http://www.articlealley.com en-us editorial@articlealley.com As you'll know, the main global stock markets have been VERY volatile over the last 12 months or so. And it's likely that you have money invested in one or more of several investment vehicles: ISAs Personal Pensions Self Invested Personal Pens... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1229743_19.html 12th November 2009 When we start working with a new client who's, say, aged 50, it's always interesting to get down to what they want to aim for in life. After all, if life is not about thoroughly enjoying doing things you love most, what is it about? So when the 'Retire... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1186160_19.html 20th October 2009 When you graduated, there's a high probability you 'signed up' for income protection cover. Maybe it was at a graduation Ball, or perhaps it was following a talk you attended. Even if you found out since that better coverage was available, the key is t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1148727_19.html 05th October 2009 We are not talking about serious longer term investments here. This is money which is meant to be safe and accessible, and preferably tax efficient. It could well be that it's money earmarked for your tax bill, for example. So, the natural products tha... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1102807_19.html 22nd September 2009 No matter what stage of career you've reached, or even if you've retired, there's a number of key questions that you should be able to answer to give yourself the confidence that you've addressed all the important areas of your financial planning. So, ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1087025_19.html 16th September 2009 You may have heard about Absolute Return Funds being launched and appearing in the press recently. We have seen quite a few of them launched in the last year or so, and they sound good don't they? Absolute returns - hmmm, let's investigate. There are 3... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1035862_19.html 15th August 2009 If you are a member of the NHS pension scheme, you will soon be asked to make a very important decision. That is, should you remain in the current version of the scheme (applies if you were a member pre-April 2008) or should you transfer to the new ver... http://www.articlealley.com/article_981199_19.html 16th July 2009 If you're looking for help with your financial planning decisions, there are a number of resources you can turn to: - the internet / media - friends and family - your own knowledge Ideally, it's likely that you'll want impartial formation upon... http://www.articlealley.com/article_955197_19.html 28th June 2009 Large rises in income tax are due to take effect from next April for people earning over £100,000. New rates of tax were announced by the Government in the recent budget and they are going to hit many of our clients hard! This is because our clients ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_933951_19.html 12th June 2009 Regular readers of our newsletter will probably recognise the words Cash Flow Forecast (Financial Map or Sat Nav), as we often refer to this when talking about how we help doctors and dentists work out: What they really want to achieve in life? What is... http://www.articlealley.com/article_933942_19.html 12th June 2009 There have been many changes in overall pension rules by the government, and we have discussed in Financial Tips how this has affected the NHS Pension Scheme in previous articles such as the Lifetime Allowance. Other NHS rule changes might not be so ob... http://www.articlealley.com/article_857683_19.html 15th April 2009 In line with the trends of the last 3-4 years, many insurance companies have announced their claims statistics for critical illness cover. As a brief reminder, the idea with critical illness cover is that it will pay out a lump sum (usually) in the eve... http://www.articlealley.com/article_843207_19.html 01st April 2009 One of the standard pieces of advice we have always given when it comes to investing in stocks & shares is that it really will pay off to maximise the allowances clients have to ISAs. If a client is looking to invest, this is the first port of call for... http://www.articlealley.com/article_829003_19.html 17th March 2009 Not the most enlightening of subjects is it? And not one you'll probably discuss often, with either friends or family. What's that I hear you say? Dying. The good news is that I'm not going to take up the next few minutes of your life talking ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_811400_18.html 08th March 2009 In the past when it came to how the NHS paid your pension, it was very simple. You had a pension based on the number of years' service in the Scheme, your income, and whether you had purchased added years. You also received a tax free lump sum of three ti... http://www.articlealley.com/article_791329_19.html 20th February 2009 Well, what a year it's been... High street banks in crisis, investment banks closing their doors, 'experts' pointing fingers, and SERIOUS questions asked of the Financial regulators. Yes, what WERE the regulators doing on both sides of the Atlantic? ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_748232_19.html 09th January 2009 There has been a lot of talk about the big winners when interest rates fall - i.e. borrowers. But what about people who rely on a reasonable amount of interest on their deposit accounts - the savers? Falling interest rates are a nightmare for savers, a... http://www.articlealley.com/article_725940_19.html 17th December 2008 The fact that the Bank of England (BOE) has slashed interest rates by 1.5% to 3%, I think shows how worried they are about the British economy. In a Bloomberg survey of 60 economists, nobody had predicted such a large cut in one go. You would be for... http://www.articlealley.com/article_699412_19.html 01st December 2008 This week we are discussing a scenario where an individual is about to reach 60 and are wondering whether they have to take their pensions at 60, or if they can delay this decision. And indeed, what are their overall options? Some years ago, many in th... http://www.articlealley.com/article_680431_19.html 31st October 2008 My goodness what a rollercoaster it has been recently! It seems that not a day goes by without more gloom. A bank goes bust or is rescued, an insurance company is swallowed up by another or is nationalised. It is in times like these that people quit... http://www.articlealley.com/article_672591_19.html 22nd October 2008 We live in interesting times. The investment bank Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy protection, Merrill Lynch is being taken over by Bank of America and it's predicted thousands of bank employees will be picking up their P45s by the end of the m... http://www.articlealley.com/article_647744_19.html 24th September 2008 When we meet a new client or review the financial affairs of someone we have known for some time, the first thing we automatically concentrate on is what goals in life do they have? For a new client - how can we as planners really encourage them to thi... http://www.articlealley.com/article_637346_19.html 15th September 2008 One of the first things we come across when we take on a new client is starting to make sense of the collection of policies and investments they have. They are usually in a pile somewhere and tend to consist of many different funds across several provi... http://www.articlealley.com/article_635311_19.html 11th September 2008 It certainly looks all doom and gloom at the moment doesn't it? Open any newspaper or tune into the news on TV and if you are anything like me, you get punch drunk with all the articles on how bad the stock market or property market is etc etc. It m... http://www.articlealley.com/article_585974_19.html 23rd July 2008 When it comes to investing your money, you'll probably know by now that you have numerous options to choose from. In fact, it can feel like a bit of a minefield and sometimes you may not know if you've made the right choice. Should you choose a bond... http://www.articlealley.com/article_559802_19.html 20th June 2008 If you are a dentist, it's likely that you've taken out income protection insurance (also referred to as permanent health insurance). In fact, you may have even claimed on your policy. During the last few years many of the leading insurers have been re... http://www.articlealley.com/article_546640_19.html 25th May 2008 One of the challenges we face as Fee Based Planners and Wealth Managers is how do doctors and dentists get to know about Graeme and Ray and the job we do? After all, we know (and our existing clients tell us), that we are providing our clients with exa... http://www.articlealley.com/article_538333_19.html 15th May 2008 We have been seeing a lot of enquiries from clients wanting to know if a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) would be appropriate for them. Let's look at an example to illustrate this. Let's say you have several personal pensions, some separate sh... http://www.articlealley.com/article_523053_19.html 25th April 2008 We live in interesting times... You cannot switch on the TV or read a newspaper without hearing of doom and gloom. If it's not property and stock market falls it's oil prices going through the $100 level, and the situation in Iraq seems to be deteriora... http://www.articlealley.com/article_518312_19.html 16th April 2008 Many clients have accumulated substantial funds within ISAs and PEPs over the past 10 years and enjoyed significant tax breaks in the process. It's not unusual to see clients with capital in PEPs and ISAs in excess of £200,000 enjoying the freedom to ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_507992_19.html 03rd April 2008 We have many clients who have either bought in Spain or the Balearics, or are thinking about doing so. In the past few years, there have been some changes in how the Spanish government tax those who are UK based and have a Spanish property, although wi... http://www.articlealley.com/article_493049_19.html 25th March 2008 At the time of writing this article the Markets are showing great signs of nervousness and probably should be on Prozac. The problem is that the Markets are uncertain as to the future and therefore have bouts of pessimism followed by optimism followed ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_489997_19.html 12th March 2008 Like many of our clients, we are constantly updating our Continuous Professional Development (CPD). One of the many pieces of reading material we were looking through had the title of 'Advisers Have Vital Role As Persuaders'. This was based on the r... http://www.articlealley.com/article_466892_19.html 02nd February 2008 Sensible investment and wealth management requires a balance between your risk profile and investment portfolio volatility. Both of these factors can be combined to make up your investment policy and investment philosophy. It's important to understa... http://www.articlealley.com/article_460295_19.html 24th January 2008 When we meet new clients and agree to work together, the number one aim we have for them is that they achieve their monetary and non-monetary goals in life. You have probably heard us discuss some of the component parts to this, such as cash flow forec... http://www.articlealley.com/article_253759_19.html 19th January 2008 Since Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Speech on October 9 2007, there have been a number of reports in the press stating that will planning using the nil-rate band of the first of a married couple to die will no longer be necessary as you can now transfer t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_248662_19.html 14th January 2008 As you are probably aware, the New NHS Pension Scheme goes live from April 1st 2008.This scheme is automatic for new members from that date, and a major change here is that the normal retirement age is 65, not 60.However, the exist... http://www.articlealley.com/article_244429_19.html 10th November 2007 Recent research by Citywire, a leading fund research firm, has revealed that the average fund will only retain its fund management team for two-and-a-half-years.The analysis, which concentrates on UK funds, is the most comprehensive conducted ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_235429_19.html 02nd November 2007 If you have a "with profits" pension, or are being advised to invest in one - read on urgently.A survey by Money Management, an established personal finance magazine, has once again highlighted the sinking payouts to many investors from well k... http://www.articlealley.com/article_229441_19.html 19th October 2007 The activities undertaken by an active fund manager normally result in higher annual management charges. This is what you would expect as they must carry out more research and analysis than a passive "manager". However, what few clients fail to appreciate... http://www.articlealley.com/article_194351_19.html 30th July 2007 When we deal with new clients, we encounter Premium Bonds frequently, but it's not very often that we see the many other products offered by National Savings and Investments (NS&I). Some NS&I returns are currently looking quite attractive, and so it is... http://www.articlealley.com/article_190305_19.html 24th July 2007 It's not a subject any of us like to dwell upon, but cancer is a fact of modern life. The good news is that advances in treatment and medication mean that cancer is not the automatic death sentence it once was. Sometimes an even harder subject to co... http://www.articlealley.com/article_176373_19.html 19th June 2007 Any form of insurance can be seen as a risk. You pay a monthly or annual premium to an insurance company for a set amount of cover, effectively passing the risk to the insurance company. As long as you pay the premiums you'll continue to be covered, fo... http://www.articlealley.com/article_170148_19.html 05th June 2007 From 1 June 2007, all home owners in England and Wales will need to prepare a Home Information Pack before putting their home up for sale. The government has introduced this latest measure to enable purchasers to be more informed about a property as ea... http://www.articlealley.com/article_147594_19.html 13th April 2007 You may or may not know what an Enduring Power Of Attorney is (or is designed to do), but it is being replaced very soon by a revised version known as a Lasting Power Of Attorney, and the consensus between the solicitors we have talked to agree that the o... http://www.articlealley.com/article_135649_19.html 07th March 2007 Many new clients we meet have one or two unitised with profits endowments in their investment portfolio. Whilst some have decided that there may be better alternatives available for their money after years of falling returns (and questionable prospects), ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_130875_19.html 19th February 2007 We think it's relevant to make sure that you're aware of an important way some people can boost their income in retirement. Many of our female clients will have had letters from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the Department of Work and Pensions.... http://www.articlealley.com/article_128157_19.html 10th February 2007 In a December article in "This is Money", they conducted a poll in which 55% of people expected prices to rise in 2007, and of these they expected the rise to be 6% or more. This was compared to the previous year when 43% of those polled expected price... http://www.articlealley.com/article_118153_19.html 09th January 2007 Having looked at the quality of cover, we now turn our attention to: How to get the right level of protection Using our example again, Dr Cureall has a clear idea now on the quality of protection he wants, and now needs to make a decision regarding ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_112676_19.html 16th December 2006 Copyright (c) 2006 Ray Prince Well, here we are again. The start of a new tax year is upon us, bringing with it many opportunities to save tax (legally) and keep as much of your money in your hands, and away from Gordon Brown's. The budget was a ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_106375_19.html 18th November 2006