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Ray Prince's Articles

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Your Retirement - What Will You Actually Do? When we start working with a new client who's, say, aged 50, it's always interesting to get down to what they want to aim for in life. After all, if life is not about thoroughly enjoying doing things you love most, what is it about? So when the 'Retirement Reality' study from an insurance company came out the other day, it was something that we took notice of. Life Coverage, Critical Illness, Income Protection - Are You Fully Covered? When you graduated, there's a high probability you 'signed up' for income protection cover. Maybe it was at a graduation Ball, or perhaps it was following a talk you attended. Even if you found out since that better coverage was available, the key is that you took action and purchased a very important protection plan. Savings Rates - Are You Getting the Best Rate For Your Money? We are not talking about serious longer term investments here. This is money which is meant to be safe and accessible, and preferably tax efficient. It could well be that it's money earmarked for your tax bill, for example. Financial Planning - The 10 Key Questions to Ask Yourself No matter what stage of career you've reached, or even if you've retired, there's a number of key questions that you should be able to answer to give yourself the confidence that you've addressed all the important areas of your financial planning. So, today, I'm going to run through the key areas that we run through with each client to take a 'barometer' of their financial planning health. Let's get started. Absolute Return Fund - Should You Invest in One? You may have heard about Absolute Return Funds being launched and appearing in the press recently. We have seen quite a few of them launched in the last year or so, and they sound good don't they? Absolute returns - hmmm, let's investigate. There are 3 main reasons why these funds have appeared on the radar recently: Getting Financial Advice - Your Options Explained This week's article is a biggie, but I guarantee it'll be worth a few minutes of your time. If you're looking for help with your financial planning decisions, there are a number of resources you can turn to. Income Tax Rises 2010 - Will You Be Affected? Large rises in income tax are due to take effect from next April for people earning over £100,000. New rates of tax were announced by the Government in the recent budget and they are going to hit many of our clients hard! This is because our clients tend to be higher earners, with many in the £150,000 to £350,000 pa bracket. So, how are you going to be affected? ISAs - Are They Really That Tax Efficient? One of the standard pieces of advice we have always given when it comes to investing in stocks & shares is that it really will pay off to maximize the allowances clients have to ISAs. If a client is looking to invest, this is the first port of call for us as wealth managers. As a couple can invest 7,200 each in every tax year, this 'pot' can potentially grow very nicely over the longer term. Last Will and Testament - The Perils of Dying 'Intestate' Not the most enlightening of subjects is it? And not one you'll probably discuss often, with either friends or family. What's that I hear you say? Dying. The good news is that I'm not going to take up the next few minutes of your life talking about how we might all eventually leave planet earth. 1970s Crisis - Is it the Same This Time? Well, what a year it's been... High street banks in crisis, investment banks closing their doors, 'experts' pointing fingers, and SERIOUS questions asked of the Financial regulators. Yes, what WERE the regulators doing on both sides of the Atlantic? And to cap it all, a $50bn (expected) fraud uncovered in the US. Is there more to come, one wonders? Bank of England Base Rate Reduction - What About the Savers? There has been a lot of talk about the big winners when interest rates fall - i.e. borrowers. But what about people who rely on a reasonable amount of interest on their deposit accounts - the savers? Falling interest rates are a nightmare for savers, and with the Bank of England (BOE) dropping rates further, what options do you have if you are a saver? Lower Interest Rates - What Do They Mean to You? The fact that the Bank of England (BOE) has slashed interest rates by 1.5% to 3%, I think shows how worried they are about the British economy. In a Bloomberg survey of 60 economists, nobody had predicted such a large cut in one go. You would be forgiven for wondering what the reasoning behind this decision is when inflation has reached over 5%, and the BoE are supposed to target 2%. Retirement Planning - Should You Take Your Pension at 60? This week we are discussing a scenario where an individual is about to reach 60 and are wondering whether they have to take their pensions at 60, or if they can delay this decision. And indeed, what are their overall options? Some years ago, many in the pensions world advised investors not to touch their pension until it was absolutely necessary. How Safe is Your Money? - Your Guide to Protection My goodness what a rollercoaster it has been recently! It seems that not a day goes by without more gloom. A bank goes bust or is rescued, an insurance company is swallowed up by another or is nationalised. It is in times like these that people quite naturally get very worried and want to make sure that they are protected. Let's look at cash deposit savings. Saving Money From Income - Are You a Saver Or Spender? It certainly looks all doom and gloom at the moment doesn't it? Open any newspaper or tune into the news on TV and if you are anything like me, you get punch drunk with all the articles on how bad the stock market or property market is etc etc. It may seem perverse then to write an article on savings! To SIPP Or Not To SIPP? - More Pension Options Explained We have been seeing a lot of enquiries from clients wanting to know if a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) would be appropriate for them. Let's look at an example to illustrate this. Let's say you have several personal pensions, some separate share investments and an investment property. How can you use a SIPP to invest in the shares and the property? Personal Pension Plans - Does The 'Best' One Exist? Like many of our clients, we are constantly updating our Continuous Professional Development (CPD). One of the many pieces of reading material we were looking through had the title of 'Advisers Have Vital Role As Persuaders'. This was based on the results of a survey which asked both individual investors and advisers 5 questions about retirement planning success. What's Your Investment Risk Strategy? Sensible investment and wealth management requires a balance between your risk profile and investment portfolio volatility. Both of these factors can be combined to make up your investment policy and investment philosophy. NHS Pension Changes April 2008 - What You Need To Know As you are probably aware, the New NHS Pension Scheme goes live from April 1st 2008. This scheme is automatic for new members from that date, and a major change here is that the normal retirement age is 65, not 60. However, the existing scheme also changes in some key areas for those of you who opt to stay as you are. Fund Managers On The Move and Your Strategic Asset Allocation Recent research by Citywire, a leading fund research firm, has revealed that the average fund will only retain its fund management team for two-and-a-half-years. The analysis, which concentrates on UK funds, is the most comprehensive conducted yet and includes 5 years of data. The survey examined 1,741 funds and found that over the 5 years to the end of August there were 3,440 manager moves. With Profits Pension Funds - Beware If you have a "with profits" pension, or are being advised to invest in one - read on urgently. A survey by Money Management, an established personal finance magazine, has once again highlighted the sinking payouts to many investors from well known investment brands. National Savings - The Right Option For You? When we deal with new clients, we encounter Premium Bonds frequently, but it's not very often that we see the many other products offered by National Savings and Investments (NS&I). Some NS&I returns are currently looking quite attractive, and so it is worth perhaps looking at two such investments, Premium Bonds and Savings Certificates. Critical Illness Coverage - Insuring The Children When you buy a critical illness policy it's usually because you want to protect you or the family should the worst happen and you are diagnosed with a life threatening disease. But have you ever thought what the impact may be if one of your children was severely ill? Would it make a difference if you had extra funds to deal with the news? Well, if you have critical illness cover the good news is that you may be covered already. Critical Claims Statistics for Critical Illness Cover Are you adequately covered for personal life protection, including life assurance and critical illness cover? Do you know what the actual claims experience of the leading insurance companies is? Let's take a look at some revealing statistics... Home Information Packs - What You Need To Know Home Information Packs will be introduced in the UK from 1 June 2007. You may have read about them, but what exactly will they mean for property purchasers and sellers? Let's take a look at the implications... Your Mortgage Endowment - Cash In Or Continue? Do you have a unitised with profits endowment plan? Is it on track to repay your mortgage loan? Are there alternatives available to you? There may well be, and it's not what the insurance company wants you to know... Your UK State Pension and Missing Contributions Is it possible to boost your UK State Pension? What steps can you take to increase your income in retirement? By paying Class 3 National Insurance contributions all this is possible... The UK Property Boom - Will It Continue in 2007? Whether we own property to live in, have it as an investment as a buy to let or as part of our portfolio in our ISAs or Pensions, the fortune of the property market is very important to our overall wealth. Critical Protection Issues - How To Get The Right Level of Personal Protection This is the second of a three part mini-series on protecting your family from the effects of death and illness. A morbid subject perhaps, but a crucial one that you shouldn't ignore. Bracing Yourself for Higher Education Costs - Are You Ready For The Challenge? Will your children be able to afford to go to University or onto Higher Education? With the costs increasing every year will the government be able to reach their goal of more students going to university? Let's look at the costs involved and the steps you can take to ensure you've saved enough for their futures. Is This The REIT Investment? - Real Estate Investment Trusts and Investing in UK Commercial Property If you're looking to invest in commercial property (shops, offices etc - not 'buy to let' residential) you currently have a couple of main options (apart from buying the whole property itself). Critical Personal Protection Issues - Quality of Insurance Cover For the next three articles we'll look at the issue of how to protect yourself and your family from the financial effects of death and illness. These consist of: • The importance of the quality of your protection policies • How to get the right level of protection • A look at the actual claims experience of companies Parent Landlords - A Good Option? Many clients we speak to have at some time posed the question - should we buy a property for our child(ren) going to University? It is a fair question as it seems a waste to pay rent when you can get something back. Also, as a caring parent you presumably would like your child to live somewhere decent and habitable.