Inflation is rising fast, but the Government and the supermarkets would have us believe that prices are not soaring above earnings. Experts tell us we are mistaken when we think our weekly shop is more expensive. Today we are told that prices in the newly configured inflation basket have increased by 2.3% year on year. That is according to the official consumer price index invented a few years ago and according to the new CPIH index that includes the economists’ take on the cost of owning a home unveiled today was also exactly the same as the CPI, which does […]
Category: Pensions
PENSIONS FREEDOM – top tips to help you avoid mistakes
1. WAIT Ignore anyone who offers help with liberating or investing your pension pot. Unless you have an urgent use or stupendous idea for how to use your pensions freedom right now – wait. Time costs a lot less than bad decisions. Everyone over 55 has the right to a 45 minute free consultation through PensionWise. Be wary there are plenty of organisations that will pretend they can give you the same free advice. 2. THINK TAX The tax man is banking on getting an extra £3 billion from people liberating their pension pots over the next few years. While […]
Why we’re still not out of the wood on pensions
When Gorgeous George announced our pension freedoms in the Budge, a lot of us thought great – we’ve got enough saved to pay off the rest of the mortgage and have a good holiday. But then reality cuts in – a pension’s for life and I may own by house but I can’t buy a sausage with a brick. Our guest blogger is Henry Tapper, founder of online pension resource, the Pension PlayPen. Henry has worked in pensions all his life and is now a Director of First Actuarial. Would you like to blog for us? To people who’ve done […]
Budget moves – watch out for fancy footwork
As well as the pension changes, the Budget also announced a new breed of tax-free Individual Savings Accounts, which will allow £15,000 in cash or shares, or a mix of the two, to be invested each year. They’ll be launched in July. Check that the charges on the investment ISAs do not outweigh the tax benefits. Remember there will be no tax to pay on gains up to £10,900 even outside an ISA wrapper. And if you want to play safe with a cash ISA remember that banks like to lure in savers with high rates for the first year […]
The great big pensions rip off
We save in a pension fund for years and get a lousy deal on charges and investment performance and then we get to retirement age and get ripped off again. The Financial Conduct Authority has just caught up with one of the scams, which leaves up to 80% of pension savers worse off than they ought to be. The practice currently under scrutiny is the annuity market. When people come to pension age they are offered an annuity – a guaranteed pension for life based on the lump sum they have saved. Currently a 65 year old can expect to […]