NEWS
Fancy slipping a little monetary something into a loved one’s stocking this holiday season? Stop right there! However well-intentioned the gesture, there are plenty of factors you should consider beforehand to make sure you’re giving in a tax-efficient way that will help you as well as them.
I am sure that you will have followed the news closely in the last couple of days and there will be a lot of comment about the changes announced in the Budget. As financial planners, It is important to be up to date about any changes in the Budget.
There has been a lot of comment in the press about the possible changes in the Autumn (end of October) including the potential impact on the ability to withdraw money from a pension completely free of tax (Tax Free Cash).
Saving for retirement is crucial. With inflation and living costs ever rising, the UK state pension alone is becoming less and less likely to cover your living expenses. The current £11,962.60 a year, while a helpful safety net, typically provides only a basic income that may not meet the needs of many retirees.
We have been weighing up when interest rates will actually start to come down and wanted to write about this and why it is important. The direction of interest rates has been the main focus of financial commentators and expectations have shifted significantly since the Pandemic.
Warren Buffett once said; “Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful”. I love this statement. For me it encapsulates how we should behave as investors, not all the time but at important moments in time when markets look fragile and when markets are exuberant – they certainly have appeared fragile of late.
In a world of constant change and uncertainty, strengthening business resilience has become a paramount priority for firms looking for sustainable growth. Business resilience not only equips SMEs to weather adverse events, such as the loss of a key client or supplier, but also empowers them to seize growth opportunities.
Hands up who wants to pay more tax? We thought so! It’s a no-brainer that we should all make the most of the key tax-efficient ways of saving and investing our hard-earned cash.
The short answer for most people is yes, you should buy enough years to end up with a full State Pension. The low level of risk as any income is backed by and guaranteed by the UK government.
In the weeks leading up to the UK Budget, the industry has struggled to read the signs from the Treasury as to what was most likely to happen in the Autumn Statement and what new taxes were to be introduced – we just knew that tax would rise.
If you watch or read the news at the moment, it’s easy to think the world is falling apart. Political tensions, elections, and talk of global conflict seem to dominate every headline. It can all feel a bit bleak – and when you’re also hearing that some professional investors are ‘turning cautious,’ it’s natural to wonder whether it’s time to be worried. Yet, strangely, the investment markets don’t appear to agree with the headlines.
Over the past few years, one of the quietest but most significant shifts in personal taxation has been the steady tightening of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowances. What was once a generous £12,300 annual exemption has been reduced to just £3,000 for the 2024/25 tax year – and there’s every chance that future Budgets or the forthcoming Autumn Statement could push rates higher still.
Plenty of speculation about the taxes that the Government might introduce – and there is lots of choice but let’s examine the potential for a change to the tax free cash sum that clients normally access on retirement.