sector pensions. Two groups, mainly consisting of unions, launched the legal action claiming the move was unlawful, but this month (DEC) the…
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Pensions headache ‘likely to get worse’

March 02 2012, by Stewart Hood -(Arcadia Financial Solutions) A PLYMOUTH financial adviser has raised concerns about how the UK will pay for it’s ageing population as new figures show the numbers saving into a personal pension have hit a record low. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed the proportion of UK employees enrolled in workplace pension schemes has fallen below 50 per cent for the first time since records began in 1997. The figures also highlight the gulf between public and private sector workers. While 48 per cent of workers are now saving into a workplace…
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