All employers will understand the challenge of attracting and retaining employees without overspending.  The good news is that headline salary, although obviously important, is only one of a range of factors which employees consider when deciding whether or not a job is the right one for them (or whether they wish to stay with a particular employer).  Add-on benefits such as relevant life cover can boost the value of a job offer in a very cost-effective way, partly because employers can often negotiate good deals and partly because it is very tax-efficient. Personal cover in a corporate setting. Relevant Life Cover is essentially term life insurance taken out by an employer on behalf of a specific employee.  To all intents and purposes, it works in exactly the same way as regular life insurance but its tax treatment is very different and much more favourable to both the employee and the employer as it is discounted for the purposes of Income Tax and National Insurance and instead treated as an allowable business expense. A worked example  Let’s assume that an insurance company charges £200 per month for either personal Life Insurance Cover or Relevant Life Cover and focus purely on the tax situation. If the employee buys their own personal Life Insurance Cover, then they will have to pay for it out of their net salary, in other words, they will need to earn not just the cost of the insurance, but the cost of the insurance plus the Income Tax and National Insurance payable on their income.  If we assume that an employee is in the 40% tax bracket and pays National Insurance at the extra 2% rate, then the effective cost of the cover is actually £344.83 (in other words, the government gets almost as much as the insurance company). If, however, the employer pays for Relevant Life Cover then this is ignored for the purposes of Income Tax and National Insurance, in other words, it is not classed as a taxable benefit, quite the reverse, it is actually classed as an allowable business expense and hence can be set against profits for the purposes of calculating Corporation Tax.  This is currently at 19%, making the effective cost of the cover only £162. Life cover isn’t just a benefit for older employees Although life cover is generally regarded as essential for anyone who has a mortgage and/or children, it can be appreciated by people in all walks of life including younger adults in their child-free stage of life who might well feel happier knowing that they could leave something to help parents and or siblings.  While “the bank of mum and dad” has become something of a cliche (albeit one grounded in reality), it’s worth noting that older people can be helped financially by their children (or grandchildren). A note on Key Man Cover Relevant Life Cover is really a benefit for your employees, although it can, of course, help the business from the point of view of retaining and recruiting staff.  Should the policy need to be called upon, the payment will be made to the employee’s chosen beneficiary to assist them in moving on with their life, it will not help the company manage the practicalities of losing a valued colleague.  With that in mind, employers may wish to look at Key Man Cover, which is essentially a form of Life Insurance in which the beneficiary is the business itself.  Just like Life Insurance, Key Man Cover can be used to help the business move on from its loss, for example by paying for temporary staff until a long-term replacement is found.  It is not a substitute for proper succession planning, but can be a useful add-on to it. For insurnace, we act as introducers only

Although the highs and lows of the stock market can make for great entertainment, in reality, being up one minute and down the next can be enough to make the average person feel seasick, if not worse.  Investment tends to be about incremental progress over time and the principle of diversification is often taken very seriously precisely because it helps to protect against losing everything.  Let's say, however, that the worst did strike and that you lost everything but had to find a way to get back on your feet again.  How might you go about doing it? The difference insurance can make Your road to recovery could be made hugely easier if you have solid insurance cover in place.  Depending on your circumstances, products such as Income Protection Insurance and Critical Illness Cover could all help to tide you over (comfortably) while you were getting back on your feet. Replacing your income Your first priority would probably be to replace your income.  If you didn't have insurance cover in place, you might still be able to get help from the benefits system, but it is not known for its generosity so you would probably want to find an alternative as quickly as possible.  How quickly this might be would depend on your ability to monetize your existing skills and/or to learn new ones. Finding a market for your skills Having skills is all very well but you need to be able to turn them into cash in order to pay your bills.  Social media can be great for this and you should never underestimate the value of a solid social media presence, but equally, you should never underestimate the value of real-world connections.  In fact, if you are starting the ball rolling right from scratch, you may actually find it easier to make connections in the real world than in the online one.  The reason for this is that the digital world is now so crowded that it can take a very long time to make a real impact, although it is certainly worth trying.  It's also worth noting that people you know in the real world may become online followers while people you know online may appreciate the opportunity to connect with you in the real world, at least from time to time. Maximizing your income In the beginning, you may have to focus on earning active income, which is basically to say swapping your time directly for cash.  Often, however, you will want to start developing passive income streams, which is to say selling the same amount of your time more than once, for example by giving group classes or by making digital products which only need to be created once but which can be resold an infinite number of times.  This sets up a virtuous circle of giving you more income which allows you to reduce the amount of active work you do and so leave you with more free time to focus on creating more passive income. Getting back into investment Once you have some disposable income again, you can start to get back into investment.  While your funds are still limited, you may want to play safe and stick to the likes of blue-chip stocks, but as you start to have more money available, you may be prepared to look at taking a bit of a gamble on some high-growth stocks to help get you back where you were before. In short  While nobody wants to lose everything, thinking about what might happen if you did can be a useful way of working out where you should be focusing your resources in the present. For Investments we act as introducers only.

According to the Global Wealth Report (GWR), women now hold about 40% of the world’s wealth.  In other words, they are tantalisingly close to achieving wealth equality with men.  While this is, of course, cause for celebration, there are two key points to remember.  The first is that in the GWR included non-financial assets, so it is probably safe to assume that at least some portion of this wealth relates to co-owned property, such as real estate.  The second is that there can be huge variations in the level of wealth equality achieved by women in different parts of the world, even within different parts of the same country. Economic and technological changes, may, currently, be working in favour of women Even though 2008 is now, literally, over a decade ago, it still appears to be sending ripples through the global economy and those ripples may be helping to address the wealth inequality which has previously been standard in human society.  In short, the effects of the crash have been felt very keenly in both finance and construction (and their related industries), both of which have long been male-dominated sectors.  It has had less of an effect in areas such as education, health care, and administration (both public and private), all of which have typically been more female-dominated at least on the lower pay-grades.  It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, the development of artificial intelligence will have on the industry in general and on the gender-difference in particular.  On the one hand, industries which are very process-based should, in theory, be prime targets for automation, the only question would be when rather than if, but industries where there is a strong “human” element, for example, a need for traits such as empathy, would be very hard, if not impossible, to automate. While women are wealthier they still appear to be saving and investing less than men HMRC recently released figures regarding ISA usage by men and women.  The figures revealed in  (2016-17) found that not only did men have more money in ISAs than women (an average of £3,611 or 14%) but they also tended to put their money into stocks and shares ISAs, whereas women were more likely to use cash ISAs.  While the difference in the amount of money held in an ISA could simply reflect the fact that, on average, men still earn more than women (as demonstrated by the gender pay gap), the choice of ISA cannot necessarily be put down entirely to this, although it may be a factor as those on lower incomes may have a higher degree of concern about their ability to access their money quickly if they need to.  One alternative explanation is that the fact that the financial-services industry is male-dominated (particularly at the higher grades) means that men have more of an opportunity to learn about the ins and outs of financial products than women do.  Even if they do not work in the industry themselves, they may have a higher chance of knowing someone who does or of coming across content which is focused on meaningful saving and investing rather than just household budgeting.  One way to test this theory would be for the financial services industry not only to try to recruit more women into its ranks (and particularly its senior ranks) but also to reach out to the mainstream press and social media influencers to try to educate women on the importance of both saving and investing for their future lives and goals and on the specific benefits of doing so in a tax-friendly manner such as within an ISA. For Investments We Act As Introducers Only On clicking the above link, you will leave the regulated site of Property Asset Finance. NeitherProperty Asset Finance, nor Sesame Ltd, is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained within the linked site.

Although previous Prime Minister, Theresa May famously commented on the need for “strong and stable government”, something we most certainly do not have at the time of writing! However, the fact still remains that the UK is currently navigating its way through extremely choppy political waters and the stock market is reacting accordingly. In fact, ever since the “Leave” result was announced, the stock market has been a fairly accurate reflection of the market’s feelings about the state of the Brexit negotiation. Although the issue of Brexit may be unique to the UK (and possibly the EU as well, depending on your point of view), there are plenty of other countries experiencing their own issues – and corresponding volatility in their stock markets. With this in mind, here are three tips on how to deal with market volatility. Accept them as a reality Volatility happens, it really is that simple. It’s nothing personal, it’s nothing you’ve done wrong, it’s just the way markets work and that means that, as an investor, it is very likely that, at some point in your life, you are just going to have to take a decision on how you’re going to deal with it. The good news is that not only is it possible for investors to navigate volatile markets, but it’s also possible to make good profits in them. Recognise that volatility has its advantages Market volatility can potentially offer two major advantages to serious investors. Firstly, it can reduce competition from other investors. The more cautious may prefer to “sit out” periods of volatility and focus instead on other assets such as cash, near-cash and property. Secondly, it can provide opportunities to pick up equities at bargain prices. Just as a rising tide floats all boats, so a falling tide can drag down even the best boats – over the short term. At least, it can drag down the prices at which they sell. Robust companies, however, will still be able to perform, even in a market downturn. For example, younger companies will still be able to show growth and more mature companies will still be able to produce dividends. The growth and/or dividends may be more restrained than usual, but the price-to-earnings ratio could still be very attractive, thanks to the overall downturn. Likewise, a market downturn could provide you with an opportunity to fine-tune the diversification of your investment portfolio (and possibly your assets in general), again, taking advantage of the fact that you are in a buyer’s market. Keep a steady course yourself Of course, your investment strategy will need to be updated as your life changes. In fact, this is one of the main arguments for taking professional advice on a regular basis. A financial professional can specifically prompt you to think about (potential) changes you might otherwise have overlooked until it was too late and hence put you in a position to take action about them. They can also make suggestions as to how to prepare for the situation and again, since they are professionals, they may be able to suggest changes you might otherwise have overlooked. You do not, however, want to allow yourself to be panicked into making changes due to short-term market conditions. The keywords here, are “panicked” and “short-term”. It may be perfectly reasonable for you to adjust your investment portfolio in response to short-term circumstances if you believe that their impact is significant enough to warrant it. Similarly, it can make sense to adjust your portfolio in response to a change which you believe is likely to have a long-term impact. In either case, however, you want to act mindfully, knowing not just what you are doing, but why you are doing it and what outcome you expect to achieve. For Investments, We Act As Introducers Only

If you look at a long-term graph of any stock market, especially ones in mature markets, then you’ll probably see a long-term upward trend.  Look a little closer, however, and you’ll see that the nice upward line is actually a bit jagged, showing quite obvious dips here and there.  Zoom in closer still and you’ll see parts of the line where the stock market has been up one moment and down the next and then back up again and then back down again and so on.  That’s volatility and while investors may dislike it (just as sailors may prefer to avoid choppy seas), it’s a fact of investing life and it has three, main causes. Politics While Brexit may be dominating the headlines in the UK, the truth of the matter is that politics has long had the ability to influence the stock market.  What’s more, now that even small companies (and the investors who back them) can now operate on a genuinely global basis, it’s become increasingly common for political issues in one country to influence the stock market in another.  Volatility can happen when investors feel uncertain about what actions politicians will take on issues such as government spending, international trade agreements and their corollaries taxes and tariffs.  This may be because the government of the day has not been clear and consistent in their approach.  Alternatively, it may be because the market does not know what government is going to be in power for the foreseeable future (e.g. it’s election time). Economics Similar comments apply to economics, in fact, there is often a close link between politics and economics, which makes sense given that politician’s play a key role in the economic growth of a country (or lack thereof).  They are, however, not the only influence over the state of the economy.  There are many other factors at play and there are varying degrees to which politicians can influence them.  For example, politicians can use their legislative and regulatory power to encourage or discourage investors from acting in certain ways.  The UK government’s use of stamp duty is a case in point, it is charged at different rates depending on whether the purchaser is an investor, someone moving into their second or subsequent residential home or a first-time buyer.  Politicians cannot, however, influence factors such as the weather, which can be a major factor in the economic health of a country, especially for industries such as agriculture and transport. Social changes This may seem an odd factor to quote, but at the end of the day, stock markets are made up of companies and companies exist to serve their customers who are people.  So when society goes through meaningful changes, as it periodically does, companies have to work out what they are going to do about it.  The performance of individual companies may therefore be rather variable depending on how well they are managing to cope with the changes and if multiple companies are all dealing with the same process of change at the same time, then the result may be general volatility.  In fact, even if only a small number of companies are going through this process, the size of these companies may lead to ripples of volatility being spread through the stock market as a whole.  One example of this is the situation with the Gillette brand, which seems to be finding it a challenge to position itself so it is viewed favourably by a younger audience without sacrificing its existing user base.  Gillette’s recent advertising campaigns have been somewhat controversial and rather hit-and-miss, hence its stock price has been rather up and down. For Investments, We Act As Introducers Only

These days it’s arguably more important than ever for landlords to do their sums properly in order to be confident that their investments will bring in net returns which justify the risk involved in holding them.  While landlords may, understandably, be focused on legalities such as tax-management and practicalities such as setting rents at a level which will cover all costs (since it is now illegal to charge tenants for anything other than charges set out on a government “whitelist”), it is also very much recommended to think about which financial products are best suited to your situation. Mortgages For landlords, possibly the single, biggest question to answer is whether or not they would prefer a repayment mortgage or an interest-only mortgage.  Both are feasible in the buy-to-let market so landlords looking for an interest-only mortgage should still find a decent selection from which to choose.  When making a decision, a landlord will need to consider whether it is more important to them to build up equity in a tangible asset (i.e. a property) or to maximize affordability and, hence, yield.  Those who wish to build up equity will need to look at a repayment mortgage.  Those who wish to focus on affordability and yield are likely to be best served by an interest-only mortgage.  Investors who are still undecided are recommended to consider the fact that “portfolio landlords” are now subject to more stringent affordability criteria.  That being so, if you are interested in building a more extensive property portfolio, then you may find it easier to meet these criteria by using interest-only mortgages (on at least some of your properties). Landlord’s insurance Possibly the most obvious purpose of landlord’s insurance is to protect the landlord against issues caused by tenants, such as rent defaults and damage to property.  Insurance can certainly fulfil a valuable purpose here.  Another valuable purpose it can fulfil is to protect landlords against unforeseen (and unforeseeable) circumstances which can have a negative impact on both them and their tenants.  Let’s put this another way.  As a householder, you have to think about catastrophes such as fire and flood, which could render your home uninhabitable even if only (hopefully) on a temporary basis.  As a landlord, you have to think about how such events could impact both you and your tenants.  Having insurance cover in place could be a huge safeguard against events which might otherwise destroy your livelihood. A general point on financial products for landlords For the sake of total clarity, we’d like to point out that if you are looking for financial products to use as a landlord, then it’s important that you only look at financial products which are designed for landlords.  Resist any temptation to use products intended for residential homeowners.  You will not be covered and may be committing fraud. Personal insurance This may seem like an odd suggestion, but if you are at all actively involved in managing your property portfolio and/or are contributing in any way to the financing of it, then you might well want to think seriously about making sure that you have insurance in place to allow you to get the help you need to maintain your property portfolio, even if you are incapacitated.  Taking this a step further, if you are, in turn, dependent on another party to support you so that you can keep going with your responsibilities as a landlord, then it may be very wise to take out personal cover for them too.  For example, if your partner is a homemaker and takes care of the children while you take care of bringing in an income, then insuring them can help with the cost of childcare should they become unable to provide it. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. For general insurance, we act as introducers only.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch and you can’t have your cake and eat it. You can, however, make use of tax breaks to reduce the amount of money you hand over to the government and, hence, increase the amount of money you have available for your own use. In some cases, there are conditions attached to the government’s generosity. For example, the reason why the government gives tax relief on pensions contributions is, of course, to encourage people to make provision for later life and, hence, to reduce the likelihood that you will need to rely on the state in later life. This reality does not, however, alter the fact that the tax relief on pensions can be massively useful, especially if you can combine them with pension contributions from an employer. Understanding tax relief on pensions If you have a total taxable income of up to £150,000 per annum, any contributions you make to a pension are free of tax, up to a maximum of your earnings, or £40,000, whichever is the less. For every £2 of total taxable income over £150,000, your entitlement to relief on pension contributions will be reduced by £1. So basically, if your total taxable income is £230,000 or more, then you will lose your pension relief in its entirety. For the sake of clarity, total taxable income means salary, dividends, rental income and savings interest plus the value of any employer pension contributions. Understanding employer contributions If you are in paid employment and qualify for auto-enrolment, then your employer is legally obliged to make contributions into a pension fund for you, unless you choose to decline them, which is generally known as “opting out”. The reason for accepting these contributions is obvious. There is, however, a very valid potential reason for declining them. This is that the auto-enrolment scheme, as it stands, requires contributions from both the employer and the employee. The employee contributions are taken out of your gross salary, which means that you will pay less tax on your earnings. You will, however, see your take-home pay slightly reduced. If this is a major issue for you, for example, if you are in a situation where you really need every penny of your pay, then you may wish to ask your employer if you can opt-out of the auto-enrolment scheme, but have them pay their contributions into a private pension scheme on your behalf. They are not obliged to do this but may choose to do so to promote employee satisfaction. Be aware, however, that employers are unlikely to appreciate people chopping and changing arrangements and so will probably appreciate you picking one option and sticking to it for as long as you reasonably can. It’s also worth remembering that even if you opt-out of a workplace pension scheme now, your employer is legally obliged to allow you to enrol at a later date, hence enrolment is something you could work towards. Keeping track of workplace pensions Saving into a workplace pension is all well and good, but it’s only going to benefit you if you are able to access the funds upon retirement, which means remembering where they are. The government operates a Pensions Tracing Service, which can help to reunite you with old employers, or, at least, those in charge of their pension schemes. Given the importance of pension saving, however, it is very advisable to take a “belt-and-braces” approach to keeping tabs on old pensions and, in particular, to keep accurate records of your employment history along with the relevant pensions contacts. It’s also highly recommended to make sure to update the necessary people when your contact details change. For Pensions We Act As Introducers Only

Trading is all about timing the market. Basically, it’s the old adage of “buy low and sell high”, but applied to the stock market. There’s nothing inherently “right” or “wrong” about the strategy, but it does carry a couple of significant pitfalls as compared to investing. First of all, trading is, essentially, all about making transactions and the companies which arrange these transactions generally charge a fee for their services. Even if this fee is small, it still eats into a trader’s profits. Secondly, traders may face a larger tax bill than investors. In the UK, for example, Capital Gains Tax is payable on the sale of shares (except when they are held within an Individual Savings Account). It, therefore, follows that traders, who are continually buying and selling shares could wind up paying substantially more tax than investors who are buying and holding shares. The irony here is that investors who pick the right shares could still end up with the same amount of profit in hand at the end of the year. Growth versus income Traders focus on the price of a share. The basic idea behind trading is to look for shares which have good prospects for growth, wait until the growth is achieved (at least to a sufficient level) and then sell the shares on to someone who missed out on the opportunity to buy them the first time around. Investors, by contrast, may look for capital growth or income, alternatively known as earnings or yield. The key difference between growth-focused investors and traders is that the former are in it for the longer term. For example, they may specialize in the Alternative Investment Market, or the smallest companies on the main stock market, sit tight as these companies grow (accepting that some of them will probably fail along the way) and then sell (a part of) their shares to investors who prefer to invest in companies which have reached a certain stage of maturity. It should be noticed here that investors who are focused on growth can only realize their gains when they sell their shares (although they may pick up some income along the way). Investors who are going for yield are looking for dividend-producing shares, which will pay out (ideally) year after year. The point to note here, however, is that it is never a given that a company will pay a dividend. Those seeking guaranteed income will need to look elsewhere, such as on the bond market. Inflation applies to the stock market too Over the long term, prices, in general, tend to go up. Sometimes, the price of certain categories of purchase can trend downwards. For example, technology is notorious for starting out extremely expensive and then becoming more affordable as it matures and reaches the mainstream. Occasionally prices, in general, can trend downwards. This is called deflation and can lead to all kinds of financial complications. The stock market is, at the end of the day, just an old-fashioned market, albeit one which specializes in a very specific range of products. As such, it also experiences the impact of inflation. What this means in practice is that over the long term the price of the stock market as a whole is likely to trend upwards, however, the periods of upward growth are likely to be interspersed with periods of contraction and periods of volatility. Although the performance of the stock market is essentially a consolidation of the performance of its constituent companies, the performance of individual companies can go against the overall performance of the stock market – for better or for worse. This means that investors do have to be cautious when dealing with companies which are performing poorly when the stock market is doing well, but it also means that investors have the potential to achieve returns which beat the stock market average. For Investments, We Act As Introducers Only

How much value do you place on peace of mind? If you really stop and think about it, you might be surprised by just how much it matters to you. For example, knowing that your loved ones will be protected in the event of your death can bring you peace of mind. Knowing that you and your loved ones (including your pets) will receive the best, possible healthcare if you need it, can bring you peace of mind. Knowing that you can replace your key possessions if you need to can bring you peace of mind. All in all, peace of mind can be a huge benefit and it’s a benefit we can all enjoy with the health of the right insurance cover. Here are 3 points to creating the right form and level of insurance cover for you. Integrate your insurance cover with your overall financial plan Your insurance cover should form part of your overall financial plan and thus help you to move towards your life goals. Looking at your insurance from this perspective can make it easier for you to deploy your finances effectively. Specifically, having insurance gives you a clear idea of your potential exposure to any given hazard. Basically, instead of your liability being potentially unlimited, it becomes limited to the premiums and one or more instances of the excess. Knowing this, you can then make better-informed decisions on how much money you need to allocate to protecting yourself against the hazard and, by extension, how much you can allocate to another purpose, such as saving and investing for your future. Aim to insure everything you value and if you can’t afford this, prioritise effectively In addition to thinking about insuring anything you can see (like your house, your car and/or your pets), think about insuring intangible assets such as your income, your health and, in particular, your peace of mind. Even if you are in full-time employment, you may want to look at forms of income-protection cover and health-related cover. Basically, an employment-linked benefits package may not be as generous as you might hope and neither may any state benefits for which you may qualify (if you qualify for them). You may also wish to give serious consideration to anything which could potentially leave you exposed to liability claims, even if they are totally unjustified. Two obvious candidates for this are pets and bicycles, both of which could potentially leave you open to expensive claims for damages to other people’s person or property, including nuisance claims. Having legal cover could be very reassuring and save you a lot of potential stress. Ensure you have the right level of cover It may be fairly obvious that you want to avoid having too little insurance. After all, while having too little protection may be better than having none at all, it does rather go against the principle of ensuring that you are protected against whatever life can throw at you. It may, however, be rather less obvious that you also want to avoid paying for excessive insurance cover. Basically, insurance companies will only payout to the extent of the damage caused, they will not pay more even if you have paid for a higher level of cover. In addition to ensuring that you have the right level of cover at the time you make the initial purchase, you need to ensure that the level of cover is updated with your changing circumstances. For example, if you simply have life insurance to cover your mortgage, you may be able to reduce your level of cover each year as you pay back your mortgage and increase the equity in your home. For pets insurance, we act as introducers only.

When you’re a child, the first time your parents hand you a house key of your own can be a really memorable experience. As an adult, picking up the keys to your first house can be an even more memorable experience. The bad news is that it can be quite a tough slog to get to the point where you can hold those keys in your hand. The good news is that it is possible and a bit of advance planning can get you there. Here are three tips. Minimize your consumer debt It can be hard to make ends meet, especially for young people, who are not only at the start of their careers but also still getting to grips with basic life skills such as budgeting. Having easy access to credit can, therefore, be very useful, in fact, for some people it may be essential. For example, if you’re self-employed and have limited savings, then your credit card may be your only practical option for managing regular expenses on an irregular income. If this sounds like you, then always make the minimum payments on your credit card in full and on time and aim to pay down your credit balance as much as you can when you do have money, ideally pay it off completely. This will not only help your credit record (which is very important for a number of reasons, including getting a mortgage) but it will also improve the overall state of your finances by lowering the amount of interest you pay. On a similar note, while life is for living and it’s understandable that you will want to make the most of any experiences which come your way, remember that life is a marathon not a sprint. In other words, unless an experience really is “once in a lifetime”, it may be best to postpone it until your finances are in a more robust state, while you focus on improving your ability to make significant life purchases, such as your first house. Save and invest as much as you can Staying out of debt is a good start but if you really want to own your own home, then you will need a deposit and you will want it to be as big as possible. Ideally, you will treat saving for your first home as one part of your overall financial plan and you may find it very helpful to get professional advice on setting up and implementing this plan. Financial advice can be just as useful when you are at the start of your career, on a relatively low income, as it can later in life. In fact, starting out your adult life on a solid financial footing can be hugely beneficial later on down the line. Ensure you have the right insurance This may seem like an odd suggestion but the idea is to minimize the likelihood that you will have to divert cash from saving towards your first house to dealing with an unexpected event which life has thrown your way. Essentially, you should aim to ensure anything which really matters to you, be that in a practical sense or in an emotional one (insofar as that is possible), so this includes both tangible assets (such as cars, bicycles or essential work equipment) or intangible assets (such as your income, your health or the health of your pets). The big advantage of having insurance is that relieves you of the responsibility of guessing what your potential liability might be and “self-insuring” and gives you a set liability of the premiums plus any excess. You can then use this knowledge as the basis of an effective budget. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Before the internet went mainstream, it could be extremely difficult for smaller-scale investors to access international markets at all, especially ones at the greatest distance from their country of domicile.  There were numerous practical barriers in the way, such as the lack of availability of key data and the cumbersome (and expensive) nature of international money transfers.  Now, however, global asset allocation is genuinely available to smaller-scale investors and there are many arguments in favour of taking advantage of it. Global asset allocation and the principle of diversification Global asset allocation and diversification are basically two sides of the same coin.  Diversification basically means getting the right number of investment eggs in the right basket.  Basically, it’s the art and science of robust asset allocation.  Global asset allocation means exactly that, in other words considering the options available in the whole of the world before deciding which is the right one for you.  For example, you may opt to diversify your assets by dividing them between cash and near-cash, equities and tangible assets  This is your first layer of diversification.  Your second layer of diversification is deciding exactly which of these asset-allocation options to pick.  For example, looking at cash on its own, even if you just want to keep it in an old-school, instant-access savings account, there are still a number of options from which you can choose and if you extend your range of options to the likes of bonds, then there are even more choices available.  Similar comments apply to equities and tangible assets.  Your third layer of diversification is deciding where in the world you wish to hold your choice of assets.  In other words, global asset allocation is used alongside the principle of diversification, rather than separately to it.  For example, you may decide that you would like to have X% of your overall asset portfolio held in bonds and you may then choose to diversify further by purchasing bonds issued in different countries and currencies. The basics of global asset allocation Just as the stock market contains young start-ups, blue-chip companies and everything in between, so the world contains emerging economies, mature economies and everything in between.  For investment purposes, the difference between emerging economies and mature economies tends to be the extent to which they offer robust protection to investors.  For example, the U.S. is a prime example of a very mature market and its Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 provides stringent auditing and financial regulations, which are backed by a credible enforcement process.  This last point is important, since rules are, effectively, meaningless without credible regulators.  Additionally, emerging markets tend to be growing at a faster pace overall than mature markets.  As is generally the case in life, however, there is a certain degree of nuance to both of these points.  For example, individual companies in emerging markets may deliberately go (well) over and above what is required of them by law, possibly in order to appeal to international investors, while individual companies in mature markets may look to find legal loopholes in regulations designed to protect investors, or they may simply have little interest in whether or not smaller-scale investors are happy with their performance.  On a similar note, while emerging markets as a whole may be experiencing rapid growth (or at least more rapid growth than mature markets), they too can experience periods of stagnation or even recession, while mature markets can be home to investments which offer great prospects for capital growth and/or long-term solid yield, for example, start-up companies or properties in areas with good prospects for growth. For Investments, We Act As Introducers Only

There are many ways of saving for retirement, but the option of saving through a pension scheme remains a firm favourite. There are many reasons for this but two stand out in particular. Firstly, pension saving is very heavily promoted by the government. Arguably the most notable example of this was the introduction of the auto-enrolment scheme, which basically forced employers to enrol employees into a workplace pension scheme unless they actively opted out. Secondly, pension saving can be a very tax-efficient way of saving for the future. Basically, you can make pension contributions out of your pre-tax income in the present and then access the returns in your later years, when you will have ceased to have income from employment (or at least the same level of income from employment). The basics of pensions and tax Basically, you can potentially save up to £40,000 per year into a pension fund without paying tax on it. There are, however, a couple of details worth noting. First of all, you will only receive tax relief on the contributions made out of your own total taxable income. In other words, if you are lucky enough to have someone else topping up your pensions contributions, you will not receive tax relief on their contributions. There is, however, a slight twist to this in that couples who are in a legally-recognized relationship can have the (higher) earner make pension contributions on behalf of their spouse (or civil partner). At the current time, they can make annual contributions of up to £2,880 on which base-rate tax relief will be applied, giving a total value of £3,600. Secondly, if your total adjustable income is over £150,000 your annual allowance will fall by £1 for every £2 excess income you have. Hence, if your total adjustable income is £230,000 per annum or more, you will lose your entire annual allowance. For the sake of clarity, your total adjustable income is your annual salary, dividends, rental income and savings interest, plus the value of any employer pension contributions. NB: If you are a member of a defined benefits pension scheme then the benefits you accrue each year will be assigned a monetary value which will form a part of your overall personal allowance and hence will reduce the amount you can save in other pension schemes. Options for pension saving If you are in employment and meet the criteria for auto-enrolment then you will be auto-enrolled into a workplace pension unless you actively choose to opt out of one. Opting out is a serious decision, as it means that you may lose the benefit of the employer’s contributions. It may, however, still be the right option if you are struggling to make ends meet and do not feel confident about making even the minimum level of employee contributions. If this is the case, you may wish to ask your employer if they will pay their contributions into a private pension, although this would be entirely optional. For those in other situations, a personal pension may be an appropriate option. Last but by no means least, you may wish to ensure that you maximize your entitlement to a state pension. This means paying National Insurance contributions, which will happen automatically if you are in employment and meet the relevant criteria but can also be done voluntarily. National Insurance credits can also be accrued if you are in receipt of certain benefits. This fact may be of particular relevance to those fulfilling caring roles, such as home-makers with children as it may make it worthwhile to apply for a benefit for which you qualify, even if you know that your overall household income is too high for you to receive any financial support at this point. For Pension We Act As Introducers Only