When Tom and Pete bought their first property together, life couldn’t have been better. They both had good jobs pulling in decent salaries and were excited about spending the rest of their lives together.

They chatted about making a will a few times, but somehow life always got in the way. Until one day, 10 years after moving in together, Pete got a call that would change his life forever – Tom had been killed in a car accident.

The intestacy trap

On top of grieving for his partner, Pete found he was also facing an uncertain financial fut...

Retired teachers Paul and Mary are devoted parents and grandparents to their three children and eight grandchildren. As their family started to grow, they decided they wanted to begin saving for their grandchildren’s future. Disappointed with the returns from their savings accounts, they decided to look into other investment opportunities. After comparing a number companies online, they settled on one and made a £30,000 bank transfer. Within just a few months, their initial investment had grown sizably.

Soon afterwards, their eldest grandch...

Now’s a good time to make sure your fully prepared for the financial year ahead. To make it easy we’ve summarised the key dates and facts and figures below.

1 April

National Living Wage (for age 23+) rises from £8.91 to £9.50

National Minimum Wage rises to £9.18 (for 21-22-year olds), £6.83 (for 18-20-year olds), £4.81 (for 16-17-year olds) and £4.81 (for apprentices under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship).

Council tax bills rise by up to 2.99% (including a 1% social care precept) although there may be some regional variat...

he new tax year on 6 April 2022 is a great time to review your finances.

The new tax year means annual allowances are reset and ready to be reused – to help you make the most of your money. This year more than ever, with interest rates and inflation on the rise, it’s a great time to review your pensions and investments with your adviser.

Note: The following figures apply to the 2022/2023 tax year, which starts on 6 April 2022 and ends on 5 April 2023.

ISAs
The maximum you can invest across your ISAs is £20,000 (if it’s a cash ISA, stocks a...

There’s plenty of advice and ‘life hacks’ on how to make spring-cleaning less of a chore. A quick Google search will throw up hundreds of random tips – like using cola to clean the toilet, lemon to clean the taps and vinegar to clean just about anything!

When you’ve finished scrubbing your worktops with baking soda and polishing your windows with newspapers, why not try spring-cleaning your finances? Here are some handy hints to get you started:

Throw away unnecessary spending habits

Look at your bank statements for the last couple of mon...

As the conflict in Ukraine escalates and Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine major stock markets have fallen dramatically. But what does this mean for your investments?

Stories about stock market falls are guaranteed to make headlines like the financial crisis of 2008 and the stock market lows of March 2009. And for many they are still fresh memories but it’s worth noting that an investment then in global stocks would have grown more than twofold a decade down the line*.

That might be an extreme example with those kinds of returns nev...

Make more of your money with your adviser, before the end of the 2021/2022 tax year on 5 April 2022.

As the end of the tax year approaches, there’s still time to take advantage of your annual tax-free allowances if you’ve not already done so. This is one of the best ways to make your money work harder and grow, especially with interest rates on the rise. We can guide you through the best ways to use your allowances – depending on your needs.

ISAs
The maximum you can invest across your ISAs (if it’s a cash ISA, stocks and shares ISA or innov...