Article by Christina
August news from Christina Clegg your friendly financial advisor for pensioners
- The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has reported payouts of £430 million to customers of failed financial firms in 2023/24. Good to see that the safety net is working. People should be able to be confident that their investments are protected.
- Labours first budget will be on 30th of October.
- The Bank of England has cut base rate to 5.0%. The first reduction since back in March 2020.
- According to XPS in 2024 15 out of every 1,000 pension members transferred their pensions at an average value of £156,000 which is why being a financial advisor for pensioners is an important role.
- One year after the introduction of The Consumer Duty and there are now even less opportunities to find a financial advisor with only 9% now using an advisor compared with 11% two years ago. Many financial advisor for pensioners have increased the minimum investment requirements to over £500,000.
- Having said that 68 new advice firms were authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in June. 330 existing firms closed down, however.
- 370,000 people paid £14 billion in Capital Gains Tax last year.
- There are now only 37,000 financial advisers in the UK. That means there is only one adviser available for every 1,200 over 18’s in the UK.
- Inflation rose slightly in July to 2.2%
- The economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of the year to the end of June.
- 164,000 mortgages for first time buyers were supported by their parent – nearly 60% of all first-time buyers.
- This comes as average house prices in the UK grew by 2.8% in the year to June with the average house price in England now £305,000.
- More than 3.6 million people paid dividend tax last year up by 1.8 million the year before. This is because the dividend tax rate was reduced to only £500 in 2024. That means you would start paying dividend tax if your £10,000 investment grew at 5%. It might be time to see a financial advisor for pensioners if you are concerned about tax.
- New Prime Minister has warned his supporters to expect a painful budget in October.
- According to MetLife 25% of people who were off work for four weeks or more last year, as result of an injury, were not paid by their employers. Despite more than 500,000 people being off work through injury.
- The public sector debt in the UK rose to 99.4% of GDP in July. A massive £2.75 trillion.
- Sadly, over 25,000 companies in the UK became insolvent in the last 12 months.
- The number of defined benefit final salary pension transfers reached its highest level since August 2023. You need a financial advisor for pensioners to deal with kind of transfer.
- The number of complaints received by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has increased by almost 70% over the last year. The most complained about product is credit cards, followed by unaffordable lending and then motor finance complaints. Over 50% of complaints are now handled by professional representatives like solicitors or Claims Management Companies (CMC’s). However, only 25% of complaints are upheld, compared to 40% 12 months ago.
