Market Update: Plotting a Path for Recovery
This week may have been a short week for many but there was no shortage of data to digest as a number of positive news stories started to appear through the Covid-19 haze that has consumed markets in recent times. Whilst the number of deaths continues to rise, the rate of infection in Italy, Spain and Germany appear to be slowing giving hope that the peak may have been reached in areas that had previously been dubbed the epicentre of the virus within Europe. Whilst daily death toll reports from China have been met with wide spread scepticism, markets seem...
Effective End of Year Tax Planning
The end of the 2019/20 tax year is fast approaching, and there are a number of valuable allowances and reliefs that will be lost if they are not used before the deadline. These opportunities include, but are not limited to, four important areas of tax planning. We’ve summarised these allowances below and suggest that if appropriate to your particular situation, these areas should be reviewed before 5 April 2020...
Markets Bounce Back Responding to US Stimulus Package
The FTSE 100 soared yesterday as it recorded its biggest one-day rise since 2008, and the second biggest one-day rise ever, climbing 9.1% as US lawmakers agreed a stimulus package worth $2 trn. It wasn’t just the UK market that responded positively as The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11.4% - its biggest one-day gain since 1933, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index soared 7%, its largest daily rise in four years...
2020 Spring Budget
Newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, delivered his first Budget on 11 March, against a backdrop of uncertainty following the COVID–19 outbreak and subsequent financial losses. It was the first of two Budgets to be delivered in 2020, with the second to follow in the autumn...
Life is Full of Uncertainties.
Everyone should consider protection, even those who don’t have a family or a mortgage! Unless they have substantial savings or inherited wealth, most people rely on their salary to pay for everything. Over the years, you may have taken out a number of different insurance policies to give you and your family financial security. Perhaps this may have been when you started a family, took out a mortgage or became self-employed...
New Pensions Freedoms
The pension freedoms, introduced on 6 April 2015, have given retirees a whole host of new options. There is no longer a compulsory requirement to purchase an annuity (a guaranteed income for life) when you retire. The introduction of pension freedoms brought about fundamental changes to the way we can access our pension savings...
Every Journey Starts with a Destination
Every plan starts with a goal, just like every journey starts with a destination. Planning your financial future is not only important for your security, but it also provides peace of mind. Financial planning should be viewed as a long-term approach to managing your finances...
A Long Life Needs a Smart Retirement Plan
Your 50s are a crunch time when saving for your retirement. If you’ve already set a retirement savings target but have been neglecting it, you probably can’t afford to delay your planning any longer – and it could well be time for a careful review...
Boosting Investment Returns
Three years on from the 2016 referendum, and with ongoing political wrangling, the eventual outcome of Brexit is still uncertain. Brexit-related uncertainty and the challenging domestic backdrop mean investors need to be smarter about how they invest, which is why it is essential to obtain professional financial advice...
Understanding Investment Risk
There are many decisions to consider when making any investment. One of these is how much risk you are prepared to take. This will be determined by a number of different factors. In this guide, we take a look at the different types of investment risk and how it can relate to returns...
Inheritance Tax
Will you be one of the thousands of households in Britain that will have to pay Inheritance Tax? What’s the best way to avoid it? If you’re administering an estate because someone has died, how do you obtain probate? Is it ever possible to retrospectively minimise an estate’s tax liabilities?
Pension Scammers
Don’t let scammers enjoy your hard-earned pension proceeds. Anyone can be the victim of a pension scam, no matter how savvy they think they are. It’s important that everyone can spot the warning signs...
Vizion Wealth Announces the Appointment of James Blackham as Partner
Vizion Wealth are pleased to announce the promotion of James Blackham to the position of Partner within the firm. James originally joined Vizion Wealth from university as an Economics graduate and during his time at Vizion Wealth he has progressed through a wide range of roles as an IFA administrator, paraplanner, investment manager and now as a fully qualified and experienced independent financial adviser.
What’s Your Magic Number?
Retiring is a huge life event. And the very concept of retirement is changing with phased retirement becoming more common. The way we access our pension is now a lot more flexible, and it’s no secret that in the UK we’re living longer than ever before which means we need to make the right choices...
Smart Investments
Investors looking for tax-efficient ways to build a nest egg for retirement often look to both Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) we should link this to a Stocks & Shares ISA not a Cash ISAand pensions. Tax-efficiency is a key consideration when investing because it can make a considerable difference to your wealth and quality of life...
Taxing Times
Making sure you use up any allowances you are entitled to is the first step to reducing the amount of tax you may be liable to pay.We’ve provided our ‘Top 5’ list of planning areas to consider before 5 April 2020, the end of the 2019/20 tax year. The rates given are correct for the 2019/20 tax year.
Protecting What Matters
If something should happen to you, the last thing you want is for you or your family to be worrying about money. One of the most important aspects of your financial planning strategy should be to ensure that you’ve made provisions for your family and any dependants in the event of a serious illness, injury, bening unable to work or an untimely death...
Lifetime Allowance
An estimated 1.25 million people are set to breach the current lifetime allowance (LTA) limit of £1.055 million for pension tax relief over the course of their working life, according to new research published...
State Pension Deferral
A significant number of people working past the State Pension age could be paying unnecessary tax on their State Pension, according to new research [1]. This is because they failed to take up the option of deferring their State Pension until they stopped work. As a result, their entire State Pensionis being taxed, in some cases at 40%.
Building a Diverse Portfolio
Making sense of today’s market headwinds and building a diverse portfolio should be key priorities for all investors. Whether you have a lump sum to invest or want to invest regularly each month, it’s important to know your money is working hard for you...