November 23 news from your local Wealth Manager

November 23 news from your local Wealth Manager

 

• According to the latest market research local female wealth managers and financial advisors now earn more on average than their male counterparts for the first time. In the same research the number of financial advice firms fell in 2022 to just over 5,000, but the number of financial advisor staff increased to over 28,000
• According to Interactive Investor, almost half of the population don’t think the state pension will exist in 50 years’ time.
• 59% of people don’t know what the current Inheritance Tax thresholds
• Good and bad news for savers. The treasury estimates that UK savers will earn £45 billion more in interest this year than they did in 2022. Unfortunately, the cost of high inflation means that savings will depreciate in net terms by almost £70 billion.
• The Bank of England has held the base rate at 5.25%
• According to research by Just Group only 8% of people retire having used a local wealth manager to advise them. By contrast almost half of people retiring said that they hadn’t thought about whether they could afford to retire or not.
• The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) levy on financial advisors is set to increase by 40% next year. To cover the increased payouts the FSCS has made for failed schemes and bad advice. This will inevitably lead to higher advice charges to clients.
• According to LV the average amount gifted to children by retired parents is £9,000, but the amount gifted to grandchildren is even higher at £10,300.
• An online petition has been launched to try to influence he government to honour its pension triple lock commitment. There is concern that they might try to change the goalposts and use a lower figure.
• Mortgage rates have increased by 13% in the last 12 months, which is more than the average increase in rental charges of 10%.
• GDP grew by 0% between July and September.
• Paul Maynard had replaced Laura Trott ss Pensions minister in the latest re-shuffle.
• Inflation has fallen to 4.6%. This meets one of the governments five key pledges for the year, which was to halve inflation. The main reason seems to be the fall in energy prices.
• The Department of Education has announced that they are setting up an enquiry to look at how to improve financial education in schools.
• Along those lines, a new children’s book “Tina Learns to Save” is now available to buy on Amazon. The book is the first in a planned series to introduce young children to the concept of money and savings.
• A record £14 billion was withdrawn from UK investments in the last quarter. That was 14% higher than the previous quarter. It’s thought by most local wealth managers that the money is being withdrawn to support the increased cost of day to day living expenses.
• Over 9,500 pension transfers have been delayed over the last 9 months by Pension Trustees marking them with an “amber flag” risk warning for what they have designated as “unknown reasons”. This means that people then have to undergo an interview Money Helper before they can access their pensions.
• Retail sales fell by 2.7% in October compared with last year.
• Company insolvencies were 18% higher than October last year. A big jump.
• The Chancellor confirmed that the state pension will increase by 8.5% in April next year. Honouring the government’s commitment to the triple lock.
• In the Autumn Statement (22/11/23) the Chancellor confirmed that National Insurance contributions would be cut by 2% from January next year. 27 million workers will benefit from the tax cut.
• No changes to Inheritance Tax rates or limits were announced as some had hoped for.