What does planning actually mean?
When someone thinks of planning, they may very well imagine that this involves a lot of technical stuff that is beyond them, but I would suggest that this is where an IFA comes in. It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not do any planning and are then surprised when they get a tax bill, and ask me IN ARREARS what I can do to make it go away. You won’t be surprised to know that in many cases I can do very little because actions needed to have been taken BEFORE certain events.
INCOME TAX – you should always use the personal allowances that we all have, and the main example is husband and wife. If for example, a husband has got all the household income taxed on him – he may very well be taxed at 40%, whereas his wife might not even be taxable at all. If a couple actually planned things out, certain income streams could be hived off to a wife and that would then allow here to use her personal allowances of £12,500 a year. There is also the £2,000 dividend allowance, and also the personal savings allowance of £1,000. If one spouse is taxable at 40% and the other at 20% with room to spare, then they can save tax of 20% by moving some income from the higher rate taxpayer to the lower rate – if it is possible to move of course.
PARTNERSHIPS – Don’t forget that if you have joint income with your spouse, this doesn’t need to be shared 50/50 – it can be shared basically how you like. It’s not the first time I have shared this 99%/1% because one spouse is paying tax at 40% – and the other 20%.
INHERITANCE TAX – yes I know fine well that most people don’t look at this until it is far too late, but instead of Inheritance Tax read Voluntary tax. Given a bit of time, I can invariably get a couple’s potential tax bill down from hundreds of thousands to nil – or close to nil as is possible. If you PLAN for IHT, you can reduce it quite considerably, and the alternative is true – because if you do nothing about it and wait until it hits you in the face, then you will pay dearly for it. I have seen this so many times.
All we are doing with these tips is using the allowances that have been given by HMRC – use them to the full or lose them. It’s as simple as that.
There is one of these sayings that I have seen on banners from motivational people – that says “Failure to plan is planning to fail”, and you know what – IT’S CORRECT.
Don’t wait for a disaster to happen – contact MAP now and start your planning.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For any enquiries, contact Andrew on 07957 836211 or enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk
Planning your Finances
When someone thinks of planning, they may very well imagine that this involves a lot of technical stuff that is beyond them, but I would suggest that this is where an IFA comes in. An individual can then do the framework of what he or she wants, and the IFA would then be able to fill in all the details and suggest what needs to be done and when.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not do any planning, and are then surprised when they get a tax bill, and ask me IN ARREARS what I can do to make it go away. You won’t be surprised to know that in many cases I can do very little because actions needed to have been taken BEFORE certain events.
If you just leave something to happen, how do you know what the end result is ? Is it going in the same direction that you were hoping. Planning starts to get things moving in the right direction, and then you can tweak things on an ongoing basis when it isn’t, but the main thing is that you keep your eyes on it and do what is necessary to steer it in the right direction.
The old saying is failure to plan is planning to fail. It’s true !!
So why don’t you sit down today and list your objectives for savings, for pensions and even life insurance, and then have a chat with your IFA to see what you need to do to try and achieve those objectives. MAP advisers are only too willing to sit down with you and your plans.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For any enquiries, contact Andrew on 07957 836211 or enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk
Tax Planning – April 2021
Andrew Singleton shares some considerations on tax planning, Money Advice and Planning’s network of independent financial advisers are able to assist with your tax planning needs.
SALARIES
You may think that this is a strange one to put in for tax planning, but it is an obvious one – and sometimes we do miss the obvious. The main thing to remember about personal allowances is use it or lose it – it’s that simple, and this will apply to people who run their own companies.
In the current year we get a personal allowance of £12,570 which is the amount we can earn without paying any tax. Now if you have you have your own company, and you or your spouse haven’t used your allowances for the year, then it is worth thinking about taking an amount of salary to use these allowances up – after all, if you don’t use them, then that means that some tax-free money has gone.
DIVIDENDS
Same again, if you are a shareholder of your own company, then think about taking £2,000 in dividends as this would be tax-free, but please ensure that you have profits of at least this amount, as dividends should only be taken out of net profits.
You should even look at the possibility of taking out more than £2,000 IF the company can afford it, as dividends are taxed at lower rates than income tax and they don’t have National Insurance on them either.
PENSION INCOME
If you are taking a pension income, and your fund could stand you taking out more – then if you could take out more AND it was tax-free, i.e. by taking up to £12,570 – then why not. You should always maximise the tax free element, even if you extract it and put it in the bank – at least you are not paying tax on it. Don’t forget that this applies per person – so if you are married, then your spouse can do the same.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For any enquiries, contact Andrew on 07957 836211 or enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk
The Cost of Investing
It never ceases to amaze me that some people think investing is so easy, that they could do it blindfolded and still make money. Now to a certain extent that is true in a bull market when prices and valuations basically only rise, and let’s be honest, at times like this you could invest in almost anything and it would make money. But, this last week saw a big drop in the FTSE and other markets over fears that the control over COVID is not getting a great deal better, so what do investors do then?
The simple answer is not to panic. Yes, everything will go down in value and you will be hit with losses on some funds, but that is to be expected and the main thing that you need do is anything but a knee jerk reaction – as that will give you the wrong outcome. Of course, some advisers will do nothing anyway as they may have clients in passive type funds, but that shouldn’t stop them reviewing things.
What we do at MAP is fallback to our research BEFORE we do anything, because it is always far better to have a logical approach to things as opposed to a scatter gun approach. At MAP we do two main pieces of research on what funds that we use and this is 1. Long-term and 2. Short term. The long-term approach wouldn’t change things in this aspect as what we look at is what funds have good consistent performance over 1, 3 and 5 years. Where the main difference is though is in the short-term analysis. Every week we analyse all the funds that have a good long term performance to find out the best ones that are still doing this SHORT TERM and in this respect we look at performances over the previous 3 months, and we highlight the top 10 performers in low risk, middle risk and high risk.
So what we would do at MAP is wait until any fall in values has settled down, and then we would look to see what funds have maintained their performance in the short term – and this then identifies the funds that we would use – and it is based on FACTS. This means that you are not doing a knee jerk reaction and instead only making changes based on logical facts and statistics. Far better that way.
We don’t do a lot of research to find out the best funds for our clients only to jump out of them at the first hint of trouble.
MAP does all the background work – so that you don’t need to.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Astute Invest Ltd is an Appointed Representative of Money Advice & Planning Ltd who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For any enquiries, contact Andrew on 07957 836211 or enquiries@astuteinvest.co.uk
Investing money
I invested money for a client just 10 days ago, and this morning I received a frantic email that one fund had lost a lot of money – it was almost like a cry for help, so this showed that I had failed in my first task.
When you invest money, it needs to be for at least 3 years minimum, because you need that amount of time to cover charges and start making money yourself. Bear in mind that values of all units will fluctuate and in the short term they may very well fluctuate down the way – so you need to keep that in mind. My client, had only invested the money and was looking at things daily, and he wanted an explanation of why a particular fund fell on the day – well ……. I told the client that he needs to look at values say once a week – and not every day, otherwise he could give himself a heart attack. Investors also need to bear in mind that when you invest money it is not like a deposit account at the bank where you check in every so often to see how much you have gained. Investments do go down as well as up – and you should almost expect this to happen with most funds/shares – that is investing. When you see adverts for investments – the Regulator always gets a statement inserted saying that the value of investments can go down as well as up, and this is an attempt to stop the expectation that they can ONLY go up.
When MAP does any investments for clients – this is why we pick a range of funds, so that we can hope that any value falls are compensated by other funds where value gains. By taking a spread of funds you are attempting to reduce the risk, and just think how bad it would be if you had all of your investments in just one fund – and that went down. Well……
This is also why MAP monitors the funds that we use, because we identify the losing ones and instead of a knee jerk reaction on getting clients out of those funds as quickly as possible, we have look over something like 2 – 3 weeks and if there is no improvement, then by all means we look to switch those investments into other funds, but we take our time to evaluate and don’t just jump in.
We don’t do a lot of research to find out the best funds for our clients only to jump out of them at the first hint of trouble.
MAP does all the background work – so that you don’t need to.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For any enquiries, contact Andrew on 07957 836211 or enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk
Are your clients getting the right financial advice?
Reading the national and financial press recently, it is very apparent that a lot of people don’t know where to turn for financial advice. With most Financial Services providers having withdrawn from having a local presence, and the ongoing onslaught of bank closures in the average UK high street, it is becoming even more confusing for people to know where to go or who to call for good financial advice.
Establishing a relationship with an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) you can trust to handle all of your financial needs is critical to achieving your financial goals. Not all Financial Advisers are the same, so you must beware!
The two main types of financial adviser are those who are independent and those who are not. All advisers must tell you what services they offer from the outset. To be called an Independent Financial Adviser, they must be able to offer a broad range of retail investment products, and give consumers unbiased advice based on a comprehensive analysis of the market.
Restricted or tied advisers on the other hand can only recommend certain types of investment products or products from a limited number of providers (possibly only one if tied). It is important to establish at the outset what type of advice an adviser can offer, to ensure you get the best investment(s) to suit your needs and requirements.
All advisers must be properly qualified to give financial advice and hold the Diploma in Financial Planning, or an equivalent qualification. Advisers must also prove that their knowledge is up-to -date through continual professional development (CPD).
Some types of advice require an adviser to have specialist qualifications – pension transfers and equity release for example. Any companies offering these services should have advisers within their ranks who are suitably qualified to provide advice in these areas.
Advisers must also be transparent in the fees they charge for both initial and ongoing advice and services.
With Money Advice & Planning Ltd you can rest assured in the services we offer:
- Non-restricted advice and planning – no matter what financial advice and products you need, we can help.
- Face-to-face advice from UK-wide trusted advisers – irrespective of where you are in the UK, one of our advisers will be happy to meet you and discuss matters face-to-face.
- Fees structured to suit requirements – financial advice should never take on a ‘one size fits all’ approach and our fees will be structured and mutually agreed to suit your needs.
- Tailored service packages – we don’t believe in one-off financial advice and have several service packages available, so your financial affairs are reviewed throughout your journey with MAP.
- Whole of market non-discretionary investments – our bespoke investment strategy will cater for your needs and requirements, and give you an investment right for you.
- Quarterly investment reviews – our proactive analysis of fund performance ensures you are always invested in the best areas to suit your attitudes to risk.
- Recommended funds – we invest using recommended fund lists, which have been tried and tested to deliver successful returns for our clients.
- Transparency and peace of mind – clients have 24/7 access to their investments through the MAP portal, so they always know how their investment is performing.
Why not get in touch today to see how we can add value to your business and your clients.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Robo Advice v. Bespoke Services?
Technology is changing the world on every level, at a pace we could hardly have imagined possible even 10 years ago. On a personal level and, especially in the world of business, technology is shaping how we live and work, both now, and in the future.
Every industry is being shaped by technology and financial services is certainly no exception. You just have to look at how banking has changed in the last 10 years and how we now interact with banks. Straight forward transactions can be carried out much faster online but what do you do when you need some advice and help, especially face-to-face advice?
The IFA world has also gone through many changes in recent years and technology has played a major part in those changes. From back office systems to help you manage your business more effectively to investment platforms that allow you to access and invest client money all in one place, technology has transformed how we operate. MAP has embraced this technology to assist us in maximising returns on our clients’ investments.
The latest technology to enter our sector which you will no doubt hear more and more about is “Robo Advice”. Robo Advice is basically an online investment platform which uses algorithms to assess a clients’ attitude to risk via an online questionnaire before offering what is usually a limited choice of risk-rated portfolios to invest in. There is very little (if any) human intervention and wider issues such as estate or retirement planning are not addressed at all.
At Money Advice & Planning Ltd we believe it is our job to truly understand our clients, their goals and aspirations, and their attitude to risk. We do this through meeting with them face-to-face and building a long-term plan to help them achieve their goals. This is the human aspect of financial advice which a computer algorithm could never deliver.
We provide our clients with a bespoke proactive investment strategy and service – initial and ongoing – to maximise returns on their investments, based on three key steps:
- Select – We choose the best product and range of funds from the whole of the market based on our clients’ attitude to risk;
- Review – We regularly review the funds we are happy to recommend to clients based on the funds’ performance; and
- Switch – We recommend fund switches where necessary and, with your permission, we make those switches.
To provide complete transparency, we provide our clients with 24/7 access to the MAP portal where they can track and monitor the performance of their investments.
We do believe technology has its place, but we don’t believe in one-off, remote financial advice and investment services.
If you would like to find out about how Money Advice & Planning invests client money, please visit us at www.mapfinances.co.uk and use the contact form. Alternatively, call Andrew Singleton on 0345 241 1808.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Accountants, Lawyers and IFAs – A Team Approach
Financial, legal and tax advice are areas conducted by professionals adhering to their own sets of standards and qualifications, with their own professional bodies and regulators.
These advice professions are no different to other business sectors though when it comes to facing growing pressure to retain their existing clients, and more importantly, to win new clients and discover sources which will provide those new clients.
Legislation such as the Legal Services Act (LSA) and the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) has forced the legal and financial advice professions to introduce more client centric business models and, at the same time, become more competitive. This in turn has created a growing pressure for these advice professions to diversify and expand their business propositions in order to be more competitive.
Working more closely and proactively with a professional IFA can provide a very simple but effective solution to this problem.
Given the overlap between many areas of tax, legal and financial advice, a number of firms have seen the potential for Accountants, Solicitors and Independent Financial Advisers to work together to leverage each other’s client relationships. It provides those clients with a more holistic, joined-up and value-added approach to advice, and at the same time resolves the challenges of retaining existing clients and finding a source of new clients.
If you would like to find out how Money Advice & Planning can add value to your business and your client relationships, please visit us at www.mapfinances.co.uk and use the contact form. Alternatively, call your local MAP adviser at a time which suits you.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Why getting the right advice is so important
Establishing a relationship with an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) you can trust to handle all of your financial needs is critical to achieving your financial goals. Not all Financial Advisers are the same, so you must beware!
The two main types of financial adviser are those who are independent and those who are not. All advisers must tell you what services they offer from the outset. To be called an Independent Financial Adviser, they must be able to offer a broad range of retail investment products, and give consumers unbiased advice based on a comprehensive analysis of the market.
Restricted or tied advisers on the other hand can only recommend certain types of investment products or products from a limited number of providers (possibly only one if tied). It is important to establish at the outset what type of advice an adviser can offer, to ensure you get the best investment(s) to suit your needs and requirements.
All advisers must be properly qualified to give financial advice and hold the Diploma in Financial Planning, or an equivalent qualification. Advisers must also prove that their knowledge is up-to -date through continual professional development (CPD).
Some types of advice require an adviser to have specialist qualifications – pension transfers and equity release for example. Any companies offering these services should have advisers within their ranks who are suitably qualified to provide advice in these areas.
Advisers must also be transparent in the fees they charge for both initial and ongoing advice and services.
As a valued client of Money Advice & Planning Ltd you can rest assured in the services we offer:
- Non-restricted advice and planning – no matter what financial advice and products you need, we can help.
- Face-to-face advice from UK-wide trusted advisers – irrespective of where you are in the UK, one of our advisers will be happy to meet you and discuss matters face-to-face.
- Fees structured to suit requirements – financial advice should never take on a ‘one size fits all’ approach and our fees will be structured and mutually agreed to suit your needs.
- Tailored service packages – we don’t believe in one-off financial advice and have several service packages available, so your financial affairs are reviewed throughout your journey with MAP.
- Whole of market non-discretionary investments – our bespoke investment strategy will cater for your needs and requirements, and give you an investment right for you.
- Quarterly investment reviews – our proactive analysis of fund performance ensures you are always invested in the best areas to suit your attitudes to risk.
- Recommended funds – we invest using recommended fund lists, which have been tried and tested to deliver successful returns for our clients.
- Transparency and peace of mind – clients have 24/7 access to their investments through the MAP portal, so they always know how their investment is performing.
Perhaps most importantly of all, we come tried and tested. Read the reviews of just one of our advisers and see for yourself.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent professional advice for your own particular situation. Money Advice & Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Long-Term Care Planning
Long-term care is when someone requires either care in their own home or to live in a care/nursing home; both of which must be paid for.
In both circumstances, key decisions need to be made and ‘add-ons’ to be considered. The two key aspects behind these are requirement and cost – what is definitely needed, no matter what, and what is affordable?
Making informed decisions about long-term care is very difficult, but doing it in advance is necessary. It ensures sufficient knowledge and funding is in place when needed, making the transition into care much easier.
People with disabilities and/or complex medical issues may qualify for NHS continuing care, which is free of charge. However, it cannot be relied upon as the vast majority of people will not qualify for it. Local authorities can provide some element of funding, but with public sector budgets constantly being stretched, sacrifices will almost certainly have to be made. Lastly, benefits are available which are not means tested, and they can make some difference to the end cost payable.
The only way to control long-term care costs is through self-funding. This requires healthy savings and/or successful investing, plus most importantly of all, good planning. For good financial planning, you need to speak to a qualified adviser.
MAP will find the best way for you to fund ongoing care for yourself or a loved one.
If you or a loved one are considering registering for care and are concerned about the costs involved, talk to one of our long-term care specialists. They have the knowledge and experience to plan out how best to tackle the requirements, explain the options open to you, and guide you with regards financial assistance available.
Many people are reluctant to seek advice and help for care; almost as if they are embarrassed to do it. We are more than happy to discuss it with you and your family and provide the impartial opinion and support which is truly needed in such situations.
For more information, click on the most suitable link:
Savings and Investments
Equity Release
Insurance and Protection
Accreditations
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide financial advice to UK-based individuals and organisations.
We hold the Investors In People award, which is a testament to how we treat customers and staff alike with respect and understanding.
As members of the British Franchise Association (bfa), we hold a standards-based accreditation to show we undertake ethical franchising.