Q: When is £121,665 the same as £127,628?
A: When the difference is £18, of course.
Okay. It’s rubbish as a joke or a maths question but I’ve been puzzled by this for some time now.
The question I’m grappling with is ‘Should your financial advice fe…
Read MoreIn a report published in the last couple of weeks by the Pensions Policy Institute director Chris Curry says that there is “little evidence” the £35bn a year spent on tax relief on pension contributions actually encourages pension saving among low and …
Read MoreRecent research by insurance giant Prudential has claimed that thousands of people will retire into poverty this year. Almost 20% of people taking their state pension this year will be entering retirement on a total income of less than £8,254. (The le…
Read MoreBoth ISA and Pensions offer savers big tax breaks that should not be overlooked especially at this time of year when many of us do our financial planning. While we are in a period of low interest rates and also, returns from many investments, are modes…
Read MoreMany people, some say up to 1 in 3 retirees don’t shop around to buy their Annuity at retirement – and the Financial Services Authority want to understand why this is the case. By declaring health and lifestyle conditions you can boost the annuity rate…
Read MoreThere is to be a new Governor of the Bank of England in July, Mr Mark Carney takes over. The face is not the only thing changing, he promises big changes to policy.
Mr Carney, the man headhunted by Chancellor George Osborne to kick-start the British e…
Read MoreHuge jumps in life expectancy have seen the costs of providing a state pension shoot up, with some pensioners spending more years in retirement than they spent paying National Insurance as workers, leaving the government with a massive debt and no one …
Read MoreThis is a simple check list of financial tips to help you to get your personal finances in order.
Pay off your credit cards every month – sounds simple but there is no point in saving if you have borrowings and this type of short term loan is very e…
I helped out Independent on Sunday recently with its Wealth Check about Rove Mejia – an employee with a student loan – saving up to buy a property.
The case study made me think about the impact of debt on our young professionals.
Borrowing the maximu…
Read MoreSkandia has decided that its Maximum Investment plan (MIP) will be one of the causalities of RDR. This means that from December 31st 2012 you will not be able to top up your plan.
Now is your last chance to make the most of your MIP.
Why should I to…
Read MoreSkandia has now closed their Maximum Investment Plan (MIP) but if you already have a MIP you have the option to extend the policy. This option allows you to extend the policy for a further 10 years at any time. This means you keep the benefits of you…
Read MoreI was talking with Flora recently about my investments and my overall “risk profile” which suggests that I have quite a welcoming approach to risk. I fully understand the mantra of “investments may fall as well as rise” etc, and I realise that in order…
Read MoreIf your family income is over 50K, then you stand to lose your Child Benefit starting next January but there are a few tricks that could allow you to regain the benefit and maybe do some good along the way.
Any parent with income of over £50,000 will …
Read MoreOne of the Budget announcements that has left me very puzzled has been the attack on saving policies. Yes, the same sort of harmless savings policy that our parents used to use to save up for a windfall on our 21st birthday. Normal, regular savings, …
Read MoreThe hardest part of my job is to work out what makes my clients worry when it comes to investments. Over the years I have tried and tested many strategies to measure risk, as I know we all have. Currently Parsonage uses Finametrica’s questionnaire beca…
Read MoreWith the news earlier this week that Scottish Widows International is closing for new business, many investors will be wondering where this news leaves them?
About 18 years ago the “global investor”, then provided by Clerical Medical International, wa…
Read MoreSiri really works.
It’s great for my business and here’s my list of top 5 best things it does for me.
1 sending texts verbally is great when I’m on the move. Much quicker than navigating to the text function then to the right person and typing.
2 di…
Read MoreAt this time of year, I get lots of annuity enquiries. That gives me lots of work to do and lots of case studies to blog about. Today, I’ll tell you about Mr T.
He’s coming up for age 65 in June, so we met in November to do a bit of pre-retirement w…
Read MoreI’m talking about pension contributions.
Those of us lucky enough to earn over £50,000 have just seen a reduction in the amount we can pay into our pensions.
That was part of a range of new measures, each measure will affect someone; If you have been…
Read MoreParsonage’s Flora Maudsley-Barton has been invited on the expert panel at the Manchester Central (G-MEX) Retirement Show on 19th & 20th March. We will also have a stand, come and visit us at E13 and we’ve made a fun guide to investing.
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