With so much bad news around I thought some positive opinions may help along with some further comment about Inheritance Tax and Intestacy.
Remember these markets and situations do not always last, and we all knew that this so called ‘Credit Crunch’ was going to continue for some time.
It remains to be seen if there are going to be any further major failures in the Banking Sector, guess the response should be to “watch this space”. Many of the UK Retail Banks seem to be in good shape.
On a more positive note we have seen Short Term Fixed Rate Mortgages back to pre ‘Credit Crunch’ levels here in the UK, with many lenders more keen to lend than they have been, the Mortgage Market is still tight though.
So what to do, well there is a lot still to be done by many actions points below:-
Review Everything
Your Mortgage, Credit Cards, Loans, Insurances, Utility’s the lot. There is money to be saved (made). There are still Re Mortgage Products in the market place, however for many the Fee’s are proving to high.
Clear expensive Credit Card Debt first, ensure payments are made on time in order to avoid Penalty Interest.
Savings – review your’s as there are some very good Deposit Rates available from many of the High Street Firms.
Budget, back to basics on this one. Review all of your spending and determine where your Money is going. I recently reviewed my Sky Package and saved a massive £240 per year buy dropping a few unwatched channels, basic areas are Gym Memberships that are unused, and other Club Memberships that do not get the use you are paying for. Mobile Phone Tariffs are another, I keep talking to people with many 1000′s of unused minutes when a simple ‘pay as you go package’ would work perfectly.
Investments, it’s difficult to see where Stock Markets could be heading. More uncertainty could cause further falls, however with Oil Prices falling dramatically in the past few weeks and with inflationary pressures still in the system but probably easing we may see a cut in Base Interest Rates which could help.
Intestacy (if you die without leaving a valid Will), with new limits and some slight changes to the rules around Not Having a Valid Will there is good news for those of you that have not considered this area of your planning. There is no excuse for not having a valid Will though.
The same applies to the issue of Inheritance Tax and the new “dual Nil Rate Band Allowance” which effectively allows you to pass on Twice the Nil Rate of £312k (Married or Civil Partners). The warning here is, this allowance is not what it seems, there is a good deal you need to evidence in order to claim the dual amounts and it is no good relying on the Solicitor that dealt with Probate for your deceased partner as most of them do not keep records for long!
So what to do.
Review, Check, Alter, Adapt and Prepare for what could be a bumpy ride over the coming few months, for me personally and professionally I think this will soon pass.
Let’s hope I don’t have to eat my own words.
If have any concerns queries or questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Richard Smith
Independent Financial Expert
0800 781 2031