In reality, the State Pension probably won’t be enough when you retire.  Nowadays people aren’t saving enough money to give them a sufficient income in retirement to maintain the lifestyle they’re used to.  This has meant that people have to work later into their lives than ever before.

This is why it’s important that you have some form of pension. By saying yes to your company pension and starting to save now means you’re much less likely to be working into your 70s and 80s.

The post Why it’s important to save for retirement appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

The impact of increasing the personal allowance and reducing the level at which higher rate tax becomes payable will result in more people suffering some higher rate tax in the future.

A corporation tax rate of 20% from 2015 will also add further competitive edge to the Governments plan of enticing inward investment for new and existing businesses into the UK.

The IHT threshold will be frozen at £325,000 until 2018 to offset the new social care cost provisions following the Dilnot recommendations. The £72,000 cap on social care costs and enhanced means testing cap to increase to £118,000 (currently £23,250) is welcome but may not please everyone, as it does not include potentially uncapped ‘hotel costs’ such as food and board, but does provide an opportunity for planning to be established and a level of certainty.

From a pension perspective the Chancellor did not make any further reductions to the Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance (LTA) announced in the Autumn
Statement. The Lifetime Allowance, as we have shown, can penalise good investment growth. The Government has estimated that around 360,000 people may
be potentially impacted by this reduction, we believe this could be vastly underestimated.

As advisers we continue to focus on reducing tax leakage as well as protecting and maximising client allowances  Additionalretirement planning strategies may well need to be considered for clients impacted by the reduction of the LTA, as well as those high earners who can make pension contributions which will enable them to regain their personal
allowance and potentially benefit from 60% margin relief by reducing their net adjusted earnings below £100,000.

The Finance Bill 2013 (scheduled for 28 March) will contain more detail and we hope ‘no surprises’. We also expect a number of consultation documents, for example the ability to transfer from a Child Trust Fund to a Junior ISA, which we welcome if it reduces complexity. Therefore, giving all plenty to digest in
the coming months.

The post Budget Summary appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

The latter has been replaced in the basket by digital television recorders, signalling the changing face of technology.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) updates the basket each year so the contents accurately reflect current trends in spending.  The basket contains about 700 items.  Some 180,000 individual prices are collected from 150 areas of the UK each month to calculate the rate of inflation and outline the changing cost of living.

In January, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation stood at 2.7% for the fourth month in a row, and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) was at 3.3%.

The post Inflation Update appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

Armed with this information Financial advisers can start the program of working with you to assess your workforce and communicate and introduce the changes to all your staff.

We suggest that you start gathering employee e-mail addresses within your own records as a matter of course, as this will be a key means of communication.

At Hughes Financial we can guide you through the entire process – from assessing your workforce, giving cost forecasts, advising on communications with employees, and introducing systems that will keep you the right side of the legislation.

To find out how our team of locally based Independent Financial Advisers can help, contact us to arrange a meeting at no cost to you – 028 9181 5928 or info@hughesfinancial.co.uk

The post Employers – do you know your auto-enrolment staging date? appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

• be set at a level of £144 per week (in today’s money) and will be introduced by April 2017 at the earliest.

• replace the current Basic State Pension and State Second Pension, and will be set above the basic level of means-tested support (currently £142.70 per week for a single pensioner).

• be required by law to increase in payment in line with earnings i.e. the same as the current Basic State Pension. The projections set out in the White Paper assume that the current policy of the ‘triple lock’ guarantee (i.e. increases are at least 2.5%, the rise in earnings or the rise in price inflation as measured by CPI) will continue.

• require 35 years of qualifying National Insurance Contributions (NICs) or credits in order to be eligible for the full amount. Those with a lower number of qualifying years will receive a proportionately smaller amount.

• be subject to a minimum qualification period of between seven and ten years so that only those who make ‘a significant economic or social contribution’ are eligible.

• be based on individual qualification, so in future it will no longer be possible to inherit a state pension from a spouse/civil partner.

• include the self-employed (which is not currently the case for the State Second Pension). Their National Insurance contributions will be treated in the same way as those of employees for state pension purposes.

The Government is also planning a new, structured, framework for reviewing State Pension Age. It is proposed to carry out reviews every five years, based around the principle that people should ‘maintain a specific proportion of adult life receiving the state pension’. The first review will take place in the next Parliament.

The post New single-tier flat rate state pension appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

Rather than simply lending a multiple of a the borrower’s salary, lenders will now have to apply an affordability test.  It is fair to say that many lenders have already adopted this approach.  Essentially the bank needs to consider (and check) how much income a potential borrower has, and deduct all outgoings that he or she will have, i.e. rates, car loans, electricity, etc.  The banks will then “stress test” the borrower to take into consideration possible future rises in interest rates to ensure that the mortgage would still be affordable.

The rules will come into effect in April 2014

The post New Mortgage Rules appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

The take up of these “J’ISAs” has been substantially lower than predicted, partly due to the continuing recession and partly due to the lack of public awareness. Parents are able to invest in any combination of cash or stocks and shares. Grandparents and other relatives can contribute up to the annual limit of £3,600.  Junior ISAs permit the same type of investments as the adult version, however children, unlike their parents are allowed to hold only one cash account and one stocks and shares account, although these are transferable.

The best deposit accounts are at the time of writing paying 3.25%. Parents have the choice of over 2000 funds to invest in if they wish to take a degree of risk with their investment, and it is best to seek professional advice in this area. Although the thought to taking a risk with our children’s future seems alien to some, the risk can be managed. One way to do this is to drip feed the investment on a regular basis rather than invest in a one off lump sum. Although any tax wrapper is more than welcome in todays climate it is worth remembering that at the age of 16 the child will be able to take control of the investment and fully surrender the money at age 18.

The post Junior ISA turns 1 appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

Against that background we are delighted to announce an Employer Workshop providing some practical information on topical employment areas that we feel will be of benefit to business owners:

• The first “Auto-Enrolment” staging dates are upon us and the time for theory is past –  under this new legislation employees must automatically be enrolled in a pension scheme – employers will already have received notification of their staging date and may have seen the associated TV advertising campaign.  Find out how to avoid potential pitfalls and put auto-enrolment into practice in your business. Find out what you really need to do between now and your staging date. Gain an understanding of the legal and payroll implications of auto-enrolment.
• Finance for the Future in association with Keys Finance – Judith Totten (MD) covers options for funding your capital cycle including invoice finance and supply chain finance, which provides funding for companies to pay suppliers for the purchase of finished goods, normally against confirmed orders. This is one of many methods of structuring your business using a local common sense company, backed by a main FTSE listed Bank.  And all without the restrictions associated with the current Corporate & Banking marketplace.
• Stewarts Solicitors understand the importance of clear pragmatic advice on Employment Matters. Partner Judith McConnell believes clients welcome practical guidance in this increasingly complex area of law and invites you to listen to her review on practical legislative changes of the past 12 months, and take a look at what’s around the corner.

Several of our recent events have been very oversubscribed so for further details and to reserve your complimentary place contact us at your earliest convenience. The seminar will take place in the Erskine Suite, Culloden Hotel on Friday 16th November 2012 – Coffee and registration 9:00 for 9:30 start – close 10:30

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1. To protect your family,
2. To help plan your spending and saving,
3. To help you plan for retirement,
4. To secure your home,
5. To help meet your investment goals,
6. To find the right combination of assets,
7. To obtain an objective assessment,
8. To save money,
9. To keep you on track, and
10. For peace of mind

If you would like us to take a closer look at your own circumstances and discuss the best mix of investments to meet your needs, why not give us a call?

The post 10 Reasons to use a quality financial adviser appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.

Savers, many of whom are retired, feel that they have no choice but to accept these returns, as the only option is to invest in the stockmarket. However, this simply isn’t the case.

Hughes Financial Services actively manage client’s savings, to ensure that clients:

• Receive as much interest as possible

• Receive this as tax efficiently as possible

• Keep access to their funds

• And do not risk any money by leaving more than the Deposit Compensation Limit (currently £85,000) with one bank.

Furthermore, it is imperative that any recommendation is actively managed on an ongoing basis.  Most savers have learned the hard way that Banks may offer an attractive interest rate on an account initially, only for this to dwindle over time.  One client who was recently referred to us had around £105,000 with a local bank earning a rate of 0.25%.  The annual interest on this account was around £263.  By looking at the best rates available, our adviser could restructure her savings to reduce her risk and increase her interest to £3,924 per annum. That’s an increase of £3,661, by taking less risk!

The post Savers can fight back- with a little help! appeared first on Hughes Financial Services | Financial Planning & Advisers Northern Ireland.