Category: Financial planning

Many people have successfully made substantial fortunes from investing over the years, in various ways and styles, using many different methods. They would have had one thing in common: a fixation on the management of their downside risk. Risk is inherent within the investment structure. “It comes with the territory” – to achieve a return

Recent research from MGM Advantage, the retirement income specialist, reveals alarming disparities between the retirement finances of men and women. Although, on average, people in retirement feel that they need an additional £130 per week on top of their current income to be financially comfortable, women’s financial position in retirement is already more austere than

2014 was a momentous year for pensions. Changes around how pensions could be drawn at retirement and how death taxes on pensions would be improved were both announced in the year, with the intention that all these new rules will be in place by the end of April 2015. For a pension saver, the landscape

Early in September, the FTSE 100 reached its highest level since December 1999. People might read into this story that it’s taken 14 years for the market to recover from the tech crash and the credit crisis and that stock-market investment has been pointless over that period. Looking at the blue line on the chart

The number of retired public sector workers receiving pensions of more than £100,000 per annum has more than doubled since 2011, according to new research from the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) published in September 2014. In total, more than 395 high ranking public sector retirees now enjoy annual pensions of more than £100,000 compared to 148

In all the time we’ve been writing these market commentaries it’s difficult to remember a more turbulent month than October 2014. Throughout the summer we have been writing about events in the Ukraine and the worries that conflict posed for Europe. Fortunately we now have a ceasefire in the region – and Russia and the

New research from MGM Advantage, the retirement income specialist, suggests that UK adults are planning to use equity investments to help them outstrip inflation and manage the rising cost of living. Over half (53%) of UK adults rate the rising cost of living as their number one fear for retirement, and almost a third (32%)

Those owning properties worth more than £3million will be hit with tax bills starting from £10,000 under a Labour government, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Under the party’s mansion tax plans, homes worth between £2m and £3m would attract around £3,000 in liabilities, but properties worth above £3m will take

Almost a third (30%) of students currently attending university will move back in with their parents after they have completed their studies, HSBC research shows. For those starting university this year, almost half (49%) expect to live with their parents. Of those who intend to live at home, 78% said it was in order to

Only a quarter (24%) of adults in the UK with children under 16 have any form of financial protection, a significant drop from 31% in 2013, according to the latest research from the Scottish Widows Protection Report. With over half (54%) of this group admitting that their savings would last just a couple of months if they were