A financial plan is made up of many working parts which should all fit together seamlessly. When most people think of financial planning, they might think about investments or pensions. But these are simply the tools we use to work towards your goals rather than the end result. A good financial plan combines risk management, …
Pension flexibility has brought a great deal of choice and opportunity to investors. You can take your pension income to suit your circumstances and do not need to be bound by an arbitrary limit. If you want to spend it all on a holiday or a sports car, you can. Equally, you can decide not …
The years when you are raising a family can be the most pressured from a financial perspective. You may still be paying off debt or trying to get on the property ladder, while simultaneously doing everything you can to build a career and give your children the best start in life. You may also have …
We all know that we should be planning for retirement. The State Pension is a useful starting point, but would fall short of providing a comfortable retirement for most people. Workplace pensions can partially bridge this gap. These require a minimum level of contribution from both the employee and the employer. But over the course …
Financial planning can be complex, and the best solution for one person often doesn’t work as well for someone else. It’s easy to become focused on investment returns, when really, this forms only part of the picture. The first step is to decide what you would like to achieve. Once you have clear goals in …
An inheritance usually comes with mixed feelings. While the money can be enormously helpful, grief and guilt can sometimes factor into the decisions that follow. You may want to honour the wishes of the person who passed on, whether that involves saving prudently for the future, or spending the money on a once in a …
Retirement at 60 or 65 used to be the default option, with a lucky few able to achieve financial independence even earlier. With increasing life expectancy, the likelihood is that many of us will need to work for much longer. The State Pension is already set to rise to age 68 and not everyone will …
Both pensions and ISAs are extremely tax-efficient investments. Traditionally, pensions are the default option when saving for retirement. But just as retirement has evolved to encompass flexible working and winding down gradually, the options for funding your desired lifestyle have widened. So if you are thinking about investing for your retirement, would a pension or …
A job for life is no longer the default option. Moving between companies is easier than ever, and it’s not unusual to change careers, even more than once, over the course of a working life. If you set up a new pension every time you move employers, it’s easy to build up half a dozen …
Creating your own financial plan is fairly easy and accessible. The internet offers budgeting spreadsheets, investment calculators, and trading platforms. Everything you need to plan your future and build a financially independent lifestyle is literally at your fingertips. So why do we still struggle to build a sensible Financial Plan? The web can provide you …
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