Compulsory financial advice

Two-thirds of people aged 55 and over believe financial advice should be compulsory at retirement

Two-thirds (65%) of people aged 55 and over who are not yet retired believe that it should be compulsory to receive financial advice at retirement according to findings from Retirement Advantage.

Passing on your pension savings

It’s never been more important to plan whom you’d like to inherit them

Your pension is your life savings you’ve built up to give you the retirement you want. Since new pension rules came into effect from 6 April this year, pensions have become more flexible – including a cut in tax when a pension is passed on.

Planning your retirement income

Will the pension reforms have an effect on retirement planning?

Just under a third (30%) of people believe the recent pension reforms will affect their plans for retirement income. Responding to a Schroders survey, of the people who said pension reforms will affect retirement, a significant proportion (45%) said they are likely to consider taking some money as cash and putting the balance in an investment fund.

Regular portfolio reviews

Alternatives for income-seekers during a period of low interest rates

One of the tools available to the Bank of England to stimulate the economy is interest rates. Lower interest rates mean that it is cheaper to borrow money and people have more to spend, hopefully stimulating the economy and reducing the risk of deflation.

Investing for income

Alternatives for income-seekers during a period of low interest rates

One of the tools available to the Bank of England to stimulate the economy is interest rates. Lower interest rates mean that it is cheaper to borrow money and people have more to spend, hopefully stimulating the economy and reducing the risk of deflation.

Asset allocation

Deciding how to weight your portfolio

Asset allocation is the bedrock of successful investing. The challenge for investors lies in deciding exactly how much to allocate to each asset class.

Building block of many investor portfolios

Investing in bonds, pooling your money with thousands of other small investors

Bonds are debt issued by either a government or a company and are an essential building block of many investors’ portfolios. When you buy a bond, you are effectively extending a loan to the issuer of the bond.

Open-ended funds

Professionally managed collective investment funds

Unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs) are professionally managed collective investment funds. Managers pool money from many investors and buy shares, bonds, property or cash assets and other investments. An open-ended fund could be visualised as a big pool of money – the money belongs to thousands of small investors.

A higher return on your investment

Invest as much of your annual ISA allowance as you like in either a Stocks & Shares ISA or a Cash ISA, or any mixture of the two

Some people never look beyond Cash Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), but by using Stocks & Shares ISAs too, you could get a higher return on your investment. Stocks & Shares ISAs can contain shares, bonds and investment funds. There are no restrictions about where in the world you can invest: it does not have to be all in the UK.

Reducing investment risk

Choosing a broad spread of instruments in which to invest

If you require your money to provide the potential for capital growth or income, or a combination of both, and provided you are willing to accept an element of risk, pooled investments allow you to invest in a large, professionally managed portfolio of assets with many other investors. As a result of this, the risk is reduced due to the wider spread of investments in the portfolio.