Life events What will influence your retirement income needs? Retirement is a time for you to do the things you’ve always wanted. When considering your retirement income needs, you need to consider the types of events you would like to happen after you retire that may impact your budget. Thinking about these early could help you when you’re deciding the best way to take your pension savings. Perhaps you’re looking forward to having more time to explore faraway places. Or

Financial resilience How prepared are you for any financial shocks? Over three million working couples are classed as ‘double income, no option’ (DINOs), which means they are potentially financially vulnerable if one of the two loses their earnings. The typical household today looks very different from the traditional image of a working family made up of one primary breadwinner and one homemaker. Instead, nowadays many households rely on two incomes to maintain their lifestyle, or even just to get by.

Avoiding hidden dangers in retirement Make sure you don’t run out of money or face a reduced standard of living Increasingly, more and more pensioners are keeping much of their pension invested after they retire. This means they’re faced with two very different risks when deciding what to do with their savings in retirement in a world of ‘pension freedoms’. Since April 2015, people who reach retirement have had much greater flexibility over how they use their pension funds to

You Snooze you Lose The team at Investing For Tomorrow are busy making sure our clients make the most of their opportunities to reduce tax, just one facet of ensuring we use our wealth to the best possible effect. This is true of both our personal business planning as well as optimising business proceeds for tax. Unfortunately, this is where that human tendency to put things off runs out of road, we need to act now to ensure the best

The bank that likes to say ‘yes’ Repeated payouts to children could have a detrimental impact on your own long-term saving Many parents who are in a position to do so would want to provide financial help to their children. However, in many cases, this financial support ends up being gifts from Mum and Dad rather than the loans from the Bank of Mum and Dad they start out as. Long-term dent  These written-off loans risk making a long-term dent

Millennial outlook Pension saving high up on the list of workplace priorities Workers from the so-called ‘millennial generation’ are putting pension saving high up their list of workplace priorities. Nearly six in ten (57%) people in their first ten years of work considered the quality of their current employer’s pension scheme before deciding whether to take the job, and they will also assess any potential new employer’s pension scheme before moving jobs in the future, according to research from Prudential[1].

Countdown to retirement Matching the living standards of those who have already retired Retirement can mean different things to different people. Understanding how much it will take to provide an income for yourself and potentially a spouse, while also ensuring you are able to leave something behind for your loved ones after your death, is essential. Number of factors  This will ultimately depend on a number of factors: primarily how much income you think you will need over the course

Investing for the future Higher inflation and near-zero interest rates mean the responsible thing to do could be to invest rather than to save Many of us have been brought up to believe that saving is the responsible thing to do. But in today’s environment of low interest rates and rising inflation, savers may need to consider becoming investors to prevent the erosion of their assets. Since the global financial crisis of 2007/08, the world’s central banks, including the Bank

Planning the future you want Pension freedoms bring optimism and adventure to retirement Will I ever slow down? Do I have the right plans in place? Retirement is a chance to do more of what you enjoy. figures released as part of LV=’s tenth annual State of Retirement report[1] indicate that, far from winding down, retirees are making the most of their time, with signs that pension freedoms have made people even more likely to feel this way. Half (49%)

Do you have a financial back-up plan this year? Be prepared if life throws something unexpected your way Unforeseen life events and circumstances can potentially impact your finances in a number of ways. Hundreds of thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK and it is becoming more common among those of working age. Cancer treatment can cause many to have to work reduced hours or stop working altogether. Sufferers should be able to make getting

ISA returns of the year Taking control over where your money is invested tax-efficiently A new tax year is nearly upon us – and that means, for all diligent savers and investors, you should make sure that you take full advantage of your current Individual Savings Account (ISA) tax-efficient allowance. An ISA is a tax-efficient investment wrapper in which you can hold a range of investments, including bonds, equities, property, multi-asset funds and even cash, giving you control over where

‘Sandwich’ generation Not having enough money for retirement is the biggest concern Average life expectancy has generally been increasing, and for the ‘sandwich’ generation, saving for their retirement is clearly a big concern – and with plans to contribute financially to support their children and parents, it’s perhaps no wonder. A survey by the Association of Investment Companies[1] of the sandwich generation aged 35–55 who have elderly parents and children and a minimum household income of £50k found that half