Mortgages if the bank of mum and dad is struggling...

The number of young professionals relying on their parents’ finances to buy their first property has risen dramatically in recent years. Two thirds of first time buyers currently say they cannot afford to buy a house without turning to the “bank of mum and dad,” double the figure of five years ago, according to the National Housing Federation. Alongside this house prices have increased by 26 per cent since early 2009, and 68 per cent in London, bringing the average house price nationwide to £188,559.00.

According to Lloyds Bank parents pay £13,281.00 on average to fund their children’s first step on the property ladder, giving their offspring a collective £8 billion in deposits each year. But what are the alternatives?  Some specialist mortgages are catering for first-time buyers by offering some alternatives.

If a parent can’t or doesn't want to offer cash they could use their property as collateral. Aldermore’s Family Guarantee mortgage lends up to 100 per cent of the purchase price by taking a collateral guarantee on a parent’s home. National Counties offers the Family Mortgage for borrowers with a 5 per cent deposit. They need extra security in the form of parental cash savings or spare equity in their home.

Parents can also act as guarantors although traditional guarantor mortgages have become increasingly thin on the ground and lenders typically want to see that a child is likely to be able to take on the mortgage in their own right.

Then of course both generations could take out a joint mortgage – and informally agree the repayments. Most High Street lenders are happy to allow this, but for tax reasons, the ownership should be structured as “tenants in common”, where ownership is weighted in favour of the child. Otherwise, because they are not living in the property, the parents could face capital gains tax bills on their share. None of this is particularly easy to navigate but Enable’s IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford can try and help you find your way.

Your home could be at risk if you do not keep up your mortgage repayments. 

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE 

Do children pay tax?

Do children pay tax? Enable’s independent financial advisors can tell you the simple answer is that most don’t but that doesn’t mean they are not liable. There is a bit of a common myth out there that children don't pay tax - that's simply not true. Being under 18 doesn’t mean you’re not liable to pay tax – even babies are liable if they have enough income.  In fact, they're taxed in exactly the same way as adults. Each child can, in the 2014-15 tax year, earn up to £10,000 tax-free from salary, savings or investments. The difference is, unlike most adults, most children don't use up their allowance, so their savings interest is tax-free. Most children don’t have earnings at all let alone ones that exceed 10K so they don’t pay tax.

To make sure your children can earn tax-free or that they don’t pay tax unnecessarily, you  need to  complete form R85 for HMRC when you open an account in their name. Don’t worry if you haven’t done this though, if your child is paying tax for which they are not liable you can reclaim it for them buy using form R40. You should be able to get an R85 direct from your bank or building society, or both forms are available on the  HMRC’s website.

Another area to watch out for with children and the personal allowances is if their savings comes from you. Any interest earned on money specifically given to them by a parent is only tax-free up to the first £100, per parent or step-parent, each year. If your child earns more than £100 in interest the whole lot is taxed at the parent's rate. So as a parent if you are wanting to save at a high level of cash in a child's name, it's definitely worth looking more closely at Junior ISA’s as the interest attached to them is tax-free regardless. You can also add cash to a child trust fund (CTF) if you opened one before December 2010.  For a Junior ISA the 2014-15 annual limit is £4,000. It is interesting to note that the £100 limit applies to income from gifts from parents only, not other family members, so grandparents can save without the same tax implications.  Enable’s IFA’s are happy to talk you through saving for the children.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Pensions for teenagers

Enable’s IFA’s in Bishops’ Stortford are delighted that the financial education that has recently been included in the national curriculum is going to be expanded to include lessons on pension planning for teenagers.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is teaming up with financial education charity the Personal Finance Education Group (Pfeg) to produce new teaching materials to help get more information about financial planning into classrooms and boost saving for later life. These new educational resources which will probably include exercises, worksheets, videos and online content are expected to be ready for September 20 15 and will be aimed at pupils aged 13 and over to start with. The idea is to help teachers to "plan more inspiring lessons about the importance of pension saving".

Pensions minister Steve Webb says: "It's understandable for young people to glaze over when you ask them to think about retirement and pensions. But when you tell a teenager that this is going to affect them from the age of 22, you get quite a different response.” And the new auto enrolment scheme - a relatively new law that requires all employers to automatically place workers in a workplace pension scheme unless they opt out is going to affect everyone in the workplace.

A recent report from workplace pension scheme Nest found that young people are actually leading the way in the pension savings revolution, with people aged under 30 more likely to embrace automatic enrolment  than any other age group.  Only one in every 20 workers aged between 22 and 29 has chosen to opt out of automatic enrolment, according to Nest's figures. Enable in Bishop’s Stortford can help plan pensions across the board to suit your needs.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Pensions - Pensions - Pensions…

It might seem as if the news has been dominated with pension reform and Enable’s IFA’s in Bishops Stortford are more than happy to try and help you navigate all the new legislation.  But there are some clear, simple things that you should not do concerning pensions that we think are worth hammering home.

 Firstly you should have a pension, currently the basic state pension is £113.10 per week. From April 2016, most retired people will get the “new state pension”, it will be about £150 per week, but is dependent on your NI contributions. Either amount only offers an income well below £10,000 a year, so whatever happens it would be better to also save into a private or workplace pension.

Secondly don’t start a pension until too late. Legal & General have calculated that if you want a private pension income of £5,000 a year you would have to save £216 a month if you started at the age of 25. If you waited until 35 you would need to save £281 a month. Delay it another 10 years, until 45, and you would have to contribute £405 a month. Three key factors determine how much your pension will be two of these you can control - the amount of money you put in and the length of time you invest it for. The investment returns are not so manageable but the sooner you start saving into a pension, the better.

If your employer offers a workplace pension scheme it’s a good idea to take it up as many companies match employees’ contributions. By saying no you will effectively be turning down free money.  By 2018 all companies will have to “auto-enrol” workers into pension schemes and will have a legal obligation to contribute to them, although employees will have the choice to opt out.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

How to decide when it’s the right time to buy a house?

Since the Autumn Enable’s IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford have been following the news like many others about whether or not there will be a fall in house prices.  With Britain's runaway housing market expected to at least take a dip this year as the combination of new mortgage rules and the threat of rising interest rates brings house prices down.  It might seem to many a good reason not to buy but many experts are saying ay the market is more complex than the headline figures may at first suggest.

At the end of last year the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CERB) suggested that the UK housing market was at a "turning point" and the organisation expects 2015 to see 0.8 % decline in house prices.  In London the decline is expected to be even more substantial; according to CEBR, they may fall by as much as 2.6 %.

If there's a chance that house prices are about to fall, it may seem risky to buy at what could be the peak of the market – but many experts advise that waiting in the hope of a serious drop in prices does not always pay off.

One reason for buying a house sooner rather than later is that it might prove to be a sound investment in the longer term even if prices fall next year. By 2019, house prices across the country are expected to grow by 30 per cent, with the greatest boom occurring in the south east of England, where 37% increases are forecast.  Housing market predictions do not always turn out to be correct, but demand is continuing to rise and there is no sign of a dramatic increase in the supply of new home, so house prices are likely to rise in the medium to long term. Enable’s Independent Financial Advisors can help you look at mortgages that work best for you.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Financial education is key to understanding money matters

Enable’s Independent financial Advisors know that financial education is key at any age of life and the more the better for sensible saving, investing and spending decisions.  Good wealth management and financial planning go hand in hand with a thorough understanding of money and the institutions that manage it.

It can only be a good thing that since the Government published the new national curriculum details last autumn financial education has been included in the curriculums plans for maths as well as citizenship.

In citizenship student will be taught at Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14). The functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk. At Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16). Income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.  In Maths finance will be taught in maths at most key stages from September 2014. The exception, for Key Stage 4 maths, will come into force from September 2015 as it's still to be consulted on. In primary school maths, money will be taught as a unit of measurement and in problem-solving. Statistics is also introduced from lower Key Stage 2 (ages 7-10) for the first time, which gives an opportunity for teachers to introduce financial concepts to children.

Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of Pfeg, the UK's leading financial education charity says:
“Tax, public spending and how these relate to personal finances are all crucial areas that young people will now learn in addition to money management.”

Enable’s IFA’s could not agree more if you want any financial advice maybe talk to the kids before you talk to us.



Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Will Britons shun annuities and turn to the markets for their pension income?

Enable's independent Financial Advisors in Bishop’s Stortford imagine with all the options available in the brave new pension world that is just around the corners many more investors will think about turning to the markets. Experts are calling for the industry to boost the detail in the information they give about the cash funds actually deliver to investors, rather than only total return figures so that investors can make better decisions.

Morningstar EMEA head of investment consulting and portfolio management Dan Kemp says; “There are lots of areas of leakage of income so people are disappointed in the level of income they receive.”  “Also, with yields depressed to raw levels in the past few years, any fall in income is more keenly felt by investors which is adding to the urgency of the income debate,”Whitechurch Securities managing director Gavin Haynes says: “Any increase in the transparency in information regarding distributions would be helpful for the end investor. That’s something we’d welcome.”

Whitechurch uses dividend per share information when picking funds, but it is not on most fact sheets, he says. “It’s not something that’s standard. The historic yield is quoted but that tells half the story. It doesn’t show the monetary amount paid out on £100 invested. How much is paid out and the year-on-year changes would be interesting to see more widely circulated.” Haynes suggests a table setting out the cash amount paid going back several years would help end investors choose income funds more accurately.

Any investment in the markets comes with risks but planning for retirement means you need to invest wisely and consider all your options. Enable’s IFA’s are here to help you make the right choices for you based on the right risk assessments for you.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Getting the best from your pensions

Enable’s IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford know lots of people are struggling to make full sense of all the pension reform and how to make the best choices. So it is good to see that a new government-backed pensions guidance service known as Pension Wise is being launched to help people sort out their retirement cash in light of all the new financial freedoms being launched in April, Andrea Leadsom, economic secretary to the Treasury said recently, “It will be a first port of call for people with a defined contribution pension who are approaching retirement.”

From April, more than 300,000 people a year with defined contribution pension savings will be able to do what they want with the cash when they turn 55 and there is much worry that people will be making the wrong decisions, to the extent that Age UK warned recently that the change could lead to significant numbers of older people running out of money, unless stronger safeguards are put in place.  Alongside this around 2 million retiring pensioners will miss out on getting the full new state pension, a freedom of information request has revealed.  Under the new pension freedoms due to take effect many may have even already spent any private pension savings they have before they know exactly how much they can expect from their state pension.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “The new state pension will be complicated in the short -term and many people are likely to get less than they may expect. It is imperative they receive a proper state pension forecast. Without it, they could get a nasty shock when they reach pension age.” If you are worried about your pension provision Enable’s experience IFA’s can help you consider your options.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Pensioner Bonds AKA Granny Bonds are back...

Making sure you near cash savings are in the best place is something Enables experienced financial advisors in Bishop’s Stortford would always recommend. It is often the case that the NS&I offer some of the best bonds and last week the Government’s eagerly-awaited market-leading Pensioner Bonds went on sale. Inevitably the high demand created problems on the National Savings and Investments website but the popularity of the bond was not a surprise given that the one-year bond pays 2.8 % while the return on the three-year bond is 4%.

Anna Bowes of Savingschampion.co.uk. has done the comparisons and it's clear, “The rates are head and shoulders above the nearest competition, paying 51 per cent more than the average 'top five' one-year fixed rate, and 61 per cent more than the average 'top five' three-year fixed rate,” Only those aged 65 and over however are allowed to invest in these Pensioner Bonds. Even if you are 65 or over and want to invest you will only be allowed to save £10,000 in each bond. But you can put that sum into both of the bonds on offer, meaning you could save £20,000 in each of the high-paying accounts and couples are allowed to put £40,000 in between them.

This offer will not be ongoing as the Government has set a £10 bn limit on the bonds, which means, that if everyone invested the maximum £20,000, only half a million pensioners would be able to buy the bonds. It is likely that if the issue is over-subscribed the bonds will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want to apply online is very likely to be the best way. Enables IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford are here to talk through other options for your savings.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE 

If you already have an annuity what can you do?

Independent Financial Advisors at Enable in Bishop’s Stortford have a huge amount of experience in helping people manage their pensions but if you have already retired and have an annuity you might be wondering what’s in it for you with all the new pension freedoms due to come in this April. Pensions minister Steve Webb has come up with an idea and recently said he would like pensioners to be able to trade in their annuities for cash. The proposed changes could also create a “second hand” annuity market; other firms could bundle up individual annuities and sell them on in bulk.

 “I want to see people trusted with their own money wherever possible. I have already heard from people around the country who would like to see this change made” said Webb, “I want to see if we can get these freedoms extended to those who are receiving an annuity but who might prefer a cash lump sum.”

His argument is that up to five million pensioners are unable to access the pension freedoms set to come into force this year. He said: “As things stand, once an annuity is in payment there is very little that an individual can do if they would prefer instead to have a cash lump sum or some combination of cash and reduced income.” Under his proposed plans, once an annuity had been sold payment would be redirected from the policyholder to another account holder, probably an insurer or pension fund. Then the pension would continue to pay out until the original policyholder died.  Webb is keen to launch a consultation on the proposals and agree a Coalition plan for the reforms ahead of the general election in May. Watch this space.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Are Investment ISA’s worth it?

Enables IFA’s are great believers in passive investment and very keen to make sure you have the right risk assessment for you and your investments in place. But it is interesting to note that some investors who bought the right funds at the turn of the millennium will have at least quadrupled their money through ISA’s despite buying at the worst possible time ie the peak of the dotcom bubble say the Telegraph Money.

They recently pulled together a list of the best Isa funds since the start of 2000, a 15-year period that has seen the London stock market have some real ups and downs. Calculations by Hargreaves Lansdown, the fund shop, say that “an investor who put £10,000 into a fund that tracks the FTSE 100 index 15 years ago and reinvested the dividends would now have £15,213. But investors who put their money in one of the best-performing funds would have outstripped inflation and fared much better.”

These were the top 10 funds:
Fund name     Return since 2000
Marlborough Special Situations     580pc
First State Asia Pacific     536pc
Investec UK Smaller Companies     460pc
Invesco PRC [People's Republic of China] Equity     447pc
Aberforth UK Small Companies     445pc
First State Global Emerging Markets     411pc
Schroder US Smaller Companies     381pc
Aberdeen Emerging Markets Equity     380pc
Schroder Recovery     370pc
Jupiter Financial Opportunities     359pc

Marlborough Special Situations fund, managed by Giles Hargreave returned 580pc, according to FE Trustnet, turning a £10,000 lump sum into £68,000. Rob Gleeson, head of fund research at FE Trustnet, said it was no coincidence that the best performers were the funds that invested in the more “risky areas” - “Investors should only take as much risk as is appropriate for their objectives, but you can see from this data that the highest risk asset classes perform best over the long term.” What ever your approach to risk Enable's IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford are here to help you talk through your investment options.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Making the most of your pension in your 50's

With more control over our pensions on the horizon your fifties could well be the best time to review your savings and investments. Around this age earnings typically peak and mortgage and other debts tend to fall even if you still have children as young adults to support.

Enable's IFA’s in Bishops Stortford know this is a time to optimise savings. If you have a company pension make sure you are making the most of it many employers match contributions, often paying £2 in for every £1 paid by the employee up to a set limit.

If you have other savings and investment plans it maybe a good time to review the investment strategy of your pension fund.  Some pension funds adopt “lifestyle” techniques where assets are automatically moved into safer assets, such as bonds and cash, as you approach your expected retirement date, if your circumstances have changed this may no longer be an appropriate strategy ie if you plan to retire later, or want to keep your pension fund invested beyond retirement.

New rules giving people more freedom over how they use their pension funds mean far more people – particularly those with larger pension funds – are expected to keep their pension funds invested throughout their sixties and seventies, and simply live off the investment returns.

Traditionally, those in their fifties took a more cautious approach to investing than those in their thirties and forties. But if you are keeping funds invested for a further 20 or 30 years you can afford to take more risk with your money with the aim to generating inflation-beating returns.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

What will next years general election bring?

 Enable’s experienced IFA’s know that political change often brings fiscal change and for investments and wealth management tax management is vital. After the round of Autumn conferences all parties are promising major changes to tax, pensions, welfare and property over the next parliament.
Although it is tricky to predict what another coalition might bring these appear to be the key financial element of the key parties:

LibDems:
Wholesale reforms of pensions tax relief
Auto-escalation of pension contributions
New higher rate council tax bands
Higher taxes on investments
Raise the personal allowance to £12,500
No EU referendum unless there is major treaty change

Conservatives:
New schemes to boost home ownership and first-time buyers
Raise the personal allowance to £12,500
Raise the 40p tax band to £50,000
Hold an in/out EU referendum by 2017

Labour:
Raise new taxes from bankers’ bonuses, tobacco firms, payday lenders
Cut higher rate pensions tax relief to 20p
Introduce a fiduciary duty on all financial services staff
Reintroduce Schedule 19 stamp duty on UK funds
Reintroduce 50p income tax band on salaries over £150,000
No EU referendum unless there is major treaty change

Ukip:
Raise personal allowance to £13,500
Create new 35p tax band between £44,000 and £55,000
Scrap 50p income tax band
Leave the EU

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

What is a Personal Pension - the basics?

A personal pension is exactly what it says on the tin and you can have one if you're employed but not in a company pension scheme, or you might want to have one in addition to a company pension. Or if you are self employed you may want to set up a personal pension or even if you are not working but can afford to put aside money for retirement you can have a personal pension.

You can pay a regular amount (usually monthly or annually), or a lump sum to the pension provider who will invest it on your behalf. The overall final value of your pension will depend on how much you have contributed over the years and how well the fund's investments have performed. Charges are made for setting up and running your pension and are normally deducted from your fund in the form of fund management charges.



The Annual Allowance for pension contributions is £40,000pa from 6 April 2014 this includes both employee and employer contributions. You can carry forward unused contributions from the previous three years (ie. back to 2011/2012 for 2014/15), potentially allowing contributions of up to £160,000 in a single year. HMRC has confirmed that you do not need to have made a contribution to a pension scheme in a year to be able to carry forward unused allowances – you simply need to have been a member.

For each pound you contribute to your scheme, the pension provider claims tax back from the government at the basic rate of 20 per cent. In practice, this means that for every £80 you pay into your pension, you end up with £100 in your pension pot. Enable’s IFA’s can help you decide if you want to set up a Personal pension.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Robots on the horizon

Enables IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford know it is hard to predict the future for investments but if you believe robotics are the future you might be interested to hear that EFT securities recently launched a fund to track the global robotics industry.

The Robo-Stox Global Robotics and Automation GO Units ETF has been listed on the London Stock Exchange and is the first ETF offering focused exposure to companies into robotics. It was developed by Robo-Stox, almost 40 per cent of the index’s companies are North American, with 35 per cent in Asia. Europe makes up just 22 per cent.

Robo-Stox Partners chief executive Richard Lightbound says the world is in the early stages of a “transformational new economic era” founded on robotics slowly becoming more and more part of our daily life. “After the rise of the internet age rapid advances in technology such as machine vision, motion sensors and image and voice recognition are enabling robots to perform increasingly sophisticated and delicate knowledge-based work,” he explains.  “Ageing populations and shrinking workforces will accelerate this trend.”

The annual global supply of industrial robots more than doubled to 170,000 units over the decade to 2013, according to the International Federation of Robotics.  Howie Li says “the robotics and automation industry includes heavy-duty factory lines as well as companies making automatic vacuum cleaners,” also “there are lots of sectors that will be looking at robotics, like agriculture and mining.” If you want to try and make sure your investments are linked to future trends Enables IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford are here to help.

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE