Low Key Budget

Yesterday Alistair Darling delivered the 2010 budget. It was very low key.

The highest profile change was abolishing stamp duty (for 2 years) for first time buyers buying a property under £250 000; the money will be recouped on a higher charge on £1 million plus properties.

More thoughts are in a column I wrote for the Swindon Advertiser.

How well qualified is your financial adviser?

A question you might want to ask anybody who gives you financial advice is, "How well qualified are you? Do you have higher qualifications or the bare minimum?"

In a few years' time every financial adviser will have to have a higher level qualification. This will apply to banks multi-tied advisers (who can only advise on a limited range of products & services) and Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs). The most common option is the Diploma PFS. (DipPFS)

Ideally your adviser will already have this or be well on the way to getting it. If not, ask why!

Vulture & Zombie Pensions

Vulture companies & Zombie pension funds have been in the news again recently..what are they?

A vulture company takes over old pensions and makes a very healthy income from doing nothing much with them. The client still pays a management fee and the company provides an understaffed call centre.

A zombie fund is one that is barely alive...nobody has shown an interest in it for some time and nobody seems to care if the clients money is doing anyhting.

What pension companies are often mentioned in this context?

Pearl, Resolution & Windsor Life. Resolution have just bought Friends Provident.

What should I do if I have a zombie fund?

Speak to your local friendly IFA :)

Posted by Sean Wilson, APFS, Independent Financial Advisers (IFA), Swindon, Wiltshire.

Disappearing Banks

In the aftermath of banking collapses & mergers, there will quite a few bank closures on high streets of Swindon & beyond.

Cheltenham & Gloucester will disappear as a high street presence with the closure of 164 branches with the loss of 833 jobs.

The new Lloyds Banking group now owns the former Halifax Bank of Scotland branches too.

Santander, the Spanish bank now owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley. It is likely that the branches in each town will be merged into one.

In Swindon, we have already seen the closure of Portman and Woolwich branches due to mergers in recent years.

Posted by Sean Wilson, APFS, Independent Financial Advisers (IFA), Swindon, Wiltshire.

£1 388 000 000 000 Bank Bail Out

£1 388 000 000 000 is the amount of money the Bank of England & Treasury have spent on bailing out various banks.

This includes:

£319 000 000 000 on Royal Bank of Scotland
£266 000 000 000 on Halifax Bank of Scotland & Lloyds TSB
£113 000 000 000 on Northern Rock.

Figures come form Fathom Consulting.

Posted by Sean Wilson, APFS, Independent Financial Advisers (IFA), Swindon, Wiltshire.

50% Tax Band : Budget 2009

One of the controversial aspects of the Budget was the introduction of a new 50% tax band for people earning more than £150 000 a year.

It creates a political dilemma for David Cameron & the Conservative Party. Do they go along with it in the "interests of the country" or criticise it and be denounced as fat cats.

Posted by Sean Wilson, APFS, Independent Financial Advisers (IFA), Swindon, Wiltshire.

ISA Changes; Budget 2009

One of the welcome parts of an interesting & scary budget was the change in ISA allowances.

For over 50s there is an immediate increase to £10 200 (£5 100 in Cash ISA)
For everybody else the change happens in April 2010.

Posted by Sean Wilson, Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), Swindon, Wiltshire.

Budget Special BBC Radio Swindon

I will be appearing with Matthew Smith on BBC Radio Swindon 5-6pm discussing the Budget on Wednesday (22 April).

Listen on 103.6FM or online

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_swindon/

You may need to download Real Player
http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/categories/plug/real/newreal.shtml?intro2

Posted by Sean Wilson, Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), Swindon, Wiltshire.