1. Investing can beat cash over the long termThere’s never a bad time to consider investing when you’re focussing on the long term – five years or longer.No one knows whether the stock market will be higher or lower tomorrow. There’s never really a picture-perfect moment to invest or to sell. And buying in at the market low point and selling at the top is almost impossible to get right.Generally, investing in the stock market has yielded better returns than cash over the long term.Taking a long-term approach with your investments helps cut out the short-term noise and with it, the worries about finding the right time to invest.If you think you’ll need the money in the next five years, it’s sensible to hold cash.So if you’re putting away money for the long term, and are happy with the extra risks involved, investing in a stocks and shares ISA could ...

Safeguarded benefits are defined as benefits that are not money purchase or cash balance benefits. This means defined benefits, guaranteed pensions including guaranteed minimum pensions and guaranteed annuity rates (GARs).An individual with safeguarded benefits worth more than £30,000 within a pension must take financial advice before they can do any of the following:Convert these benefits into a different form of flexible benefits under the scheme.Transfer these benefits to another scheme to take flexible benefits.Take a cash lump sum in respect of these benefits.The issue of giving up Safeguarded benefits is a tricky one. Pensions that have a ‘defined benefit’ or a ‘final salary’ are usually best left where they are. The FCA’s position is that you start your advice from the position of it being ‘unsuitable’ to transfer and then work from there!Where the ...

The most common types of pensions are:State pension – this is a regular pension that you receive from the government which you can claim when you reach state pension age.Workplace pension – this is usually arranged by your employer. A percentage of your pay is put into your pension every payday and your employer will usually contribute.Private/ personal pension and Self Invested personal Pension (SIPP) Approachable finance offer private and SIPP pensions these give you an alternative or additional pension income to your work-based pension. A good IFA and Wealth Manager will advise the portfolios that are best suited your needs and risk approach and will manage the investments for you.2. Pay into your pension as soon as you can – the earlier that you start paying into your pension, the longer that the investment has time to grow.3. Free money from the government...

Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert fame has described 2020 as a ‘savings horribillis’ and it is hard to argue! A major high street bank has cut its main savings rate by 0.5% with cash savings rates at record lows. Most people’s average savings earnings are now around 0.4%! Often people are unwilling to invest cash savings yet are happy to invest in pension. This is despite many of the underlying assets and risks can be similar. There seems to be an acceptance that pension ‘has’ to be invested but savings don’t? There still remains a great deal of confusion with investors in regard to pensions and what options are available with their pension, on retirement, in regard to income and lump sum. The danger of pension freedoms is that many people are considering cashing in pensions, paying large amounts of tax and then putting that money in a bank when savings rates are at record ...

Approachable Finance have recently acquired and moved into a new office – we are now situated on the main street of Cross Hills making it easier than ever to see our clients current and new. Our new address is: 24 Main Street, Cross Hills BD20 8TF If you are familiar with the Cross Hills area, then you probably have heard of the very succussful florist, Anne Russell, after 20 years of running the shop she decided it was time to retire and spend more time with family. We bought the shop from her and set about renovating the space into a modern and spacious office.  The former florist looks different now as we have opened the space by knocking down the central supporting wall and blocking up the door behind. The first picture below was taken before Christmas and the building needed time to ‘settle’ as the wall had probably been there for over 100 years!    ...

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Hi Everyone Here is the link to the government website for help to small business. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses Few points to mentionThere should be a major announcement in the next 48 hrs for help with self-employed income. In regards to staff, normal contracts apply so if you are considering making people redundant check staff contracts e.g do they need to be paid for a full month/ redundancy pay. In relation to the point above look at the employee retention scheme that runs from the 1st April avoiding those issues. For those limited companies corporation tax bills are due 9 months and 1 day after the end of their business year. These can be negotiated with HMRC into some kind of payment plan Make sure you apply for the rates relief with your local council Commercial mortgages can also b...

A new year often means that you are setting yourself goals to achieve in the coming year and in financial planning it is important that your family is looked after if anything should happen to you. If you are in a couple and have kids, the focus should be on whether both incomes would still be required if either party was to pass away or become seriously ill? All ‘protection planning’ should be bespoke to an individual’s circumstances. The three main covers are life and/or critical illness that tend to pay a tax-free lump sum and income protection that pays out an income if you cannot work due to accident or illness.  A general rule of thumb is to take out life and/or critical illness cover for any mortgages you may have, to make sure your house is paid for. However often this is insufficient in itself as it does not take into account how the running costs are to be met by con...

On  Sunday 25th September we featured in the Mail on Sunday listed as “Britains Top Rated Professionals”. This was in association with us being on www.vouchedfor.com a website that allows our clients to review us when we have done some work for them. If you’re looking for expert advice, look no further. VouchedFor.co.uk’s Top Rated award has been created to help you to identify the professionals on VouchedFor who have received the highest volume of positive client reviews in the past 18 months such as ourselves Other Top Rated advisers (including Accountants and Solicitors) included in The Mail on Sunday’s listing are all on VouchedFor’s Professional or Professional Lite plan so can be contacted free of charge through VouchedFor. Many also offer a free initial one hour appointment. Other criteria for inclusion include a boat load of positive ...

A common enquiry over the last few years is a request for us to ‘sign a form’ to cash in or transfer a pension in its entirety into a bank account. Often, we are contacted by people who simply do not understand that there are often better ways of taking pension. Whether it be using ‘guarantees’ associated with their pension that they were not aware or exploring options such as buying an annuity or flexible drawdown. Whilst it may appear like the easy option of cashing in your pension, you have to consider that a full encashment will often mean a large ‘emergency tax’ bill of at least 20% of the fund value (after tax free cash).  Often the cashed in pension will sit in a bank account earning little or no interest. Not to mention the ‘opportunity cost’ of reducing the figure that gains interest by 20% paid out in tax. If your pension is in a ‘pot’ which is invested...