Blogs & News

If your pension pot breaches the £1m mark, you could face a punitive tax bill when you retire. So how can you protect your funds? Originally published in The Sunday Times, written by Marianne Curphey With a significant proportion of the UK population facing a shortfall in retirement income, the government has used tax breaks [...]

Despite government assurances that it’s a temporary blip, inflation is trending upwards. What are the implications for pension schemes and their members? Originally published in The Sunday Times, written by Stephanie Hawthorne. Inflation is an old foe, now almost forgotten in many countries. But should we be worried that it seems to be making a [...]

Pensions used to be a simple affair. You retired, you drew your pension and the hardest decision you had to make was how much tax-free cash to take. But since pension freedom rules came into effect six years ago and the world was turned on its head through Covid-19, people now have significantly more choice [...]

The Pension Schemes Act 2021 imposes several stringent measures designed to safeguard funds. Chief among them is a new onus on trustee boards to play a stronger role in this effort. Originally published in The Sunday Times, written by Simon Brooke The UK seems to legislate on pensions with metronomic regularity, with a new act [...]

It took a pandemic to sort out care funding. At least that’s what the Government will be hoping that’s how the public will view it, rather than a couple of broken promises on the Triple Lock and raising National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The Prime Minister said: “You can’t fix the Covid backlogs, without giving the […]

Barely a day goes by without frontpage headlines about scams. A new type of scam, an unbelievable amount lost to scammers, life savings gone in a flash, Ponzi schemes, investments guaranteeing huge returns – we’ve all seen them and had the emails, texts and phone calls. It’s a scary environment but working with a financial […]

Originally published at brewin.co.uk Many people vastly underestimate the cost of raising a child. Plan now to avoid nasty surprises scuppering your finances. Raising a child is one of the most rewarding things you can do in life – but it can also be eye-wateringly expensive. We all know things like childcare, private school and [...]

Passing on wealth to future generations is a major motivator for many financial planning clients. The knowledge that they’re supporting their children and grandchildren with important life milestones, such as getting married, going to university or buying a house, can be very rewarding. Younger people also expect to inherit money and research suggests that they’re [...]

First-time investors intrigued by the GameStop bubble can find out more about what investing is really about.

Default pension funds appeal to those who want a ‘hands off’ approach to their investing. But what are fund managers investing in? Look under the hood of your investments.

Many questioned whether ESG investing would survive during lockdown – yet we expect than many will have done well by continuing to do good.

What is inflation and how is it affecting our finances in 2021? Those of us saving for retirement could be affected more than others.