State pension age could rise faster than expected

Enables IFA’s in Bishops Stortford are all too aware that the state pension age has already been going up on a gradual basis from its longstanding levels and millions more working-age people may have to wait until their 70s to retire as more official reviews of the state pension age come into play.

A new consideration is underway as to whether to change the state retirement age from April 2028, the point at which it will have reached 67 for men and women, potentially affecting people under the age of about 55. John Cridland, the former director general of the CBI, was appointed to act as the independent reviewer of the pension age and will look at whether the pension age should continue to be linked to rising life expectancy.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has already forecast that on current life expectancy trajectories the state pensionable age could reach 70 by the mid-2060s, but some have warned that it could come even sooner than expected. Tom McPhail, the head of retirement policy at the financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “We fully expect state pension ages to go up faster than currently planned, and those joining the workforce today are likely to find themselves waiting until their mid-70s to get a payout from the state system. “Whatever decisions they make, the government needs to make sure they communicate them very, very clearly so individuals can plan their retirement savings with some certainty about what they will get from the state, and when they will get it.”

If you are worrying about your pension then why not get in touch with our team at Enable, we will help you to review your current pension plan.

Source: BBC

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

Age limit for mortgages increases to 85 years old

Getting a mortgage when you are older can be more difficult and Enable’s IFA’s of Bishops Stortford know that traditionally banks and building societies have been reluctant to extend loans and mortgages to older borrowers. Lending to anyone over 65 has been seen as risky and unprofitable for so long that it’s meant mortgages for older borrowers have been rare. But Nationwide has recently increased its age to 85 years of age and Halifax has increased the age of their borrowing limit to 80 years of age. Which means that customers can now take out a loan and repay before their 80th birthday.

This is all part of a move by banks and building societies who have started to recognise the need for extending the age of mortgages because more people are living and working for longer. However before you begin the hunt for a mortgage in later life you should set out exactly what you need from your mortgage not least because applying for deals that meet your needs and requirements will increase your chances of getting approved.

Once you know what you want from your mortgage you then can exclude a large number of the deals as many banks place a maximum age limit on their mortgage deals and others specify an age limit by which the mortgage must be repaid.  The upper age limit for new applicants is usually set somewhere between 65 and 70.

Many lenders will limit mortgage terms to ensure the money will be repaid in full by the time the borrower reaches somewhere between 70 and 85. One other difficulty is that many mortgage lenders do not openly state a maximum age as offering you a mortgage is often dependent on your income too.

This means that while it is worth checking for a maximum age upfront, if you want to find out more about your options Enable’s’ IFAs can help talk this through, as we can look at mortgage deals from across the market place.

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

Source : The Telegraph

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

Fed up with your bank? Then consider moving by using a switching service

Enables IFA’s in Bishop’s Stortford always like to make sure that the basics of financial management are in place, and being happy with your bank accounts is key. Interestingly more and more people are switching current accounts, a total of 309,678 people changed banks in the first three months of the year said the Current Account Switch Service

 There are 68 million active current accounts in the UK and the vast majority of customers remain loyal to their banks, but some experts have questioned the model of current accounts in the UK. If you are thinking of swapping banks there is now a switching service which means that customers can move over to a new account within seven working days and all regular incoming and outgoing payments are automatically switched over from the old account.

"There are still too few people switching," said Hannah Maundrell, from financial comparison website Money.co.uk." It is very telling that the competition watchdog has delayed its report into how to reinvigorate the industry because it suggests there is no easy solution. "The key problem with current accounts is overdraft charges, this is where people are getting significantly and consistently stung."

According to recent figures then banks Santander, the Halifax, and Nationwide Building Society have attracted the larges amount of new customers. One commentator suggested that this showed rewards for switching were more of an incentive for potential customers than the arrival of new banks on the market.

Source: Moneyco.uk

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 

Friday afternoon frauds

It is shocking to hear that people buying or selling properties have been defrauded out of huge amounts of money recently. Action Fraud said this type of fraud has been on the rise since last summer, peaking in December. Between November and January, 35 reports have been made resulting in a combined loss of £2,665,819. Buyers and sellers of properties should essentially avoid communicating with their solicitors and conveyancers by email, experts warn.

“Friday afternoon fraud” as it has been called has seen more and more criminals hack into email accounts and divert large payments that should have been for buying your home lost. The scam has been named  “Friday afternoon fraud” because criminals typically target transactions being processed ahead of the weekend or bank holidays. This limits the chance of detection.

The fraudsters typically gain access to the email accounts of either the victim or their solicitor. When legitimate emails are sent between these parties giving details of bank accounts into which money should be transferred, the fraudsters alter the details so the money is sent to their own accounts. Leading experts in the fields of cyber-security now suggest the public should avoid email when giving or receiving payment instructions to solicitors.

Tony Neate, chief executive of Government-backed anti-fraud agency Get Safe Online, said: “You don’t hear of fraud occurring because someone has overheard a phone conversation.”

Action Fraud, which works alongside the fraud squad, has also said people seeking to move large sums should check bank details by phone. “Preferably talk to the solicitor whose voice you recognise.”

Mr Neate also suggests whenever you need to make a large transaction, transfer a small amount first - “Send an initial payment of £1 to make sure the bank account is legitimate.” "Once you have checked the other party has received the transaction, you can transfer the rest of the balance,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph

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

Reverse pension freedoms to protect young people

There has been much made of the recent pension freedoms and Enables IFA’s in Bishops Stortford are interested to see that some experts argue that pension freedom should maybe be partly reversed, to force retirees to annuitise part of their savings. This they say would help protect younger taxpayers from supporting those who run out of money in old age.

Following the introduction of pension freedom annuity sales have fallen as savers look to access their money through other kinds of drawdown products. Some like David Blake of the Pensions Institute have raised questions as to why a pensions revolution, was ever needed, ‘Pensions have to provide an income for life no matter how long [a person] lives and that has not changed,’ he said.
‘You haven’t only got your pension wealth [to consider] but your health, your family’s health and inheritance, “he said.

In order to help people stretch their savings across retirement, Blake thinks part-annuitisation should be compulsory, stating ‘voluntary insurance will not work’.  ‘I think people have to be persuaded that the sensible thing to do is buy longevity insurance at least with part of their pension pot so they do not run out of money,’ he said.

Andy Manson, an adviser at KPMG, questioned whether retirees understood the responsibility they were taking on in managing their own pension pots. ‘They have high expectations that will not be filled,’ he said, and the next generation might be called on to bail out retirees who blow all their savings. If you are concerned about your savings Enable’s IFAs can help you with financial planning.

Source: New Model Advisor City Wire

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

The Bank of Mum and Dad

Enable’s IFA’s in Bishops Stortford regularly find themselves helping Mum and Dad find a way of financially supporting their young people to be able to buy their own home. If you’re a parent of children in their 20’s and 30’s then the current housing pressures will come as little surprise. The current situation has gone so far that recently according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research the ‘bank of mum and dad’ is now the equivalent of a one of the top ten mortgage lenders in the UK.

Parents helping their children to get on to the property ladder has reportedly become such a crucial part of the housing market that they will be involved in a quarter of all property transactions this year. With constantly rising house prices despite years and years without any real wage rises, a shortage of supply and tougher more heavily monitored mortgage regulations since the financial crisis have made it more and more difficult for first-time buyers to get on the ladder. Parents on average give their children around £17,500 to help them get a foot on the property ladder which when all added together adds up to a staggering £5 billion per year.

Louisa Fletcher, a property expert, told the BBC: ‘We’re looking at house prices in many areas back to post-crisis highs, and realistically I think that’s only going to continue, so I can only see the bank of mum and dad probably growing in stature as one of the biggest lenders.’

If you would like to find out the best way to help your children get onto the housing ladder then why not give our team of IFA’s a call today, as we are independent we can give you the best deals from across the market place.

Source: The Spectator

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

Retail sales - particularly online, continue to rise...

UK retail sales in March continued to show year-on-year growth with the volume of sales estimated to have increased by 2.7% compared with March 2015, the 35th consecutive month of annual growth.

Figures for online sales underline the continuing changes in British shopping trends, with consumers turning away from purchasing on the high street in favour of more online shopping. The value of online sales was 8.9% higher than a year ago.

Clothing and footwear sales declined, however big ticket items continued to perform well with furniture being the main contributor to total sales growth. Average store prices, including petrol stations, were 3% lower in March compared with a year earlier, an indication that inflation will continue to remain low.

Sales over the Easter weekend were disappointing, due in part to the poor weather that deterred shoppers from buying summer clothes or spending money in garden centres. However, commentators believe that these purchases are simply deferred and expect to see figures bounce back when the weather improves.

The composition of the high street looks set for further change as two well-known high street names called in the administrators in April. BHS employs 11,000 and has 164 stores in the UK, Austin Reed employs 1,200 people and has 100 standalone stores and is represented in a further 50 locations. Commentators expressed the view that these brands had failed to keep pace with their competitors and the changing habits of UK shoppers.

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