There are different types of risk involved with investing, so it’s important to find out what they are and think about how much risk you’re willing to take. It all depends on your attitude to risk (how much risk you are prepared to take) and what you are trying to achieve with your investments.
Helping you protect your wealth is an important part of what we do, and one thing is certain, you need to plan to protect your wealth from a potential Inheritance Tax (IHT) liability. Benjamin Franklin once said that ‘nothing is certain but death and taxes’, and thanks to IHT, they’re not only certain, they’re intrinsically linked. Once only the domain of the very wealthy, the wide-scale increase in home ownership and rising property values over the past decade have pushed many estates over the IHT threshold. However, in recent years we have also seen property price reductions.
Green investors have been rewarded for their principled approach after it was revealed that the performance of the ethical funds sector had improved over the past year.
The latest survey from Moneyfacts showed that ethical investment funds had enjoyed strong returns over the last 12 months. The Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS) also recently revealed that investments into green and ethical funds in the UK had hit a record high.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP, delivered on 22 June what he described as a ‘tough but fair’ emergency Budget. In his speech, the Chancellor set out his five-year plan to reduce the Budget deficit, rebalance the British economy and design a new model for economic growth.
Around 18 per cent of people who intend to give up work during 2010 admit they will be relying on the state pension and income from savings to fund their retirement, according to insurer Prudential.
A Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) is an investment savings vehicle aimed specifically at producing income, or a tax-free lump sum with a reduced income, in retirement.
You may decide to use a trust to pass assets to beneficiaries, particularly those who aren’t immediately able to look after their own affairs. If you do use a trust to give something away, this removes it from your estate provided you don’t use it or get any benefit from it. But bear in mind that gifts into trust may be liable to Inheritance Tax (IHT).
Life assurance helps your dependants to cope financially in the event of your premature death. When you take out life assurance you set the amount you want the policy to pay out should you die, this is called the ‘sum assured.’ Even if you consider that currently you have sufficient life assurance, you’ll probably need more later on if your circumstances change. If you don’t update your policy as key events happen throughout your life, you may risk being seriously under-insured.
Open-ended investment companies (OEICs) are stock market-quoted collective investment schemes. Like unit trusts and investment trusts they invest in a variety of assets to generate a return for investors.
Unit trusts are a collective investment that allows you to participate in a wider range of investments than can normally be achieved on your own with smaller sums of money. Pooling your money with others also reduces the risk.