Looking forward to having more time to explore faraway places

Today, with more Britons living longer and healthier lives, the concept of retirement is much different to what it was only one generation ago. For each retiree, retirement is different. Perhaps you’re looking forward to having more time to explore faraway places, or maybe you dream of simply waking up each day and doing whatever takes your fancy.

However you see your future, retirement is a time for you to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. After all, deciding when to retire will be one of the most important decisions facing all of us at some point.

It goes without saying that investing in a pension is an essential part of modern-day financial life. If you want to enjoy a comfortable retirement, then starting to save early and ensuring you keep putting money aside is vital. These are some tips that could help you increase the money you have available in retirement.

Do you know where all your pension pots are located?
Locate pension pots that you may have forgotten about. The Pension Advisory Service and the Pension Tracing Service can help you to trace forgotten pension pots

Remember to take your State Pension into account

Time to consider topping up your pensions?
Think about topping up your pension in the years leading up to your retirement. That little bit extra could make a difference

Remember, you might be eligible to top up your State Pension too. This could be particularly beneficial if you’re self-employed or a woman, because it’s possible your State Pension entitlement may be low

From age 55, you can draw your pension savings as and when you need it and still pay into your pension. You’ll continue to receive tax relief on your payments up to age 75, although taking benefits flexibly will limit how much you can put in

Have you considered retiring a little later than you’d originally planned?
Delaying your retirement might give your pension fund more chance to grow Remember, though, if your pension fund remains invested, the value could go down as well up, and you may not get back what you put in. If you defer your retirement, it’s also important to check whether this will affect any state benefits you’re entitled to

Working part-time for a while after you finish full-time work might enable you to delay drawing money from your State Pension or your pension, meaning your money may last longer when you do retire

Maybe you fancy trying something new, like setting up your own business. Becoming your own boss could be a good way to stay active and keep earning

A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT. THE FUND VALUE MAY FLUCTUATE AND CAN GO DOWN, WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE LEVEL OF PENSION BENEFITS AVAILABLE.

PENSIONS ARE NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE UNTIL AGE 55. YOUR PENSION INCOME COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY INTEREST RATES AT THE TIME YOU TAKE YOUR BENEFITS. THE TAX IMPLICATIONS OF PENSION WITHDRAWALS WILL BE BASED ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, TAX LEGISLATION AND REGULATION, WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.

THE VALUE OF INVESTMENTS AND INCOME FROM THEM MAY GO DOWN. YOU MAY NOT GET BACK THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT INVESTED.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT A RELIABLE INDICATOR OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE.

Many individuals find the Inheritance Tax rules too complicated

If you struggle to navigate the UK’s Inheritance Tax regime, you are not alone. Whether you are setting up your estate planning or sorting out the estate of a departed family member, the system can be hard to follow. Getting your planning wrong could also mean your family is faced with an unexpectedly high Inheritance Tax bill.

Reluctant to seek professional advice
Findings from a recent survey[1] revealed that many individuals find the Inheritance Tax rules too complicated, but the majority are reluctant to seek professional advice. The research revealed that over three quarters (77%) think the UK’s Inheritance Tax rules are too complicated. Yet despite this, only a third (33%) have sought professional advice on Inheritance Tax planning.

We understand that ensuring your Inheritance Tax planning is tax-efficient is a sensitive subject, and as a result planning opportunities can be missed. Early preparation is the key to success. Taking advantage of alternative methods to secure wealth and to shelter your estate will ensure that more wealth can be passed onto the next generation.

Exempt from Inheritance Tax
Every individual in the UK, regardless of marital status, is entitled to leave an estate worth up to £325,000. This is known as the ‘nil-rate band’. Anything above that amount is taxed at a rate of 40%. If you are married or in a registered civil partnership, then you can leave your entire estate to your spouse or partner. The estate will be exempt from Inheritance Tax and will not use up the nil-rate band.

Instead, the unused nil-rate band is transferred to your spouse or registered civil partner on their death. This means that should you and your spouse pass away, the value of your combined estate has to be valued at more than £650,000 before the estate would face an Inheritance Tax liability.
Here’s our snapshot of the main Inheritance Tax areas you may wish to consider and discuss further with us.

Steps to mitigate against Inheritance Tax

Make a Will
Dying intestate (without a Will) means that you may not be making the most of the Inheritance Tax exemption which exists if you wish your estate to pass to your spouse or registered civil partner. For example, if you don’t make a Will, then relatives other than your spouse or registered civil partner may be entitled to a share of your estate, and this might trigger an Inheritance Tax liability.

Residence nil-rate band
If you’re worried that rising house prices might have pushed the value of your estate into exceeding the nil-rate band, then the new ‘residence nil-rate band’ could be significant. From 6 April 2017, it can now be claimed on top of the existing nil-rate band. It starts at £100,000 per person and will increase annually by £25,000 every April until 2020, when the £175,000 maximum is reached.

Make lifetime gifts
Gifts made more than seven years before the donor dies, to an individual or to a bare trust (see types of trust), are free of IHT. So it might be wise to pass on some of your wealth while you are still alive. This will reduce the value of your estate when it is assessed for IHT purposes, and there is no limit on the sums you can pass on. You can gift as much as you wish – this is known as a ‘Potentially Exempt Transfer’ (PET).

However, if you live for seven years after making such a gift, then it will be exempt from Inheritance Tax. However, should you be unfortunate enough to die within seven years, then it will still be counted as part of your estate if it is above the annual gift allowance. You need to be particularly careful if you are giving away your home to your children with conditions attached to it, or if you give it away but continue to benefit from it. This is known as a ‘Gift with Reservation of Benefit’.

Leave a proportion to charity
Being generous to your favourite charity can reduce your Inheritance Tax bill. If you leave at least 10% of your estate to a charity or number of charities, then your Inheritance Tax liability on the taxable portion of the estate is reduced to 36% rather than 40%.

Set up a trust
Family trusts can be useful as a way of reducing Inheritance Tax, making provision for your children and spouse, and potentially protecting family businesses. Trusts enable the donor to control who benefits (the beneficiaries) and under what circumstances, sometimes long after the donor’s death. Compare this with making a direct gift (for example, to a child) which offers no control to the donor once given. When you set up a trust, it is a legal arrangement, and you will need to appoint ‘trustees’ who are responsible for holding and managing the assets. Trustees have a responsibility to manage the trust on behalf of and in the best interest of the beneficiaries, in accordance with the trust terms. The terms will be set out in a legal document called ‘the trust deed’.

Types of trust you might consider

Bare (Absolute) Trusts
The beneficiaries are entitled to a specific share of the trust, which can’t be changed once the trust has been established. The settlor (person who puts the assets in trust) decides on the beneficiaries and shares at outset. This is a simple and straightforward trust – the trustees invest the trust fund for the beneficiaries but don’t have the power to change the beneficiaries’ interests decided on by the settlor at outset. This trust offers potential Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax benefits, particularly for minor beneficiaries.

Life Interest Trusts
Typically, one beneficiary will be entitled to the income from the trust fund whilst alive, with capital going to another (or other beneficiaries) on that beneficiary’s death. This is often used in Will planning to provide security for a surviving spouse, with the capital preserved for children. It can also be used to pass income from an asset onto a beneficiary without losing control of the capital. This can be particularly attractive in second marriage situations when the children are from an earlier marriage.

Discretionary (Flexible) Trusts
The settlor decides who can potentially benefit from the trust, but the trustees are then able to use their discretion to determine who, when and in what amounts beneficiaries do actually benefit. This provides maximum flexibility compared to the other trust types, and for this reason is often referred to as a ‘Flexible Trust’.

Source data:
[1] Canada Life’s annual Inheritance Tax monitor survey of 1,001 UK consumers aged 45 or over with total assets exceeding the individual Inheritance Tax threshold (nil-rate band) of £325,000. Carried out in October 2017.

Worrying increase on last year’s figure

The over-65s in the UK are expected to owe around £86 billion by the end of 2018, according to latest figures from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) and More 2 Life. Total debt had increased on last year’s figure of £78 billion, as borrowing grew £35 billion in just three years. The research forecast that all types of secured and unsecured debt to retirees would exceed £142 billion by 2027.

When conducting the research, CEBR took borrowing including mortgages, credit cards, overdrafts, loans, car finance, hire purchase, student loans, payday loans and store cards into consideration.

Researchers have suggested that this increased level of debt is down to a number of factors, including this generation’s use of interest-only mortgages, current borrowing trends and relatively modest pension savings.

University of Birmingham’s college of social sciences Louise Overton said: ‘Worryingly, this report indicates that a significant minority are carrying secured and unsecured debt to help manage cash flow problems and make ends meet.’

Dave Harris, chief executive officer at More 2 Life, said the rapid increase in the retirement lending market ‘will only be exacerbated by an ageing population, people buying houses at a much later stage, and shrinking pension pots resulting in low retirement incomes.’

He added: ‘For growing numbers of people aged 65 and over, financial products that draw on the resource of housing wealth may well turn out to be the optimal way for them to solve the financial challenges they and their families have to face in future.’

Time to bring your investments together?

If you have accumulated a number of Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) over the years, keeping them all in one place could give you better control and help you save money. There’s a common misconception that you can’t move your existing ISAs from one provider to another. Transferring your ISA doesn’t affect its tax-efficient status, but you should make sure that you don’t have to pay penalties or give up valuable benefits.

If you want to switch from an existing ISA provider to a new one, you’re perfectly within your rights to do so. Much like a mortgage, you shouldn’t feel as though you’re saddled forever with your first ISA provider choice. Transferring your ISAs could allow you to widen your range of investment choices, as the range on offer can differ between providers.

Easier to monitor and manage
Another reason to switch is that you could find you’re better off because another provider is offering lower fees and charges. You may also want to move because you prefer to keep all your investments conveniently in one place, where they’re easier to monitor and manage.

You can transfer your ISA from one provider to another at any time. You can also transfer from one type of ISA to a different type of ISA – for example, you can move money held in a Stocks & Shares ISA into a Cash ISA, or from a Cash ISA to a Stocks & Shares ISA. Similarly, money held in an Innovative Finance ISA can be transferred into a Stocks & Shares ISA or into a Cash ISA.

Not all ISA providers accept transfers
Remember that not all ISA providers will accept transfers. Also, bear in mind that the ISA provider you are moving from might charge you for the transfer. If you transfer cash from an existing ISA into a Lifetime ISA, it will count towards your £4,000 Lifetime ISA allowance for the year and qualify for the government bonus, but will not count towards your overall ISA allowance of £20,000 in 2018/19. It is not advisable to transfer from a Lifetime ISA.

Transferring your ISAs won’t affect their tax-efficient status, provided you follow the correct process. You might think that to make a transfer from one ISA to another, you’ll need to close down your existing account, make a withdrawal, then open up a new account and pay in. But closing down your current ISA means you’ll immediately lose all the tax benefits, so never withdraw your savings to pay into a new ISA.

Additional permitted ISA allowance
Instead, if you want to make a transfer, we’ll contact your provider to inform them and manage the entire transfer process for you. Remember that tax rules can change in future, and their effect on you will depend on your individual circumstances.

If you are looking to transfer ISA tax benefits following the death of your spouse or registered civil partner, the survivor can now inherit their ISA tax benefits. This will be in the form of an additional permitted allowance equal to the value of the ISA at the holder’s death and will be in addition to your own ISA allowance.

INFORMATION IS BASED ON OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF TAXATION LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS. ANY LEVELS AND BASES OF, AND RELIEFS FROM, TAXATION ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

THE VALUE OF INVESTMENTS AND INCOME FROM THEM MAY GO DOWN. YOU MAY NOT GET BACK THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT INVESTED.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT A RELIABLE INDICATOR OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE.

Two more members of the Investing For Tomorrow Team are now qualified Pension Transfer Specialists

We’d like to congratulate Toby Turner and Gary Hanley who have recently passed their AF7 exams to become qualified Pension Transfer specialists. This is part of Investing For Tomorrow’s ongoing commitment to our clients, to stay as up to date as possible in a constantly changing financial landscape.

Completion of these exams requires extensive study and practical application which alongside their day-to-day duties at Investing for Tomorrow proves Toby and Gary’s dedication and commitment to giving the best possible service to all of our clients. Old and new will benefit from the up to date knowledge being gained on an ongoing basis. It doesn’t stop here.

As of May 2016, there were over 36,000 members of the Personal Finance Society (the principal professional body for financial advisers in the UK), of which only 5,000 held Chartered Financial Planner status. There will soon be two more.

Toby says ‘It is another exam achieved in my push for Chartered Status.  After starting my Diploma in May last year, and completing it in October last year, these Advanced Diploma AF exams count towards being Chartered.  I did the AF7 exam first because, along with my other exams completed last year, it allows me to provide advice on Occupational Pension Transfers, which is a very hot topic at the minute.

I am currently doing the AF8 which is a coursework based exam to do in your own time over a 12 month period.  I have also booked the compulsory unit AF5 to be taken in October 2018.

There will be other exams that I need to do, of my choice, to ensure I get enough points to get to Chartered.  I want to get to Chartered because, not only is it the highest standard an adviser can achieve, as a ‘relatively’ young adviser, it stands me in good stead to sit in front of potential clients and to be able to say that yes, I am relatively young as an adviser in this profession, but I have achieved Chartered Financial Planner Status.’

And Gary adds ‘After achieving my Diploma in 2010 I took a break from studying to concentrate on spending time with my family whilst my daughters were young.  They are both now teenagers and are therefore doing their own things.

I decided at the start of the year to dedicate my time to studying again with a view of achieving Chartered status within the next 18 months to 2 years.  Working for an IFA practice that has achieved Chartered status is very important for me as it shows their commitment to reaching and maintaining the highest level of professional achievement.  This is something that I am keen to achieve personally.

I decided to start with the AF7 exam as this is the most modern exam and reflects what I am seeing on a day to day basis in the current financial climate.  Informing clients or prospective clients that I have completed such a relevant exam when talking to them about their Final Salary Pensions puts their mind at ease that we fully understand the complexities of such an important area of their Financial Planning.

I am now in the process of studying towards AF8 and have also booked in for the compulsory AF5 exam in October.

I am now well and truly back into study mode and I look forward to be able to report back when I have achieved my Chartered Status’

More information about the qualifications and the path to becoming chartered can be found on the Personal Finance Society website.