What would happen to your pension if you die?
If you have a pension it may not be immediately clear what will happen to the funds on your death. It may not be something that you may want to address but families are increasingly challenging decisions made by pension scheme trustees following the death of a member. Pension savers are being warned to regularly […]
Lost in Space? Act now to track down all your pensions!
One marked change in modern life is the huge shift in work patterns. Many people will do a large number of jobs and possibly multiple careers throughout their life time. The days of school, one work place and then retirement are largely gone. Many of these jobs will come with a workplace pension and due […]
Abolition of Protected Rights
RIP Protected Rights 6th April 2012… and yet another tax rise! We’re afraid the politicians are at it again with yet more changes to pension rules. This time it’s the abolition of protected rights. For pensions geeks (like those at Worldwide) these constant changes provide interesting challenges to be overcome when helping clients plan their […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Easiest way to invest
I have been advised to invest into a tracker fund but have also read about exchange traded funds (ETF) as they are cheaper. Is that wise? We all have our pension funds, mortgage repayment vehicles, investments and ISAs etc. Each of these is invested into an investment fund which is a spread across a range […]
New Year’s Financial Resolutions
New Year’s resolutions. They probably take 5 days on average to break. It’s probably because they are made with a bloated stomach and zero blood in your alcohol stream, but with little real drive or belief for the actual benefit at the end. If a real benefit was that you worked for four days and […]
How healthy is your pension?
I remember back at the age of 22 I was told to make a Will and start a pension. Nothing could have been further from my mind. Either way, I did it. Back then, the costs of setting up a pension contract were extortionate. My first two years’ pension contributions disappeared in commissions, and one […]
How To Lose £131,000 Easily
Quite easily, the worst possible opening chat up line would be to begin to talk about pensions. Although I have been researching them for over twenty years it never ceases to amaze me how quickly I can fall asleep at the very thought of even thinking about them. And that’s probably the reason why over […]
Pensions, if insurance companies really cared
Personal pensions, or any pension for that matter, are about as exciting as getting a DVD extended version of a Halifax advert for Christmas. That said, pensions are one of the biggest investments we will ever make, yet we have the most amazing apathy towards them. They are complicated and have just become more and […]