Category: Company News

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!    ...

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...

It’s not worth having a workplace pensionNot true! Most people receive more back than they contributed. They also receive contributions from their employers and in most cases tax relief.My property is my pensionNot everyone wants to sell their home when they retire to live somewhere smaller. Bills still need to be paid.I’m too old to start a pensionIf it’s a workplace pension, you’ll miss out on “free money” in the form of a contribution from your employer. Secondly, saving into a pension is probably the most tax efficient way to saveI’m too young to start a pensionStarting early makes a huge difference thanks to the magic of compound interest.I can’t afford itWith auto enrolment, if you opt out you’ll be re-enrolled again every three years when hopefully your financial situation will have improved.My pension will be lost if I die before retire...

Having worked with practice managers for nearly 9 years in reducing insurance costs I have to admit that I am not envious of the challenges they face running or managing a modern medical practice. I am fortunate to have a good relationship with many who explain to me the different challenges they face, often to meet their budgets in an organisation where the ‘goal-posts’ are forever changing. One wonders whether this profession is becoming specialist in its own right and I wonder how long it will be before a University recognises this and creates a degree around the vocation? However the downside of paddling furiously in any organisation is often things that ‘roll over’ for another year are often the ‘small fish’ to slip through the net and this is where as a financial professional I am concerned. More often or not a review of Surgery and Locum In...

Mortgages If you are struggling to pay your mortgage as a result of your finances being impacted by coronavirus, you can apply for a three-month payment holiday. Interest accrued during the period will be added to the outstanding balance of your loan and can be repaid over the rest of the mortgage term. To apply for the payment holiday, you need to contact your lender, either by telephone or online. You do not need to prove that you are in financial difficulties. If you bought your property through the help to buy scheme, you can also apply for a three-month payment holiday on interest on the equity loan.Renters If you are renting and you’re worried you cannot pay your rent, there is help for you too. Legislation  has been put in place to stop you from being evicted for at least three months. To take advantage of the scheme, contact your landlord as soon as possible and...

As a medical professional, you are very aware of the plethora of the related expenses and intricacies of enlisting the services of a Locum Doctor to cover key absences in your Practice. Whether such absences involve GPs or Practice Managers, they can often be unexpected and unplanned for due to accidents, bereavements, or illnesses. Otherwise, anticipated absences such as adoptions, Jury Service and maternity and paternity leave allow you the time and resources to secure suitable absence cover, yet still entail hefty price tags.   Locum Insurance cover will typically include:Deferred period on accident claims reimbursed Jury Service Cover GP Suspension Cover Family Illness cover Maternity leave single benefit Adoption and paternity leave covered Worldwide Accident and SicknessWhatever your particular extenuating circumstances are, the show simply must go on in the medical ...

Working in financial services you are aware that sometimes that we haven’t had the best of press with certain financial products! Endowments, with profits, PPI etc. It is therefore a real pleasure to be advising on a product, locum insurance, where it meets the needs of your clients and the market place. It is also a real sense of achievement to help medical practices save money on unecessary insurance costs; money that can be reinvested into patient care and essential staffing needs. Having advised on locum insurance for nearly 8 years I have seen massive changes within this niche industry. Changes I am glad to say have been for the better. 6 year ago I was working for a company who effectively held the monopoly for this type of cover across the UK. In my opinion the policy was insufficient in the level of cover it gave and its premiums were inflated and unfair. Fortuna...