Article by Christina
Latest pension money saving expert news from Christina Clegg Financial Planning Services.
- HMRC has said that Welsh government has been hit with £14 million in back taxes for failing to pay contractors at the right rate. What chance does everyone else have if the government aren’t even paying the right level of taxes!
- The number of complaints made about St James Place to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has almost doubled in the last six months.
- The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has released data showing that up to 1 million people could be missing out on their entitlements to pension credits. According to WDP only 60% of eligible people claim the benefit. Is it any surprise given the complexity of the benefits system. How many people even know about pension credits?
- The Bank of England held base rate at 4.0%.
- Average house prices rose by 0.6% in October, making the average house price now £299,862. The rise year to date is 1.9%.
- According to the latest figures, almost 10 million members of the NEST auto enrolment pension scheme are making no contributions to their pensions. Over and above their employer’s pension contributions. Only 4 million are actually paying into their pensions and only 200,000 have ever increased their contribution.
- All this means that the average pension held in NEST is worth around £4,000. Which any pension money saving expert will tell you, is not enough to sustain any kind of retirement.
- Unemployment has now hit 5% for the last three months. That’s the highest unemployment rate since Covid back in 2020.
- Did you know that there are now over 5,000 ISA millionaires. These are people who have been investing the maximum savings contributions into tax free ISA’s since they began 25 years ago. 25 investors have over £11 million saved.
- The Financial Services Compensation Scheme limit has been increased to £120,000 for money deposited in Banks. That is up from the current limit of £85,000 which has been in place since 2017. This is good news for savers. The protection applies to every Bank holding your savings, so it might be an idea to spread it around if you are worried about protection.
- Inflation fell to 3.6% in October down from 3.8% in September.
- The fraud squad are looking into the collapse of Basis Markets in a £20 million crypto fraud.
- Inheritance Tax was £5.2 billion since April. An increase of £200 million on last year.
- The minimum wage will rise by 4.1% from next April for workers over 21. 18- to 21-year-olds will see an increase of 8.5% and 16 to 17 years olds and apprentices the minimum wage will rise by 6%.
- According to Just Group over 60% of 50- to 70-year-olds would like to keep working rather than fully retire. 30% said that they had retired too early. Most said that wished they had consulted a pension money saving expert about their retirement plans.
- In the budget the Chancellor froze tax allowance thresholds until 2031. That means they will not have changed for 10 years, dragging millions into paying tax.
- The cash ISA limit was also slashed from £20,000 down to £12,000, but only for under 65’s. However, you will still be able to save £20,000 a year but £8,000 will need to be into an investment ISA.
- Over 65’s will still be able to save £20,000 a year into a cash ISA. Obviously this simplifies things!!
- AJ Bell reported that in their survey only 12% of people supported a cut to the savings limits whilst 50% felt they should stay the same.
- The Chancellor has said that pensioners will not pay tax on their state pensions, even if the value rises above the income tax threshold which it is likely to do by 2027 under the triple lock guarantee. The details of how this will work have not yet been set out. But it appears that people on the old state pension with a top up from a private pension will pay tax on the private pensions element. Pension money saving experts think that it will be complicated.
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If you need advice from a pension money saving expert then why not contact Christina today. She offers a free initial meeting to discuss your requirements and explain how our service works. You are under no obligation to use us after that if you don’t want to and we won’t pester you.
So why not call us today on 01282 614444 or e mail us enquiries@ccfps.co.uk or use our contact form online.
