Financial News Update we 04/02/2011

Good Morning

A turbulent week for those in Egypt and Australia - for very different reasons – perhaps we should be a little more grateful here in the UK?...

This week I have been advising on the impact of long term care for some clients as well as an unmarried couple (one of whom owned more than £1m in assets) without wills, who thought that their respective estates would pass to each other on death as they were “…common law husband & wife…”

Obviously they were shocked when I advised them of the reality of their current situation and they should be rectifying that shortly but it just serves to remind that to assume people will know the pitfalls of not taking certain steps is a dangerous move to make and the education/information we can give is vitally important.

A couple of reports out this week on Pensions as well as an article relating to means testing limits for long term care being frozen (but I cannot find the actual announcement on the DOH website so let me know if you have any luck?!).

Don’t forget, our January/February client newsletter is available to download by clicking here.

This Week…

Estate Planning

We must cut personal tax, says Boris Johnson http://ow.ly/1b4hME
Seven Inheritance Tax planning tips http://bit.ly/fYYBKX
Beneficiaries resort to litigation against trustees as income slumps http://bit.ly/eUi6CD

Long Term Care

Means tested limits frozen http://ow.ly/1b57Zj

Retirement

Damning verdict on our Pensions http://bit.ly/fpC8DQ
How to protect your Pension pot from inflation: http://bit.ly/fbLsCP
Court ruling threatens unisex annuity rates: http://bit.ly/i82piz

Investments

Why the FTSE Isn't British http://ow.ly/1b7SPx
Cautious funds no safety net for savers fighting inflation (but don’t panic!) http://bit.ly/ff7HcZ
Savers flock to investment funds: http://bit.ly/eBHlR8

Have a good weekend!

Regards
Kieron