RMail is an encrypted email service that we have been using to send emails that contains personal details within the body of the email or any attachments (regular review documents, reports, valuations, etc.).
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Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is paid by an individual when they have either sold or ‘disposed’ of an asset and made a gain on the original price they paid for it. The potential tax is only paid on the gain and not on the total sale value.
Read MoreThere are limits to the amount of gift aid that can be claimed by the charity and you could face a tax charge if the Gift Aid relief exceeds the UK tax you have paid during the tax year. You will need to have paid sufficient income or capital gains tax in the UK for a charity to claim the additional 25% of the donation.
Read MoreThe ability to support charity is one that is extremely important for many of our clients and indeed for people all around the UK.
The Charities Aid Foundation calculate that around £10 billion is gifted to charity in the UK each year. With the events of 2020 and effects of Covid-19, the need for charitable gifting is one that has been highlighted even more so, both with individuals wanting to make donations, and also the necessity for donations for charities to survive and continue with their respective works.
Read MoreIn the current environment of historically low rates, efficient cash management can be an effective planning tool that is often overlooked.
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In most industrial settings, health-and-safety rules demand that appropriate protective gear be worn, including the donning of ear defenders in high decibel environments. Yet, when it comes to our investing health and safety, we have little by the way of regulatory guidance except the obligatory phrase ‘Past performance is no guide to future performance’ to protect ourselves from the noise of market outcomes, particularly when investing without the guidance of an advisor.
Read MoreWhilst most are familiar with the relatively well-known cash or stocks and shares ISAs, the ‘newer ISAs on the block’; Innovative and Lifetime, may need a bit more of an introduction.
Read MoreAll asset classes are important to us, and cash is just one of them. To enhance our service model, Ifamax has partnered with Insignis. Insignis Cash Solutions is an innovative cash management solution that complements your asset portfolio by looking after your cash.
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Good things come to those who wait. This was the strapline once used by Guinness to refer to the 119.5 seconds it takes to pour a ‘perfect’ pint of their iconic stout. In investing, the time periods we are concerned about are measured in years, rather than seconds. Looking at your investment portfolio too often only increases the chance that you will be disappointed. This of course can be challenging at times, particularly during tumultuous markets.
Read MoreThe ISA allowance is something that can strangely be both under and over appreciated by people, dependent on their perception of it.
Read MoreJunior ISAs are long term tax free savings accounts for children. In order to open a JISA, a child must be under the age of 18 and be living in the UK. The current limit for JISAs is £9,000 a year.
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One of the most common questions that is currently asked by clients is what the prospects are for commercial property in the future. We have all by now – in our new normal world - got used to meeting our dearest friends, family, and work colleagues on Zoom or Skype, working from home, and shopping online.
Read MorePension carry forward is a useful tool for pension planning. Once an individual has fully utilised their current tax year’s allowance, one can go back and utilise the unused pension allowance from the previous three tax years, starting with the oldest first.
Read MoreAccording to the Association of British Insurers, every year 1 million people in the UK find themselves unable to work due to a serious injury or illness. Although many of us would like to think “that will never happen to me” or “it is not something I am worried about at the moment”, it is of course often only seriously considered in a moment of hindsight when it is too late
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Rather than supposing that firms who have done well recently will continue to do well, systematic investors can rest easy knowing that they will participate in the upside of the next ‘Big Five’, the ‘Big Five’ after that and each subsequent ‘Big Five’. Those who can block out the noise of good stories and jumping on bandwagons are usually rewarded in this game.
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The tapered annual allowance rules kicked in on 6th April 2016, when those with taxable earnings over £210,000 per annum were limited to pension contributions of £10,000 gross each tax year. This was a controversial piece of legislation and also quite complicated. The rules were altered from 6th April 2020, whereby those earning in excess of £312,000 are now limited to an annual allowance of £4,000
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One of the hardest concepts to grasp in investing is that a ‘good’ company is not always a better investment opportunity than a ‘bad’ company. If we believe that markets work pretty well – not unreasonable given that few investment professionals beat the market over time - and that they incorporate all public information into prices pretty quickly and efficiently, all of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ news should already be reflected in these prices.
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What is the impact of this pandemic on my investment portfolio? And what can you do to protect your future wealth?
As always, I will remind you we cannot predict the future. That is not our job. But what we can do is try and find similar issues in the past and see what strategy we can adopt today.
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A Venture Capital Trust (VCT) is a listed company, run by a fund manager, that invests in smaller companies that are not typically quoted on stock exchanges. Investments in Venture Capital Trusts carry tax reliefs to encourage you to invest in these smaller, higher risk companies. By pooling your investments with those of other customers, VCTs allow you to spread the risk over a number of small companies.
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Markets will move again – down or up – based on the release of new information, which in itself is random. Second guessing random events is futile.
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