There is mounting evidence that squeezed savers are being forced to turn to their pension pots to make ends meet during the cost-of-living crisis after the Government has admitted that a quarter of pension savers over 55 contributed above the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) in 2020/21. Online investment company AJ Bell wrote to the […]

Have you been contemplating helping out a younger member of your family? Then you’re not alone. New research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that £17 billion is gifted or loaned informally each year, almost all from parents to their adult children – mostly to help with buying a house or at the […]

Depending upon the standard of living you are aspiring to in retirement, inflation in 2022 has added between 11 and 20% to the cost, with implications for the pension pots people will need to save. According to the latest inflation update of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s Retirement Living Standards, those on the “Minimum” […]

After a year many of us will want to see the back of, we can only hope that 2023 will be a little kinder on our nerves… and our wallets. Financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown has put together a timeline of events that could impact upon savers and taxpayers in the coming 12 months, and […]

Appropriately for the festive season, the media recently has been well and truly stuffed with coverage of the Government’s plans to encourage workers to delay their retirement and/or actually “unretire”. It’s not a new theme, as plenty of commentators (including, ahem, myself) have seen this coming down the tracks for some time now, as an […]

According to new analysis from Quilter, the wealth manager and financial adviser, retirees hoping for a comfortable retirement – together with enough money for care would need to build up an estimated £470,000 in retirement wealth. Using the PLSA’s Retirement Living Standards definition of what constitutes a comfortable retirement, a single person would need to […]

By the time we reach our 50s, we are often spending more time in the dentist’s chair ensuring our teeth are in good working order, and with the NHS option becoming less available around the country, many of those in a position to do so are looking at the option of taking out insurance. But […]

Ever thought of moving lock stock and barrel to southern Spain? As I write this the year is 2018, it is January, we have just had storm Eleanor (following closely on the heels of her predecessors Aileen, Brian, Caroline and Dylan, not to mention Hurricane Ophelia). Tomorrow the high here will be a (relatively balmy) […]