“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” goes the famous quote: the years heading towards retirement are rarely a straight line… and finding oneself having to provide care or support a family member can make a serious dent on our future finances. New research from Pension Bee shows that two-in-three people are […]

If you are wondering whether you might need to review the date when you plan to retire, go part time, or take on lower paid work, you’re not alone – and with good reason as the financial goalposts keep being moved. What a difference a year makes. Last year, the media was full of stories […]

How much would you need to put aside in order to receive the full state pension? The figures are in and they make a compelling argument to keep your contributions topped up. Many, but not all of us, will be heading into retirement with the prospect of a full state pension to look forward to. […]

It’s commonly assumed that, as we move towards and into retirement, we need less space in our home. The children (theoretically!) have left. At the same time, it may well be that we can move to a different (read “cheaper”) location since we do not need to be close to our place of work. Or […]

New research by Standard Life has revealed that a worrying three in every four people (75 per cent) are ignorant of how much they have saved in their pensions. Perhaps even more alarmingly, the study found that as many as 79 per cent – four in every five – of those aged between 55 and 64 could […]

An estimated 41,000 taxpayers incurred an inheritance tax liability on death in 2022/23, according to new HMRC data – a 24% increase on the previous year (33,000), leading experts to advise homeowners, or those with large savings and investments, to act now to avoid their families losing out in the future. The freeze in the […]

Have you ever found yourself cursing at the older driver in front for dithering trying to park their car, or driving too slowly along a main road? Perhaps you have older relatives who you think should no longer be behind the wheel. So are you being reasonable… or ageist? By Tony Watts OBE Overall, people […]

One of the least unexpected parts of a Budget, most of which had been flagged up in advance, was tackling the LTA. But has the Chancellor blown up a good idea by going too far?  By Tony Watts OBE One of the major headline announcements of the recent Budget was the scrapping of the lifetime […]

If you’ve found yourself doing a Blondie impression recently, and hanging on the telephone for hours trying to boost your future State Pension, you can relax (for now, anyway). An under-siege (and under-resourced) DWP has bowed to public and media pressure and extended its deadline for workers to significantly boost their state pensions by catching […]

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 […]