US Debt Ceiling
When will the market recover? What is your view on the U.S. debt ceiling and its impact on investments as my pensions and ISAs have taken a pounding? A month or so ago we reiterated the need to be invested in real markets that have exposure to companies with real earnings and real profits, as […]
Absolute Returns
Absolute returns, the latest buzzword from the financial marketing world. But what exactly are absolute returns and do they really have a part to play in your pension fund, investments or ISAs? As we mentioned in this column a few weeks back, an investor subjected to the FTSE100 over the last eleven years would still […]
Long Term Care – Estates Don’t Have To Be Liable
Without question, long term care is one of the biggest threats to the passing down of capital to our children. Unlike Inheritance tax, which is applied as a tax at 40% on transfers over £325,000, your personal estate can be liable for every penny over and above £23,500. It is also a tax on the […]
UK Inheritance Tax
£80,000 per person in Inheritance tax I have just found out that my life insurance could be liable for UK Inheritance tax. Is this correct? This was a question we received recently from one of our clients. In simple terms, UK inheritance tax is a charge of 40% on any assets valued at more than […]
Tracker Funds
Are tracker funds the most efficient solution to making money or is it just noise, noise, noise? Our financial industry seems to design its thousands of arguments to ensure you are either invested, or you are invested. It’s the same as the argument about using either shampoo for greasy hair, or using shampoo for dry […]
European Sovereign Debt Crisis
The European sovereign debt crisis is a bit like a complicated chess match, where the ending is necessarily very uncertain. Governments are discussing various options, e.g. at the next summit on 21 July, but the problem is they are still trying to address a short-term lack of liquidity, not the problem of insolvency (in some […]
Why your pensions and investments never seem to rise
Investment of your money in investment products, whether through your company pension, personal pension, ISAs, or insurance products is one of the more complex decisions that you can make. It’s no surprise that many of us place trust in a brand name given this complexity, but it’s easy to see how much of your hard […]
The staggering hidden cost of holiday money transfer
With the holiday season upon us the thought of popping off to a temperature with double digits becomes more and more appealing. Taking money abroad has been outdated by travellers’ cheques and in turn by credit cards but how much are we really paying for the cost of that convenience? Travellers’ cheques were sold on […]
Underperforming Investments – Is Your Pension Amongst Them?
70% of investments underperform – Is your pension invested amongst them? As an investor, you want to choose the best for your investments. It’s certainly not an easy task. And with pensions at the front of many investors’ minds at the moment, the performance of investments you’re relying on for the future, a performance check […]
Cautious Managed Funds
You’re a cautious investor. So you want your investments in a cautious managed fund because, you think, you’ll be taking less of a risk, right? Well, not exactly. You could find that your definition of cautious when it comes to managed funds is very different from the investment world’s definition. So how do you make […]
Open Market Option
Open Market Option – it pays to shop around for your annuity If buying an annuity is on your financial ‘to do’ list, you may well have been studying the paperwork from your current provider to see what they can offer you. You may have noticed amongst those reams of paperwork a statement about how […]
Whole Of Life Insurance
Which life insurance is best? I have been advised to take out some life insurance and have been given an option of a whole of life insurance or a term assurance plan and I don’t know the difference. Also, which is the cheapest? This could be a pretty easy question to answer. A term assurance […]