April pension advisory update

April pension advisory update from your friendly advisors at Christina Clegg Financial Planning Services.

• The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) reported that it had dealt with over 500 romance scams in the last 12 months with a number of ordering Banks to repay those who had lost money. 14,000 scams were reported in total.
• NS&I is in trouble with its customers. Apparently, it has lost the records of 37,000 customers some of whom have passed away and is facing claims of up to £400 million.
• The over 60’s in the UK own over £3.8 trillion in housing equity. That’s well over half the total for the whole country.
• Over £5.8 billion was deposited into Banks and Building Society’s in the month of February. Of which £4.5 billion went into Cash ISA’s paying 1.9%. As we’ve said many times before, please shop around for the best savings rates, you can do better than 1.9%.
• The costs for a Claims Management Company (CMC) to bring a claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is set to rise to £680. An increase of almost 5%.
• Compare the Market has warned home owners to check the value of their property after any renovations and to make sure their home insurance covers the right amount. Sound advice.
• Quilter, Royal London and Standard Life have all applied for permission to provide the new targeted financial advice product introduced by the FCA part of which is about pension advisory support.
• According to the Police £880 million was stolen last year through investment scams. The average loss is now £25,000. One of the growing areas according to the Police are losses through online fin-influencers promoting scam investments.
• Over 800,000 people contacted the Pension Tracing Service run by the Department of Work and Pensions last year. Not surprising since there are an estimated 3 million pension pots unclaimed in the UK worth over £30 billion. At an average of £9,500 per pension. It’s important to note that we DO NOT provide a pension advisory service for lost pensions. We get a lot of enquiries about pension tracing, but it isn’t a service that we provide.
• The FCA has warned firms that it has discovered fake letters circulating around pension advisory firms. These are purporting to come from the Chief Executive and ask for bank details. It’s not just individuals who are targeted by scammers so are companies, everyone needs to be vigilant.
• Unemployment fell to 4.9% in March. But economists are worried about the potential for bad news going forward as a result of the Gulf conflict.
• Inflation on the other hand rose to 3.3% in March.
• Despite high levels of unemployment and higher than target inflation, figures show that 20% of people save over £1000 a month and 5% save over £5,00 a month.
• Over £8.5 billion was paid in Inheritance Tax last year, up £200 million on the year before. This is likely to rocket after 2027 when pensions come into the scope of the tax.
• Over half of all pension advisory firms do not employ a female financial adviser.
• Geordie Shore “star” Aaron Chalmers (I know I’ve never heard of him either) has pleaded guilty to making illegal financial promotions on social media. He is the first in a concerted action by the FCA to being better regulation to so called Fin-influencers online. In order to protect people losing their money in unregulated and high-risk investments.
• A number of the biggest financial firms in the UK including most of the big banks have joined together to launch a marketing scheme to encourage investing. The push will focus on a new character called Savvy the Squirrel.
• 25% tax free withdrawals rose by almost a third in the run up to the autumn budget as a result of uncertainty about the chancellor’s plans. Almost £4 billion was withdrawn from pensions. In many cases this was probably not the right thing to do. But it shows what happens when people think that they are going to be taxed more.

Get more information.

If you are looking for pension advisory help 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.