A fundamental of financial planning is the streamlining the information relating to our clients’ personal finances. For most people, planning ahead for retirement and making decisions relating to pensions form an essential part of this process. It can also be the trickiest part of the financial plan to navigate. This is because to plan ahead, savers need to calculate what income they will need and what they will receive from the various pension pots they may have accumulated

Despite its critics, the Lifetime ISA will become part of the UK savings landscape in April. Each tax year, UK residents aged 18-40 will be able to pay up to £4,000 into a Lifetime ISA with their contributions qualifying for a 25% government bonus until age 50. Withdrawals are permitted to help buy a first home worth £450,000 or less. Withdrawals can also be made after age 60 or if the saver becomes terminally ill. However, within 24 hours of the Treasury’s announcement on

It is concerning that a recent survey indicates that financial advisers feel pressure to offer services outside the realm of financial advice in order to strengthen their appeal to clients. Over half of the 300 financial advisers surveyed by BrightHR say that they feel they ought to be offering non-financial services. Property, employment law and business software solutions were cited as areas on which they felt they should advise to increase their value to clients. Worrying

The biggest potential downside to the pension freedoms last April was the possibility that people would withdraw too much too soon from their pension funds, depleting them before time. Therefore, I imagine that few of us are very surprised by recent figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) which reveal that some savers are draining their pension pots early. However, neither is it a surprise that, according to the ABI, most savers over 55 are taking “a sensible”