Leave that ‘emotional will’ as well as your ‘financial will’
THERE comes a time for us all when we need care. For some it’s earlier than we thought, for others, it’s later. When illness strikes, it can be arbitrary in its brutality and unfairness. In a head-spin of emotions, we somehow must make clever financial decisions we perhaps would be struggling to make in normal conditions, […]
What you need to consider before investing!
AS pubs open, so too do the questions at the bar of ‘what do you think of this financial opportunity?’ Most recently, the tail end of cryptocurrency investors have been arriving and the lack of financial knowledge, or life experience with those investors, is quite worrying. Most bubbles grab the least financially sophisticated right at the […]
Pension age is rising, be aware!
PENSIONS are indeed as exciting as a cardboard licking competition and once you have completed one they can easily be thrown to the back of the cupboard awaiting the wonderful retirement date where we hope we can afford our Swedish standard services for American prices. Financial documents like these can sit in the boot of […]
It’s easy to see why young people are so disillusioned with the housing market
WE covered house price bubbles last week and had several questions regarding where this leaves many in society. From a societal point of view there is disruption undoubtedly. First time buyers, once again, are squeezed out of the housing market. I’ve written that line on five occasions in my life, yet central banks repeat the mistakes. […]
House price bubbles?
PREDICTIONS are a great way to sell papers and arguments, and that’s about it. Remember that all those who forecasted a crash last year are now forecasting a rise from now? There are many macro-economic factors that affect a house price, and the permutations for how they might interact with each other are beyond the […]
Take Control of Your Debt – Grasping The Debt Thistle
FOR many in the later stages of life, debt may not be the biggest problem they face, but given lower than inflation income rises, adding to rising post Brexit costs, the need to stay afloat can often mean reaching for debt. Those people are all around you and need support and help. One in six […]
Mitigating Inheritance Tax
OUR last two columns have focused around your property and inheritance tax given the surge in house prices. There are many other methods of mitigating tax so here are tips to some of them so as to leave your money to your loved ones rather than the ‘beloved’ tax man. If you have a life insurance […]
What are the implications of gifting your house while you’re still living in it?
WHAT are the implications of gifting your house while you’re still living in it? Last week we covered the issue with house prices causing Inheritance Tax issues for property owners (well, their children to be fair). I’ve subsequently been asked about gifting your house, but you are still living there, and whether that is acceptable […]
Inheritance Tax – Are house prices causing inheritance tax?
INHERITANCE tax – are house prices causing inheritance tax? The last two years have shown a meteoric rise in the value of property. In a debt driven economy, such a rise creates ‘benefits’ to the economy through the perception of being more wealthy. If we feel we have more liquidity and space between the value […]
Being able to pay your mortgage isn’t a gamble. It’s security for your family!
CONCERN has arisen that the above ‘look through’ may be too optimistic and that inflation may be more widespread i.e. areas that may stick. The view was that this inflation was being created in areas that will ease off after the initial ‘freedom pop from lockdown’ occurred. In June, inflation hit 2.5%, far exceeding expectations, […]
Emotions and tax of potential redundancy
THE last 18 months has been a difficult time both financially and psychologically. Most of what matters to us emotionally has been taken away: needing to be with people; security; widening our experiences through travel and meeting people; looking after our friends and family and vice versa. I could go on for a while. Business […]
Passive investing losses from climate change
LAST week’s column on passive investing struck a few chords. It’s a subject we could write about for months. The problem with a lopsided view, is that it’s lopsided, and as such, unreliable. The financial services industry has its share of those that ‘sell’ products. The difficulty is, they can be sold by people who […]