When you think about security for businesses what springs to mind?  Do you think about physical security, cyber security or financial security?  The truth is that all three are component parts of one whole, which means that missing out on any one of them could put your business into serious danger. Physical security Effective physical security protects both your data and your staff, both of which are vital for your ability to keep going as a business.  What’s more, it often dovetails with health and safety considerations (particularly the latter part) and hence keeping on top of it is also a good idea from the point of view of protecting against liability claims, which can cause all kinds of problems for a business.  Proper management of both physical security and health and safety is also likely to be a prerequisite for certain types of insurance cover to be valid.  It is also worth noting that, although it is not, strictly speaking, part of physical security, actively looking for ways to make your workplace a healthy and attractive one, can do a lot for staff morale and hence can help to improve both attendance and productivity. Data security Data security may be the hottest topic in business right now, thanks to a combination of the publicity around GDPR and the fact that the newspapers seem to be carrying a never-ending stream of headlines relating to data-security breaches some of which relate to major organisations, which really had no excuse whatsoever for sloppy data security.  Admittedly not all of these breaches have been major enough to make front-page news, but even the more minor ones can hardly have been good news for the companies’ relationship with their customers.  By this point in time, GDPR should be in a business-as-usual phase and all companies, large and small, should be fully compliant with it.  If you’re not, then resist the temptation to keep your head down and hope that you’re too small to be worth targeting.  You need to deal with it. Financial security At the end of the day, financial security depends on making sure your income covers your outgoings plus a reasonable profit.  This makes perfect sense in theory and the success of various businesses means that it can work perfectly well in practice, but small businesses often face two big problems.  The first is that the term “cash flow” does not often represent the reality of life for many SMEs since it implies that income arrives smoothly and steadily from one period to the next, whereas it can be highly seasonal (e.g. dependent on Christmas sales).  The second is that with the best will in the world, it may be a long time, if ever, before the company has sufficient cash reserves to finance major investments, let alone deal with unexpected setbacks. There are various ways to manage the issue of erratic cash flow and, in particular, to finance the development of a growing company.  Dealing with unexpected events is the realm of insurance.  This topic may not be cheerful and is highly unlikely to be considered glamourous, but having the right insurance cover in place could, literally, save your business.  When thinking about insurance, your first point to check is what the law requires you to have, since this is absolutely non-negotiable.  The next step is to think about protecting your most important assets and these days, while that may include some physical assets, it is at least as likely to include data and people.  This is why more niche policies, such as key person insurance, shareholder protection insurance and business loan protection insurance could all be a vital support to your business is you were hit by the death of a crucial employee.  It is also a good idea to look at critical illness cover, at least for the most important people on the payroll.

As the old joke goes - parents keep photos in their wallets because it fills up the space where their cash used to be.  All joking aside, one of the many shocks of new parenthood is discovering that children typically need more money than sleep.  Sadly nobody has invented a method to save up sleep for later use, but you can save up money for your child’s future and here are some tips on how to do so. Start as early as possible Hopefully you will already have some general savings tucked away.  As soon as you even start thinking about trying for a baby, you will want to do everything you can to maximise these, even if you have no plans to start a family for some years.  Time flies and children are expensive.  Besides which, if you change your mind, or come into an unexpected windfall, you can always put your excess funds to an alternative use. Leave most of your baby buying until after the birth This may seem like an odd piece of advice, given that we emphasised the usefulness of starting your savings early.  The point here is that new parents, especially first-time parents, can find themselves buying all sorts of “essential” items only to discover later that actually they didn’t need them at all.  Your basic essentials are: a place for your baby to sleep (and appropriate bedding); a pram; (usually) a car carrier; feeding equipment; a stash of clothes and nappies; basic toiletries and a few first-aid items.  That’s really it, although you could add a baby monitor to the list.  They’re not technically essential but they’re so useful many people want one and it can be reassuring to know that it’s ready for the baby to come home.  These are worth shopping for in advance, especially if you’re on a budget since it gives you the most chance of picking up a bargain either in a shop (real-world or online) or on the preloved market.  For everything else, wait until there is a clear sign that you need it before you part with your cash for it. Look for child-friendly savings accounts Junior ISAs are a tax-efficient way to save for your child’s future, however, there are a couple of points you need to understand about them.  The first point is that once money has been paid into them, it remains locked away until your child reaches the age of 18.  The second is that once your child reaches the age of 18, the money is theirs to spend as they please and legally there is absolutely nothing you can do about it if they choose to spend it on a round-the-world holiday rather than going to university.  An alternative would be to use standard savings accounts and accept the tax liability as the price of a greater degree of control.  You could put one account in your child’s name to give them ownership of some of their savings and keep another account in your own name, which you aim to grow on their behalf. Give your child financial lessons from an early age Managing your finances is essentially the art and science of balancing living in the present with preparing for the future.  By teaching your child about money early and steadily increasing the amount of responsibility they have for their own financial standing, you are not only giving them an excellent preparation for adult life, but you are also protecting yourself against having to deal with unreasonable financial demands, which could potentially impact on your own financial (and mental) health both now and in the future. For investments advice we act as introducers only.

The UK media recently had something of a reporting frenzy when companies with more than 250 employees were forced to reveal their pay data split by gender.  Many well-known names revealed that men were paid more than women, in some cases to a significant degree. Understanding the facts behind the numbers As is often the case with statistical data, it’s important to put the headline figures into context.  The pay data did not compare men and women in the same occupation (or even similar occupations).  The figures were aggregated across each organisation, hence what the really revealed was the extent to which men occupy the higher-earning roles in companies.  While it’s probably fair to say that there may still be some degree of old-fashioned gender bias behind this, in some companies at least, there is also the fact that, up until recently, the UK only had maternity leave not paternity leave, which meant that in many cases financial common sense determined that it was the female half of a parental couple who took time off work when a baby came on the scene.  Only time will tell whether shared parental leave (and other social developments) will erase this earnings gap in future, but for the present, a more pressing question is what to do to ensure that women can also enjoy a comfortable retirement. Start saving early It’s fine to make the most of your pre-child years and to enjoy the lack of either parental supervision or parental responsibility, but from a financial perspective, it’s best to balance this freedom with the knowledge that you (hopefully) will have a long life ahead of you and that a bit of forward thinking now can bring all kinds of benefits in later years.  Even though your young adult years are the years in which you are at your lowest point on your career ladder, with the result that you may only be able to make what seem like very small savings, remember that those savings will have decades to grow. Prioritise making pensions contributions when you have a family Obviously you have to be in work to be part of a workplace pension scheme, but there’s nothing to stop you opening a private pension when you are out of work.  What’s more, if you’re married or in a civil partnership, your partner may be able to make contributions towards it on which they can claim tax relief.  It may be worth having your partner make these contributions, even if it reduced the value of their own pension, since pensions are treated as taxable income, hence it can be more tax efficient to have two people in a lower tax band rather than one paying no tax and another in a high tax band.  This is an issue on which it is recommended to take professional advice.  Regardless of whether or not you are married, you may wish to register for benefits which confer national insurance contributions, such as (currently) Child Allowance, even if you do not qualify for financial support, so that you continue to build up entitlement to the state pension, which may not be what you want to live on in your retirement but is certainly better than nothing. Think carefully about how to use your pension savings when you reach retirement age The pensions freedoms introduced in 2015 have brought pensions savers vastly more choice and while choice can be good it can also be confusing, especially when you’re dealing with a topic as complex as retirement income.  Because of this, it’s strongly recommended to get professional advice so you can be sure you’re taking the decision which will give you the most comfortable retirement possible on your level of savings. For pension, investments advice and tax planning we act as introducers only.

With traditional mortgages, you take out a loan from the bank and you make monthly payments which either pay of the interest and a portion of the capital (repayment mortgages) or simply cover the interest with the capital being repaid at the end of the loan period (interest-only mortgages).  Then there are offset mortgages, which work rather differently. The mechanics of offset mortgages With an offset mortgage, you put as much money as you can into your mortgage account each month thus reducing the balance of the loan as far as possible and thereby minimising the amount of interest you pay on it.  Should you need to, you can choose to withdraw some of this money at a later date, accepting that this will increase the outstanding balance on the mortgage and hence the amount of interest payable on it.  The basic idea behind offset mortgages is that financial institutions typically pay less in interest to savers than they charge in interest to borrowers, which means that, other than having cash available for emergencies, there is very little value in having savings if you also have debt, because the interest you earn on the former will be less than the interest you pay on the latter.  That being so, it makes more sense just to put all your spare funds towards paying off your debt. The case for offset mortgages Unless you can find a savings or investment product which can earn you better returns than you would get from simply reducing the interest payments on your mortgage, then from a purely mathematical perspective, offset mortgages can make a lot of sense, even in a low-interest-rate environment.  As interest-rates go up, the case for offset mortgages becomes even more compelling.  This is because interest income is subject to tax, whereas interest payments on mortgages are unlikely to be tax deductible.  The higher your income (and corresponding tax liability), the more attractive offset mortgages can be. There are two groups of people for whom offset mortgages might be an especially suitable choice.  The first group is the self employed, who may be high earners but do not necessarily earn the same from one month to the next.  Offset mortgages would allow them to make significant overpayments during high-earning months knowing that they would have the option to withdraw some of that money if they needed it later.  The other group is buy-to-let landlords who can no longer claim mortgage interest tax relief and hence have a particular interest in minimising their mortgage interest expense. The case against offset mortgages There are three, main, potential drawbacks to offset mortgages.  The first is that they require discipline.  If you can’t trust yourself not to dip into your mortgage without a very good reason, then you might be better to go for the enforced discipline of a standard repayment mortgage. The second is that offset mortgages are still very much niche products, which means that choice is relatively limited at this time.  It remains to be seen whether or not this will change in the future. The third is that some government schemes may require that you take out a repayment mortgage in order to qualify for them.  Again, it remains to be seen whether or not this will apply into the future. In short Offset mortgages are an interesting development in the mortgage market and may be excellent choices for some people, particularly higher earners.  Lower earners, however, might feel more comfortable with the familiar security of repayment mortgages and keeping their cash and investments within an ISA wrapper for tax efficiency.  As always, if you’re not sure what approach is right for you, it’s recommended to speak to a professional. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. For investments advice we act as introducers only.

It may never have occurred to you that selling a home is rather like putting on a play, but actually it’s quite a good analogy.  You will have an audience (viewers) and they will judge your home on what they see of it during the time they are inside.  So, as a seller who wants to get maximum value from your home, it’s your job to ensure that they enjoy the show.  Here are five tips. Treat the outside of your home as seriously as you treat the inside First impressions start at first sight and regardless of whether you live in a house or a flat, one way or another, your viewer’s first impression is going to be from the outside so make sure it looks good.  For the same reason, do everything you can to make your entryway area look good even if it’s usually a dumping ground for outerwear, bags and anything else. Cleanliness and maintenance inspire confidence Would you buy a meal from a take-away where you could see dust on the tables and chips in the paintwork?  You might if you were desperate but otherwise you might well take the view that if the restaurant didn’t take much care of what you could see, it might not take too much care of what you couldn’t.  The same principle applies to selling a home.  If everything your viewers see is clean and well-maintained then you make it easier for them to believe that the property is in good order overall. Remove decoration and replace with staging Decoration is what you do to personalise your home, staging is what you do to depersonalise your home so that somebody else can picture it as being theirs.  As a minimum, banish anything which could be considered remotely controversial, such as items connected with religion, politics or sport.  Ideally take away anything which could be considered offensive, such as art portraying human nudes.  If this makes your home look bare you can either replace them with cheap and inoffensive alternatives or just explain that you’ve already started packing away.  The former is better but the latter is usually still an improvement on leaving the original items out on view. Invest in extra closed storage for quick cleanups What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve for so do not let visitors see your clutter.  If you’re still living in your home, then you’re going to be walking a fine line between actually having a home and having an asset to be sold.  This goes at least double if you have children.  Make life easier for everyone by investing in some attractive closed-storage pieces which are designated to be kept empty most of the time, but which can be used, literally, as catch-alls when you have viewings.  Even if you have plenty of advance notice of these, it can be reassuring to know that you have an escape route if you can’t manage (or can’t face) a full-on, pre-visit tidying session. Never underestimate the importance of clean air This tip is times one hundred if you smoke.  You may not notice the smell you create but if you have non-smoking visitors they certainly will, so smoke outside until your house is sold (and make sure not to leave any butts).  If you have pets, keep litter trays scrupulously clean and remove dog mess as soon as its left.  Do your best to keep your house well aired, even if the weather is cold.  Do not, however, go overboard with scents, even natural ones, it’s best not to use them at all as you won’t know how your visitors will feel about them, even popular ones.  Similarly avoid real flowers in case your viewers have allergies.

People who are not used to being on boats may find that the constant up-and-down motion makes them feel seasick.  Those who are used to boats, however, just accept this movement as a fact of life.  In much the same way, people who don’t really understand the stock market may fear its volatility, whereas more experienced investors just see it for what it is, daily movements which may, or may not, follow the long-term trend they predict for a company.  Here are three points you need to understand about stock-market volatility The smallest companies can be the most volatile Think about going into the ocean in a little canoe.  You probably wouldn’t last very long because the giant waves would toss you about all over the place.  Make the same journey in a modern ocean-going liner and you’d probably barely feel those exact-same waves.  The same sort of idea applies to the stock market.  Smaller companies can go forwards or backwards in leaps and bounds depending on how the market feels about their situation.  Changes which might barely register at a FTSE100 company can have a huge influence on how a start-up is perceived.  Astute investors learn to focus on the facts rather than the hype and look for solid value and future prospects. Some companies operate in highly-cyclical industry sectors Possibly the classic example of this is the property market, which is often perceived as having four distinct phases, which are given different names depending on what sources you read.  Essentially however, the cycle begins with phase one in which property prices are at rock bottom and adventurous investors on a buying spree.  Phase two sees prices begin to rise and investors become more confident.  Phase three sees a buying frenzy during which experienced investors stay on the sidelines and inexperienced ones drive prices to peak levels.  Phase four is the cool down, in which buyers of all degrees of experience recognise that enough is enough with the result that sellers have to reduce prices in order to make sales.  This may also be the time when lenders become more cautious about approving mortgages for high percentages of a property price and regulators may step in to try to keep the market in line.  After a bit of breathing space, the market goes back to phase one and everything starts all over again.  The value of shares in property-related companies can be influenced by the performance of the property-market as a whole and hence rise and fall without any change to the companies’ fundamental value. Volatility can bring useful buying and selling opportunities If you can learn to see volatility for what it is, then you can look for ways to make use of it, in other words you zig when the market is zagging and zag when the market is zigging.  If you think a company is being unfairly punished with a low share price, then you can back your opinion with your funds and grab yourself a bargain.  Similarly, if you think the market is overvaluing a company you own, it may be a good time to evaluate your portfolio as a whole and decide whether that investment is still good for you, personally, over the longer term or whether this surge could be the perfect opportunity for you to rebalance your portfolio.  Alternatively, if you really don’t want to have to deal with volatility any more than is absolutely necessary, you could either aim to minimise your exposure to it by putting your funds in larger companies which tend to have lower volatility and/or look to create “pairs” of companies in which the good trading conditions for one are the bad trading conditions for the other and hence create balance in your portfolio. For investments we act as introducers only

Appreciating the importance of saving for our later years is absolutely nothing new.  A quick look at the literature of centuries gone by easily shows how long people have valued what we would now call retirement savings.  What has changed, drastically, is how long we are likely to have to live off those retirement savings.  So, arguably, it could fairly be said that even though we now have the state pension, it has never been more important to have independent, private savings for retirement. Understanding the state pension You do not “pay for your state pension”, you pay national insurance contributions which are used for various purposes, one of which being to fund the state pension.  The amount of state pension you receive and, crucially, the minimum age at which you can receive it are both set by the government.  It doesn’t matter if you are a higher earner, paying significant contributions, or a non-earner having NI contributions credited as part of your benefits, under the current system, assuming you have been credited with NI contributions for the same period, you will receive the same amount at the same time.  The only control you can exert over your pension is to opt to defer receiving it in order to increase your level of payment. Abolishing the state pension completely would be a politically-charged move, but cannot entirely be ruled out.  Another possibility would be to see the state pension in its current form phased out and incorporated into Universal Credit or Universal Basic Income.  Again, these would be potentially controversial steps but cannot be ruled out. Saving for retirement privately Over recent years, politicians of all shapes and sizes have been quite open about their desire to make pension saving attractive again after scandals (Robert Maxwell, Equitable Life...) shook public confidence in them and frustration at the restrictiveness of annuities was compounded by the low returns they offered.  The introduction of auto-enrolment pension schemes was, from a certain perspective, an astute move, since it forced people to take action if they wanted to opt-out of pension savings rather than forcing them to remember to opt in and it encouraged them to stay put with the offer of “free money” from their employer.  Of course, the money is not really free, since employers will take it into consideration when deciding what salary offer to make, but it is subject to favourable tax treatment, which would not have been the case had it been given as standard income. The sticking point with the auto enrolment scheme, however, is that the minimum level of contributions is set by the government.  Up until April 2018, the employee contribution was only 1%, as of April it became 3% and in April next year it will increase again to 5%.  While these increases may sound small, they can make a significant impact on your take-home pay and there is no guarantee that the increases will stop at that level.  Governments have to balance the current needs of employees (and employers) with balancing their books in future years, which means that they are very likely to do all they can to encourage the maximum level of retirement saving the economy in general will support. Opting out of the auto-enrolment scheme is a serious decision, even if you are at the start of your working life, however it may be the right one if you are struggling to make ends meet in the present and ideally it would only be a short-term move.  If you believe that you are going to need an extended period of breathing space to set your finances in order, then it might be worth asking your employer if they will voluntarily pay their part of the contributions into a private pension for you. For pension and investments advice we act as introducers only.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  It may be one of the oldest cliches around but, as is so often the case, there’s a lot of truth in it.  In the context of finance, it means that although your priorities will almost certainly change as you go through life, your basic approach to managing your finances should stay much the same.  Here are four points to help. Start by thinking who really matters to you in your life Self-care isn’t selfish, it’s a necessity because you need to take care of yourself in order to stand a chance of being able to take care of other people.  Therefore any financial plan should start with making sure you are protected against whatever life can throw at you.  In your pre-child stage you may not need life insurance (unless you have a mortgage), but you may want to think seriously about health insurance, or at least dental insurance.  If you have children, you may want to think about insuring their health too.  You may also want to look at income protection cover even if you’re employed (as your state benefits/employment benefits may not turn out to be as generous as you might have hoped) and again if you have children (or aging parents) and your partner is a home-maker/carer for them, then you may want to insure them against ill-health and death.  Remember your pets too, they don’t get to use the NHS so their medical bills can get very expensive! Think carefully about your journey through life and the key milestones on the way When you’re in your twenties, finishing your studies, establishing your career and buying your first home may all seem far more pressing priorities than saving for retirement and, in a sense they are in that they are shorter-term goals, but the retirement savings you make in your twenties have literally decades to grow and so should not be overlooked if you can possibly find the money.  As you move into your thirties and forties, your priorities may shift into financing your children, those (expensive) early years and then their move into the adult world.  By your fifties and sixties you will probably be thinking about your post-paid-employment years and then once formal retirement actually becomes a reality you’ll then need to adjust to your new situation and think about estate planning. Learn to love budgeting Budgeting may sound boring, but it’s the foundation of living your life on the financial straight and narrow and hence should be considered very interesting.  At its core, budgeting is the art of setting priorities, which is why it comes after our first two points.  Only you can decide what matters most to you in life and to what extent you’re prepared to save in the present to have a better future or, by contrast, live for the present and accept the fact that this may entail making some compromise later down the line.  There is no right or wrong here, the important point is that you take the decisions which are right for you, with a full understanding of their implications. Always remember that you’re never too young or too old for sound advice Even if finance is your day job, you can still benefit from a fresh pair of eyes looking at your situation as they can spot what you might miss.  If you’re not a financial expert, then you risk taking important decisions without understanding their full implications.  Ideally, we’d suggest checking in with a financial professional once a year or so to make sure your financial life is (still) on the right track, but as a minimum, at least think about taking professional advice before you make significant financial decisions. For pension, investments, dental insurance, estate planning and pet insurance we act as introducers only.

On a personal level, you may be wondering where the year has gone and why Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier (with both Selfridges and Tesco beginning their Christmas promotions in August).  To refresh your memory, here is a quick guide to the key events of 2018 so far. The UK Brexit continues to dominate news headlines and will probably do so for some time to come.  We’re reluctant to comment on the current state of Brexit since negotiations seem to be in a continual state of flux, not to say acrimony.  At the present moment, the Irish border question remains unresolved and there are calls both for a second referendum on Brexit and a referendum on any deal agreed between MPs and the EU, so effectively we think all anyone can say is “watch this space”.  Similar comments apply to the UK property market where tax and legal changes have made life much more challenging for buy-to-let landlords.  It remains to be seen whether or not these changes will help tenants and those looking to buy for the first time - or whether they’ll simply result in a shortage of rental properties and fewer landlords. Europe While the official position is that Europe has a solid front in the Brexit negotiations, many of its key players are facing domestic challenges.  The German elections left it in political limbo for months and even now it’s an open question how long the grand coalition can survive, let alone how effective it will be.  France has seen extended strikes by rail and air workers.  There are signs that the government may have managed to get the upper hand with the national rail company, but that does not mean it will have a clear path for further reform, in fact, this may just be the start of its battles.  Italy’s elections also brought a coalition and have raised further questions about its relationship with the EU and some of the countries on Europe’s eastern border are in open rebellion with Brussels. The Americas In the U.S. President Trump continues to make headlines and divide opinions.  While his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have been more about publicity than action, his run-ins with China and the U.S. tech giants have to potential to influence the U.S. economy in a big way.  It remains to be seen whether the overall result in the U.S. will be positive or negative (or non-existent) but whatever happens, it could be a win for Canada and Latin America, both of which would probably be quite happy to step in and fill in any gaps left in the Chinese market by a lack of U.S. imports as well as any gaps left in the U.S. market by Chinese exports.  These (and other countries) would also probably be quite happy to offer a new home to the tech giants should they choose to move.  Attracting tech companies would require giving them access to skilled labour as well as practical resources, but a combination of work permits for staff willing to relocate from the U.S. or indeed other parts of the world, plus a decent pool of local workers could do the trick. Australasia China’s diplomatic spat with the U.S. could be good news for India, particularly its IT sector.  The U.S. has long had concerns about cyber attacks and the Pentagon recently drew up a “do not buy” which aimed to put a stop to software vendors using code which was created by developers based in China or Russia.  India, however, remains acceptable.

The Pensions Act 2008 laid the grounds for what we now know as auto enrolment and by this point in time it is essentially a fact of life for employers and employees.  As of the start of this tax year, however, the contributions framework has changed slightly and will change again as of April 2019.  This year the level of contributions raises from 2% or 3% of pensionable pay (depending on how pensionable pay is calculated) to 5% or 6% of which the employee will pay 2% or 3% and the employer 3%.  In 2019, contributions rise again to 7%, 8% or 9% of pensionable pay (again depending on how pensionable pay is calculated), with the employee paying 3% (of 7% or 8%) or 4% (of 9%) and the employer paying 4% (of 7%) or 5% (of 8% and 9%).  Here are some thoughts on what this could mean for employers and employees. For employers These increases have been on the cards for some time now, so hopefully you have already prepared for them financially, if not then you need to start incorporating them into your financial projections as quickly as possible.  When calculating your potential liability, remember to include “entitled employees” who do not have to be auto-enrolled but who may choose to join the pension scheme.  In some cases, you may be required to contribute to their pension savings. When considering your future financial plans, you may wish to take into consideration the possibility that the auto-enrolment scheme will be extended.  Obviously at this point, this is just a conjecture, however, there is no secret about the fact that politicians of all persuasions are keen to encourage pension savings and extended the auto-enrolment scheme could be seen as furthering that goal. You will also need to be prepared to deal with opt outs and people who have previously been enrolled but now wish to stop contributing.  Admittedly this has always been the case, however it is currently very much an open question as to what impact the increased level of contributions will have on people’s willingness to enter the scheme or to continue with it.  On the one hand, inertia can be a powerful force.  On the other hand, when money is tight people may well take the view that they need to prioritise making ends meet in the here and now before worrying about their retirement.  When people do opt out or stop making contributions, under current rules, they need to be re-enrolled after 3 years, unless they again actively choose to opt out. For employees Employees do not need to do anything, the increased contributions will simply be taken from your salary automatically, hence you only need to take action if you wish to opt out (if you are moving to a new job and have not yet been auto-enrolled into their scheme) or if you wish to cease making contributions.  You should be aware that, in the latter case, you will not only lose the benefit of the contributions you would have made yourself, but that you may also lose the benefit of your employer contributions.  Basically your employer is only obliged to make contributions if you do.  They may choose, voluntarily, to continue to make contributions into the scheme on your behalf, but they do not have to.  This means that, if you are finding money tight at the moment, then it would generally be highly advisable to look carefully at all options for improving your situation before you take a final decision on whether or not to opt out/cease contributions.  You do, however, have the option to do so if you conclude that this is in your best interests for the time being. For pension and investments advice we act as introducers only.

Some quiz shows allow contestants to “stop the clock” but in real life, time marches onwards relentlessly and therefore preparing for our later years should be high on the average person’s agenda.  Even if, at the present time, you do not envisage yourself having a traditional retirement, you might find it useful to consider the possibility that you might change your mind for whatever reason or that events might force you to give up work later in life even if you would have preferred to continue.  That being so, it could be wise to consider how you will finance your post-work years while you are still working. The state pension The simple truth about the state pension is that it depends entirely on political decisions.  Politicians can determine how much money you receive and at what age you can receive it.  They can change the level of national insurance contributions required to qualify for any given level of state pension, they could even choose to abolish altogether or to make it a means-tested benefit rather than one based on national insurance contributions.  Now, just because politicians can, in theory, do any or all of the above, does not mean that they will, however nor does it mean that they won’t.  Therefore, it could be considered a very wise precaution to take alternative steps to prepare for your retirement. Private pensions Many people in work will now have access to workplace pension schemes due to the auto-enrolment scheme launched in 2012.  The “carrot” to remain in these schemes (rather than opting out) is the fact that employers are obliged to make contributions into the employee’s pension pot.  Those not in paid employment can still contribute to private pensions and while they are obviously not going to benefit from employer contributions, they could still, potentially, benefit from tax relief in one way or another.  For example, the self-employed are not in paid employment but do still earn taxable income while home makers may not have an income of their own but could use a partner’s income to fund their own private pension and benefit from the tax relief on that.  For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that, in principle, there is nothing to stop people in paid employment opting out of their workplace pension scheme and funding their own private pension instead.  While this could mean that they would miss out on employer contributions (although their employer might offer to pay them voluntarily), it would put your in control of the level of contributions you made and if you felt unable to make the necessary level of contributions required by the current auto-enrollment scheme but want to save something on the grounds that it was better than nothing, then this could be an option. Other forms of retirement saving While pensions are synonymous with retirement saving, there are other ways of saving for retirement.  For example the (relatively) new Lifetime ISA (or LISA) was introduced for just that purpose (along with saving for a deposit).  While these may offer more flexibility than the pension saving in general and workplace pensions in particular, this flexibility can be a double-edged sword.  First of all, pensions savings benefit from tax relief and while the LISA does have a certain element of tax relief it works differently and may not be as beneficial, depending on your situation.  Secondly, pensions savings are ring-fenced, which, on the one hand means you can’t touch them, but it also means nobody else can touch them either or, to put it another way, they are ignored if you find yourself in a situation where you need or want to apply for means-tested benefits.  Savings held outside of a pension scheme, however, including in a LISA, might well need to be run down before you could claim such benefits. For pension and investments advice we act as introducers only.

While the UK does have systems in place for protecting those in need, those systems are not necessarily as effective as some people might wish.  Those in paid employment may have an enhanced level of protection via employee benefits, but might still benefit from taking out enhanced cover.  The self-employed either have to rely on the state or make their own arrangements.  With this in mind, here are five points you may wish to consider. Private medical and/or dental insurance can enhance the care you receive When you have private medical and/or dental insurance, you may well find yourself being treated at an NHS hospital by staff who work for the NHS, however you may also find that you have a vastly greater degree of control over when and where you are treated which may be extremely useful if you simply wish to be treated as quickly as possible so you can get back to work and keep earning an income. Income protection insurance can help you to pay your bills even when you cannot work The key difference between income protection insurance and payment protection insurance is that income protection insurance is essentially a replacement income and as such is yours to spend as you wish, whereas payment protection insurance is typically to ensure the repayment of specific debts, such as mortgages or other loans and can only be used for that purpose. Critical illness cover can be valuable even for those with no income Critical illness cover, as its name suggests, pays out if you are diagnosed with one (or more) or a range of critical illnesses.  Like income protection insurance, the money can be spent as you wish.  Unlike income protection insurance, however, critical illness cover can be a worthwhile purchase even for people who don’t have an income of their own, such as home makers.  The reason for this is that many people undertake activities which do have a financial value, even if they do not receive payment for them, or, to put it another way, if a home maker became too ill to act as a home maker then someone else would have to do what they do and unless you are extremely confident that your personal support network, such as family and friends, could provide all the help you need for as long as you need it, then you will need to employ someone else to undertake the tasks normally performed by the home maker and that person will, presumably, need to be paid. Life insurance can pay out before death as well as after If you are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with a terminal illness, then you may be able to make a claim on your life insurance policy while you are still alive.  In any case, if you have dependents then having appropriate life cover in place may help to give them choices after your death, such as the choice as to whether or not to stay in the family home rather than to be forced to sell it to cover an inheritance tax bill. A cash cushion can help to cover shorter-term needs Hopefully, you will get through life without ever having to call on any of the insurance policies mentioned above, in fact, hopefully you will get through life without experiencing any serious upsets.  It is, however, probably too much to hope that you will get through life without any short-term emergencies of some sort, which is when having some cash savings can come in very useful.  These cash deposits may not generate great returns, so it’s important to strike the right balance between having funds readily available and growing your money through investment.  Professional advice may help with this.