If you are considering your Individual Savings Account (ISA) options, the good news is that the permitted contribution allowance will be extended for investors over the age of 50 from 6 October this year.
The deadline for submitting your 2008/09 tax return by post is 31 October 2009
If you want to be more in control of your own pension fund and have the flexibility to make your own investment decisions for retirement, a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) could be one option to discuss with us. Although SIPPs are more sophisticated vehicles for accumulating retirement funds, they are no longer the elite product they once were.
If you are a higher rate taxpayer it may be prudent to talk to us sooner rather than later about your retirement planning provision, following remarks made by the government’s pensions spokesman, Lord McKenzie. He refused recently to allay the concerns of individuals earning below £150,000 that they may also see their ability to claim income tax relief on pension contributions restricted by lowering still further the threshold announced during Budget 2009.
Landlords have been buying more properties in the last quarter according to a recent survey. The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) quarterly survey revealed a “bounce back” in the buy-to-let market.
The British love affair with property investing has been very evident over the past decade and despite a tougher market, those looking to get into the market should beware of easy buy-to-let deals and still make sure their investment meets a strict checklist, or dreams of property riches may turn into financial disaster.
If you fall behind with your mortgage repayments and cannot catch up again, you could eventually lose your home. But you can take steps to protect yourself against this risk by taking out Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI).
This checklist is an introduction to buy-to-let highlighting the types of questions you should be asking yourself before buying a property to let out. It is not intended as an exhaustive list, merely an introduction for new buy-to-let investors, to a range of issues they should consider before entering the residential lettings market for the first time.
There are a lot of costs involved in renting a home. Some may be quite obvious but some you may not have thought about. Here are some useful tips to help your move go as smoothly as possible.
The Home Information Pack (HIP) is
being blamed for “stunting market recovery” according to estate agents. The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) in a recent survey reported that of its members, ten per cent of agents believed the number of sellers would double if HIPs were suspended.