Blog – Accountancy, Tax & Business Articles

Travel Expenses – what can I claim for?

Travel Expenses Clients often get confused as to which work travel expenses may be allowable or not. The following article is going to highlight the common items that I often have to clarify with clients. You may be reading this from various perspectives, as an employee, a sole trader or an owner/director of a limited company, I will try to cover some of the different aspects of travel expenses that may be relevant to you. Place of work As an employee you will not be able to claim your travel costs to your main place of work, therefore it [...]

A Healthy Retirement

For most investors approaching retirement their pension planning has probably been, up to that point, a relatively straightforward equation. How much can I afford to pay into my pension, when do I pay it and what funds do I invest in? There is of course the small matter of how well the funds perform (a subject close to all our hearts) but the objective is to hopefully amass a sufficient retirement fund without taking too much risk. It’s only once you get to retirement that things can start to get a lot more complicated with an array of different [...]

Income Protection Insurance (IPI)

How To Protect Your Income Have you considered what would happen if you couldn’t work due to an illness or an accident? If you are employed, how long will your company continue to pay your salary? If you’re self-employed, do you have emergency funds to access? What about long-term, where you cannot go back to your current occupation? Can you survive on statutory sick pay, currently £85 per week? A solution is Income Protection Insurance (IPI) How does it work? IPI is a policy provided by a range of life insurance companies which will protect up to 66% of [...]

Double Charged On Retail Distribution Review (RDR)

It has now been a month since the long awaited introduction of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR). The new legislation introduced by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has outlawed the payment of commission to financial advisers on all advice relating to investments pensions and annuities. Previously the cost of advice would be paid up front by the investment or pension provider as commission, with this cost recouped from the investor through the initial and ongoing charges. From 1st January any advice now has to be paid for either by writing the adviser a cheque or having an agreed amount [...]

Delayed Investment Cost

When looking for the best performing funds we sometimes overlook the basics of investing. The old adage that you should never put off till tomorrow what you can do today should ring true with all investors, especially those in the early stages of planning for their retirement. It is a fact that earlier in our working lives other priorities prevent us from investing as much as we would like for our retirement. We tell ourselves that we will make up for lost time once the kids are out of the way and the mortgage paid off. Whilst you might [...]

Top Tips For Getting The Best Mortgage

Trying to find the best mortgage products these days can be a tiresome task; do you go into the Bank, consult an Independent Mortgage Adviser, look at best buys tables or trawl the Internet or a combination of them all? In this article we can look at each of these options in more detail to help you work out how to get the best mortgage for you. At Regency Partnership we take great care and pride when we call ourselves Independent, we have decided to recommend all products on offer from lenders including ones that we can arrange for [...]

Gilt Edged Problem

George Osborne is set to not only ruffle the feathers of the bond market but potentially catch out investors who believe they are taking sensible precautions to de-risk their pension portfolio as they approach retirement. This week the Office for National Statistics will announce its recommendations for changing how the Retail Price index (RPI) will be calculated. The ONS are expected to recommend bringing RPI into line with the (lower) Consumer Price Index (CPI) which could result in a reduction of up to 1%. Great news for the Exchequer as this switch could generate a tidy £3.8billion windfall for [...]

Another Interest Rate Anniversary

Another year and another anniversary.  We are now fast approaching 4 years since the last interest rate move in the UK.  In March 2009 the Central Bank cut rates to 0.5% and we have spent 46 frustrating months trying to second guess when they will start to move in a northerly direction again. Future Indications Indicators certainly seem to point to the status quo being maintained throughout 2013 but a more pessimistic (or is that realistic?) view from the Investment Bank Citi is that we are merely half way through this period of rock bottom interest rates and they [...]

Benefits Of Personal Cash Flow Modelling

What is cash flow modelling? Cash flow modelling is a tool used by Lifestyle Financial Planners to help clients understand their current financial position and their future financial position by generating a graphical, financial planning forecast. In short it shows a client whether or not they may run out of money in the future, whether they may have ‘too much’ money, when they may be able to retire or if they can afford to treat themselves to a luxurious holiday or other big expenditure. How does it work? The actual forecast is created by the financial planner. However the [...]

RDR – Avoid A DIY Disaster

The 1st January 2013 sees the dawning of a fresh new age in UK financial services.  The slate will be wiped clean with the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and the world will be a better place. RDR Theory No longer will we see unscrupulous, under qualified, commission hungry financial advisers standing on every street corner waiting to sell us products we don’t need where the term “high yield” relates to their remuneration rather than our investment returns.  New low cost investments will now be the norm and when you want advice you will gladly pay a [...]