A lender rejecting your mortgage application can be stressful and time-consuming, and it might even mean you miss out on buying your dream home. A survey has found that most high net worth individuals aren’t securing their preferred mortgage. Read on to find out why and how a mortgage adviser could help you. According to Mortgage Solutions, 90% of corporate executives, finance professionals and entrepreneurs with average earnings of more than £510,000 were rejected for a mortgage. Between 2019 and 2024, 84% of high net worth applicants had to accept a mortgage with a lower loan-to-value (LTV ..read more

As a business owner, deciding how to extract profits from your firm could be a crucial decision. It may affect your tax liability and that of your company. Read on to understand three essential ways you could take money from your business and potential tax implications you might want to weigh up before deciding which is the right route for you. Many business owners will use a combination of the three options below to extract profit from their business to fund their day-to-day expenses and create long-term financial security. 1. Taking a salary An obvious way to access profit from your business ..read more

Many people could be omitting a useful way to pass on assets when they die because they aren’t aware that pensions usually fall outside of their estate. It could also mean some have failed to name a beneficiary for their pension. Read on to find out what you need to know about pensions and why they could be a tax-efficient way to pass on wealth. According to a survey carried out by PensionBee, 62% of people are unaware that their pension won’t usually form part of their estate when they die. As your pension may be one of your largest assets, the oversight could mean a significant proportion of ..read more

If you’re concerned about running out of money during retirement, you’re not alone. In fact, it’s one of the top financial concerns in the UK. Being proactive and working with a financial planner to create a retirement plan could offer you peace of mind. Read on to find out why. In an Aegon survey, 7 in 10 financial advisers said their clients’ number one concern was outliving their savings. The good news is that by seeking the support of a finance professional, you can understand what income is sustainable for you and the lifestyle it might afford. High inflation is playing a role in fears of ..read more

Taking a tax-free lump sum from your pension could be a fantastic way to kickstart your retirement plans. If it’s something you’re thinking about, it’s important to consider the long-term implications and understand how much you could withdraw from your pension before facing a tax bill, as the rules have changed in 2024/25. Previously, you could take up to 25% of your pension as a tax-free lump sum. This could be through a single withdrawal or spread across several. However, following the removal of the pension Lifetime Allowance, there is now a cap. The “Lump Sum Allowance” is £268,275 in 202 ..read more

Effective retirement planning often involves weaving together lots of different threads. As you think about your retirement, you might be unsure how to bring everything together, but a bespoke financial plan could put your mind at ease. Over the last few months, you’ve read about the importance of deciding how you’ll retire, why you should set out your goals, and your options for accessing your pension. Now, read on to discover the challenges of bringing together these different strands of retirement planning and why a tailored financial plan could provide a solution. The challenges of retirem ..read more

More than 1 million investors will be hit with a Dividend Tax bill for the first time in the 2024/25 tax year, according to an AJ Bell report. Read on to find out if you could be affected and discover some of the steps you could take to mitigate a tax charge. A dividend is a way of distributing a company’s earnings to shareholders. Usually, dividends are issued quarterly, but some businesses may pay dividends monthly or annually. So, if your money is invested in a dividend-paying company or fund, you could receive regular cash payments from them. Dividends from investments are not guaranteed ..read more

Dr Seuss’s books are well-known for passing on life lessons to children through interesting and rhyming lyrics. But hidden among the vivid illustrations are valuable teachings that could apply to financial planning too. During his lifetime, Dr Seuss wrote and illustrated more than 60 books – several of which are the most popular children’s books of all time – and more than 600 million copies have been sold. So, to mark what would have been his 120th birthday, here are three unexpected financial planning lessons you can learn from the writings of Dr Seuss. 1. Remember that life’s a “great balan ..read more

A survey suggests that some retirees could risk running out of money during their lifetime because they haven’t considered how long their assets need to last. Failing to factor longevity into your retirement plan could mean your later years don’t live up to expectations or you may face financial insecurity. The report published in IFA Magazine found a worrying 68% of Brits have not thought about how many years of retirement they need to fund. It’s an oversight that could mean you don’t put enough away for retirement during your working life and may not spot the potential gap until it’s too lat ..read more

As Generation X starts to retire, research has found that many don’t feel confident about their financial future. If you’re worried about how secure your life will be once you stop working, there may be some practical steps you could take. According to a survey from Just Group, 52% of Generation X say they are not confident that they will have enough saved for a good standard of living after work. It’s not surprising that Generation X isn’t feeling confident about retirement – many are supporting other generations. 3 in 10 are providing financial support to adult children, while around 1 in 10 ..read more