Ipswich Financial Adviser

Posts Tagged ‘thompson financial consulting’

The Bank of England kept interest rates at 0.5% for a further month after their meeting yesterday. It is now over a year since the Bank of England Base rate has been at 0.5%.

Inheritance tax issues can be a worry to people. There are some simple financial planning techniques that can be used to help eliminate or reduce the possibility of this tax being charged on death.

Once of the simplest ways to help the situation is to write a will. With a well written will, it not only ensures you wishes are carried out on your death but will help with the reduction or elimination of a possible inheritance tax bill.

If you would like help or advice in writing a will we have excellent contacts with Solicitors and will writers that would be able to write an inheritance tax friendly will for you.

Please contact  Thompson Financial Consulting and we will help you make the most of your money

An annuity is the financial product that you purchase with your pension money at retirement. The annuity pays you a guaranteed income for the rest of your life. You can buy additional benefits for your spouse and have other features added to the annuity when you first take it out.

Your current pension provider will offer you an annuity when you reach your stated retirement age, but BEWARE; the offer from your existing pension provider is invariably a poor one.

YOU MUST, shop around for the best annuity rate you can find in the open market. By doing so you will increase the amount of guaranteed income you will have in retirement, a VETY important factor.

Also, it is vitally IMPORTANT, that you tell the annuity provider about your medical background . If you suffer from high cholesterol, diabetes, smoke, take medication, have suffered previous illnesses or have a current medical diagnosis of a complaint (however irrelevant they seem to you), any of them may provide you with an Enhanced Annuity. This means the provider will pay you MORE income as you have a past or current health issue.

As can be seen it is vital to get the best advice when you purchase an annuity. Speak to the experts at Thompson Financial Consulting Ltd and we’ll ensure you get more money in your pocket.

When taking out an equity release product on your home, you want to make sure you get as much help as possible.  You also want to find out from your advisers how much support and advice they are going to give you. For example, your adviser should be giving you advice as to how state benefits are potentially affected, if you take out an equity release scheme.

You will also want an adviser that gives you ongoing support after the equity release has been sorted out. You may have further questions or information sent from the equity release provider that you need clarification or advice on.

You will also need a solicitor when you are taking out an equity release scheme and you should ensure that the solicitor has experience in dealing with these products so that the legal aspects are taken care of professionally.

Finally, you should do your own homework so that you have some knowledge about equity release. A great place to start is the Financial  Services Authority (FSA) website for consumers http://www.moneymadeclear.co.uk I have included a link below to the equity release pages on this website. http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/products/equity_release/equity_release.html

To ensure you get the right advice contact Thompson Financial Consulting Ltd where we have an equity release specialist to help you now and to give you ongoing advice and support.

Equity Release refers to Home Reversion plans and Life Time Mortgages – To understand the features and risks ask for a personalized illustration.

If you have climbed the corporate ladder or been successful at running your own business and are earning in excess of £130,000 per year then you need to be fully aware of the restricting tax relief, on pension contributions, that will affect you. 

You need to make sure you have calculated your “Net Relevant Income” correctly to see if you have actually earned above the £130,000.  This includes your income that is chargeable to income tax and pension contributions paid under a net pay arrangement. The calculation does allow you to deduct certain losses and reliefs, relievable pension contributions subject to a maximum deduction of £20,000 and donations that qualify for gift aid. Finally, if a salary sacrifice has been agreed previously, then this may have to be added back into the income figures depending on certain rules.

The calculation is not straight forward and you have to do this for the 2007/2008, 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 tax years. If in any one of those years your income was at or above £130,000 then the new pension tax relief restrictions could have an affect on you.

I would strongly advise that if your income is near or above the relevant figure that you get appropriate financial advice to ensure you make your financial planning as efficient as possible.

Please contact Thompson Financial Consulting and we will be happy to give you the right advice and help you through the pension changes.

When you are looking to invest money or invest within a pension, it is of paramount importance that you diversify where you invest your money.

There are many different asset classes that you can invest in such as, Equities, Bonds, Gilts, Property, Cash and Commodities to name some of them.

Ensuring that you invest in a spread of these means that you are not backing a one horse race. If you only invest in one area, you stand a good chance that you may not get the returns you had hoped for. However, if you spread your money between the various asset classes you ensure that you can make the most of all the investment opportunities that are available.

By diversifying you get the benefit of lowering your investment risk, but with the upside of potentially greater returns, a win / win situation.

You should always get professional help to ensure you have the right mix of investments and that the investment risk you want to take is matched by the spread of investments you put your money into. 

Getting the combination right can mean the difference between making a return or loosing money.

Please feel free to contact Thompson Financial Consulting Ltd, should you require any help or advice ion planning your investments or pensions.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

Breaking News – Thompson Financial Consulting is now authorised directly by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

We have always used a third party to oversea our rules and regulations, however, with the ongoing growth and business development at Thompson Financial Consulting we are now going to be directly regulated by the FSA.

This is a fantastic move for us and will allow us to be more flexible in the way we help and advise our clients.

Thompson Financial Consulting looks forward to helping many more people plan their financial futures!!