Fundraising Day Braefield County Show
Strachan and Windram attended the Braefield County Show and raised over £100 for the Air Ambulance on Sunday 3rd July.
Wills Seminar At Stanwick Lakes Northampton
Strachan and Windram are to hold another Wills and Trusts Seminar on Tuesday 6th September 2011 at Stanwick Lakes.
The use of Trust is widely considered to be one of the most innovative contributions to the English Legal System.
Our Seminar aims to give you an insight into how clients can protect their estate for both their own and their families futures.
Why not contact us to find out how we could help you.
E:mail: sandra@strachan-windram.co.uk
Or call: 01604 652978
Wills and Trust Seminar, Northampton
Yesterday Strachan and Windram Limited held a very successful seminar on Wills, Trust and Estate Planning. We plan to hold further events and would urge you to make contact with us to book your place on our next seminar which will be held in September 2011.
IFA to join Northampton Financial Services Company
We are pleased to announce that Brad West will be joining our company on 1 July 2011. Brad is a fully qualified IFA with many years of experience in the banking world, most recently with Barclays and Nationwide. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience and can assist clients with anything from basic life cover and mortgages to investments and pensions.
Trust and Estate Planning
We are having a seminar! Please call us if you would like to attend our Trust and Estate Planning Seminar. Our seminar aims to give you an insight into how clients can protect their estates for both their own and for their families futures. The use of Trusts is widely considered to be one of the most innovative contributions to the English Legal System.
Do I really need to make a Will?
Estate planning is one of the services that we specialise in at Strachan & Windram. This is a comment we recently received from a client:
“Is it because I am now of an age where I notice these things, or is it because I am being bombarded by adverts on TV, the internet, bill boards, that I think I need a Will. I have recently come into contact with several Will Writers, or Estate Planning Consultants as they prefer to be known. They tell me that I should really put my affairs in order but what does that actually mean to me.
I am married with two adult children, jointly own my own home, albeit with a small mortgage, and don’t really have any savings, surely when I die everything will go to my husband if he survives me and then onto my children.
But no I am told this is not necessarily the case. Say for example I die first and then my husband becomes infirm and needs care and we still own our own property it could be the case that the Local Authority would expect my house to be sold to pay for his care fees, this then leaves nothing for our children.
Another case I have been made aware of is that maybe my son marries and after our deaths he then subsequently divorces his wife, he will then have to give her half of his assets, some of which he will have inherited from us, assuming of course that we haven’t already fallen foul of the above scenario.
It all sounds quite frightening but by speaking to the right people all these concerns and issues can be addressed.“
Estate Planning
This highlights some of the benefits of the correct estate planning, but let me provide further information that was recommended to this lady.
First, some further information on her circumstances. She owns a property jointly with her husband worth approximately £300,000 with a mortgage of £100,000. Although they have savings and a number of investments, their total assets are below £650,000 (the combined Nil Rate Band for Inheritance Tax).
Of course, any Will is better than having nothing in place. The Laws of Intestacy that prescribe how your estate will be distributed if you do not have a Will are unlikely to be exactly how you intended or in the most tax-efficient manner.
The Solution
So this is what the Estate Planners at Strachan & Windram would recommend to the lady in question:
- Sever the tenancy on the main residence from ‘Joint Tenants’ to ‘Tenants in Common’;
- Prepare Wills for her and her husband directing the assets to relevant Trusts;
- Prepare suitable Trusts for existing life cover policies.
By severing the tenancy on the main residence to ‘Tenants in Common’, each spouse now owns 50% of the property. On first death, the 50% share of the property, along with any other assets such as savings and investments, pass to a Trust via the Will.
The beneficiaries of the Trust, which is likely to include the remaining spouse, have full access to the Trust assets, but they are protected from the following threats:
- Marriage After Death: should the surviving spouse remarry the inherited estate could be lost to the new spouse, disinheriting her children;
- Creditors or Bankruptcy: if surviving spouse were subject to creditor claims or bankruptcy then the inherited estate is entirely at risk;
- Care cost: following first death, if the surviving spouse needs nursing care then the entire inherited estate including the family home would be assessed to pay for the cost of care
Then again on second death, the estate is protected from:
- Divorce: if the chosen beneficiaries are subject to divorce proceedings then half of what was intended for them is at risk of divorce settlements;
- Creditors or Bankruptcy: if the chosen beneficiaries were subject to creditor claims or bankruptcy then the inherited estate is entirely at risk;
- Their own care costs: if the inheritance is passed to the beneficiaries absolutely these assets could be assessed against their own future care costs;
- Generational IHT: if the inheritance is passed to the beneficiaries absolutely, this could impact the beneficiaries’ own IHT.
If you would like to protect you estate after death for the benefit of your loved ones, call today for a free no-obligation consultation on 0844 8482277.
Northamptonshire Dentists – Tax planning does not have to be like pulling teeth!
Lets be honest, nobody likes going to the dentist. Fortunately, my last visit to the dentist was to discuss tax planning and not the state of my teeth.
He has seen many changes to the tax landscape over the 20 years he has run his practice, but is particularly unhappy how he is being targeted by the recent changes to the income tax regime. The combination of losing his personal tax-free allowance and the introduction of the new 50% income tax band has left him almost £6,000 worse off this year.
He told me that he had various advisers over the years so his financial affairs are all over the place, policies here and there with no overall planning or strategy. I told him that we work with our clients to provide a holistic service by developing their life plan.
We talked through some of the tax planning options open to him, many of which he knew about, such as Venture Capital Trusts (VCT), Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and pension contributions. Above and beyond these mainstream options, we work with a number of tax planning specialists to offer bespoke advice to our clients.
After another meeting, this time at our offices, we introduced the dentist to a solution perfect for someone in his profession. He was extremely happy, “I was looking for ways to offset the extra £6,000 tax I was paying this year, but in fact I have reduced my tax bill by significantly more”.
If you would like to know how to reduce your tax bill we might be able to help. Call me today for a free no-obligation consultation on 0844 848 2277.
How do you Provide funding for your business from your pension?
Northamptonshire really seems to be turning into a great place to launch a new business, its central, has good distritibution links; it seems to tick a lot of the right boxes.
I was recently talking to a new business owner, he had worked for the government for a number of years and was one of the unlucky people made redundant following the government cuts. He had setup his new business but wanted to expand it, but how?
He found that the friendly bank manager of old is no longer quite so friendly and accommodating?
I advised him not to take it personally; as banks cut back on lending, there is a void and we are finding lots of sound businesses struggling to obtain finance in the current conditions.
There are other ways to get the funding you need though. If you have a pension of any sort you can use your pension scheme to fill the void left by the banks and provide funding to your company.
The Traditional Way
We have discussed before using a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS) to provide a loan to the sponsoring employer.
This can be a good option in some circumstances, but the rules can be restrictive. For example:
- You can only make a loan of 50% of the fund;
- The loan must be secured as first charge on an asset of at least equal value;
- The maximum period for the loan is 5 years (although the loan can be rolled over once).
The Alternative Way
If the SSAS loan route does not provide the flexibility for your business, there are other solutions available to you and your business. The benefits of these are:
- Provide funding to your business by investing up to 100% of the pension scheme value;
- No security needed as the funding is an investment not a loan;
- No maximum period for the investment;
- Overall greater flexibility afforded, but still within pension regulations.
Why not consider giving your bank manager the boot and taking control of your pension and business funding?
Are you in this situation? If you are, we might be able to help you. For a free no-obligation consultation call me today on 0844 848 2277.
Arthur
Undoing Pension Simplification
6th April 2006 (or A-Day as it was termed) gave us Pension Simplification, whereby the numerous pension regimes that existed before this date were replaced by one ‘simplified’ regime. Of course this was too good to be totally true, but it was at least a step in the right direction.
Three years passed before the Government decided to muddy the waters.
In the April 2009 budget the Chancellor announced that from April 2011, tax relief on pension contributions would be tapered down for those with incomes over £150,000, reducing to the basic rate level of 20% for people on incomes over £180,000. Anti-forestalling measures were put into place immediately, designed to prevent people making large additional pension contributions prior to the April 2011 changes.
That was then, this is now.
The new coalition Government has proposed an alternative approach to take effect from April 2011. On the face of it is looks a simpler option, whereby the annual allowance (currently £255,000) is reduced for all, to a suggested range of between £30,000 and £45,000. Any contributions up to this level would receive full tax relief applicable to the individual, with any excess subject to the annual allowance charge.
As with all changes, there are winners and losers.
Members of final-salary pension schemes would appear to fit in the latter category. This could result in an employee receiving a pay rise, which would not have triggered a tax charge under current rules, having to pay extra tax through their tax returns.
Of course, 8 months is a long time in politics, especially for a relatively new coalition government, so watch this space.
Don’t leave it to chance, call for more information on 0844 848 2277.
Can my business really take a loan from my pension?
Is your business in need of a cash injection, but your bank will not provide a loan or are charging too much?
What if you could use your pension scheme to lend money to your business for that new project or just to ease cash flow?
Well you can and our clients and their businesses have benefited!
That is the power of a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS)
A SSAS is a corporate pension scheme that allows a loan to the sponsoring employer of up to 50% of the schemes assets.
Let me give you an example…
You have existing personal and occupational pensions with a combined value of £100,000.
By transferring the existing pensions to a SSAS, you are now able to loan up to £50,000 to your company, the sponsoring employer.
Not only does your business have the funds it requires, the pension scheme receives the interest payments rather than the bank!
A SSAS can have up to 11 members and it’s the combined assets that count when calculating the loan of up to 50% so in the right circumstances the loan can be substantial!
There are restrictions and this may not be suitable for everyone, but can your business afford not to find out more?
Call today for your free consultation on 0844 848 2277.
Fundraising Day Braefield County Show
Strachan and Windram attended the Braefield County Show and raised over £100 for the Air Ambulance on Sunday 3rd July.
Wills Seminar At Stanwick Lakes Northampton
Strachan and Windram are to hold another Wills and Trusts Seminar on Tuesday 6th September 2011 at Stanwick Lakes.
The use of Trust is widely considered to be one of the most innovative contributions to the English Legal System.
Our Seminar aims to give you an insight into how clients can protect their estate for both their own and their families futures.
Why not contact us to find out how we could help you.
E:mail: sandra@strachan-windram.co.uk
Or call: 01604 652978
Wills and Trust Seminar, Northampton
Yesterday Strachan and Windram Limited held a very successful seminar on Wills, Trust and Estate Planning. We plan to hold further events and would urge you to make contact with us to book your place on our next seminar which will be held in September 2011.
IFA to join Northampton Financial Services Company
We are pleased to announce that Brad West will be joining our company on 1 July 2011. Brad is a fully qualified IFA with many years of experience in the banking world, most recently with Barclays and Nationwide. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience and can assist clients with anything from basic life cover and mortgages to investments and pensions.
Trust and Estate Planning
We are having a seminar! Please call us if you would like to attend our Trust and Estate Planning Seminar. Our seminar aims to give you an insight into how clients can protect their estates for both their own and for their families futures. The use of Trusts is widely considered to be one of the most innovative contributions to the English Legal System.
Do I really need to make a Will?
Estate planning is one of the services that we specialise in at Strachan & Windram. This is a comment we recently received from a client:
“Is it because I am now of an age where I notice these things, or is it because I am being bombarded by adverts on TV, the internet, bill boards, that I think I need a Will. I have recently come into contact with several Will Writers, or Estate Planning Consultants as they prefer to be known. They tell me that I should really put my affairs in order but what does that actually mean to me.
I am married with two adult children, jointly own my own home, albeit with a small mortgage, and don’t really have any savings, surely when I die everything will go to my husband if he survives me and then onto my children.
But no I am told this is not necessarily the case. Say for example I die first and then my husband becomes infirm and needs care and we still own our own property it could be the case that the Local Authority would expect my house to be sold to pay for his care fees, this then leaves nothing for our children.
Another case I have been made aware of is that maybe my son marries and after our deaths he then subsequently divorces his wife, he will then have to give her half of his assets, some of which he will have inherited from us, assuming of course that we haven’t already fallen foul of the above scenario.
It all sounds quite frightening but by speaking to the right people all these concerns and issues can be addressed.“
Estate Planning
This highlights some of the benefits of the correct estate planning, but let me provide further information that was recommended to this lady.
First, some further information on her circumstances. She owns a property jointly with her husband worth approximately £300,000 with a mortgage of £100,000. Although they have savings and a number of investments, their total assets are below £650,000 (the combined Nil Rate Band for Inheritance Tax).
Of course, any Will is better than having nothing in place. The Laws of Intestacy that prescribe how your estate will be distributed if you do not have a Will are unlikely to be exactly how you intended or in the most tax-efficient manner.
The Solution
So this is what the Estate Planners at Strachan & Windram would recommend to the lady in question:
- Sever the tenancy on the main residence from ‘Joint Tenants’ to ‘Tenants in Common’;
- Prepare Wills for her and her husband directing the assets to relevant Trusts;
- Prepare suitable Trusts for existing life cover policies.
By severing the tenancy on the main residence to ‘Tenants in Common’, each spouse now owns 50% of the property. On first death, the 50% share of the property, along with any other assets such as savings and investments, pass to a Trust via the Will.
The beneficiaries of the Trust, which is likely to include the remaining spouse, have full access to the Trust assets, but they are protected from the following threats:
- Marriage After Death: should the surviving spouse remarry the inherited estate could be lost to the new spouse, disinheriting her children;
- Creditors or Bankruptcy: if surviving spouse were subject to creditor claims or bankruptcy then the inherited estate is entirely at risk;
- Care cost: following first death, if the surviving spouse needs nursing care then the entire inherited estate including the family home would be assessed to pay for the cost of care
Then again on second death, the estate is protected from:
- Divorce: if the chosen beneficiaries are subject to divorce proceedings then half of what was intended for them is at risk of divorce settlements;
- Creditors or Bankruptcy: if the chosen beneficiaries were subject to creditor claims or bankruptcy then the inherited estate is entirely at risk;
- Their own care costs: if the inheritance is passed to the beneficiaries absolutely these assets could be assessed against their own future care costs;
- Generational IHT: if the inheritance is passed to the beneficiaries absolutely, this could impact the beneficiaries’ own IHT.
If you would like to protect you estate after death for the benefit of your loved ones, call today for a free no-obligation consultation on 0844 8482277.
Northamptonshire Dentists – Tax planning does not have to be like pulling teeth!
Lets be honest, nobody likes going to the dentist. Fortunately, my last visit to the dentist was to discuss tax planning and not the state of my teeth.
He has seen many changes to the tax landscape over the 20 years he has run his practice, but is particularly unhappy how he is being targeted by the recent changes to the income tax regime. The combination of losing his personal tax-free allowance and the introduction of the new 50% income tax band has left him almost £6,000 worse off this year.
He told me that he had various advisers over the years so his financial affairs are all over the place, policies here and there with no overall planning or strategy. I told him that we work with our clients to provide a holistic service by developing their life plan.
We talked through some of the tax planning options open to him, many of which he knew about, such as Venture Capital Trusts (VCT), Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and pension contributions. Above and beyond these mainstream options, we work with a number of tax planning specialists to offer bespoke advice to our clients.
After another meeting, this time at our offices, we introduced the dentist to a solution perfect for someone in his profession. He was extremely happy, “I was looking for ways to offset the extra £6,000 tax I was paying this year, but in fact I have reduced my tax bill by significantly more”.
If you would like to know how to reduce your tax bill we might be able to help. Call me today for a free no-obligation consultation on 0844 848 2277.
How do you Provide funding for your business from your pension?
Northamptonshire really seems to be turning into a great place to launch a new business, its central, has good distritibution links; it seems to tick a lot of the right boxes.
I was recently talking to a new business owner, he had worked for the government for a number of years and was one of the unlucky people made redundant following the government cuts. He had setup his new business but wanted to expand it, but how?
He found that the friendly bank manager of old is no longer quite so friendly and accommodating?
I advised him not to take it personally; as banks cut back on lending, there is a void and we are finding lots of sound businesses struggling to obtain finance in the current conditions.
There are other ways to get the funding you need though. If you have a pension of any sort you can use your pension scheme to fill the void left by the banks and provide funding to your company.
The Traditional Way
We have discussed before using a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS) to provide a loan to the sponsoring employer.
This can be a good option in some circumstances, but the rules can be restrictive. For example:
- You can only make a loan of 50% of the fund;
- The loan must be secured as first charge on an asset of at least equal value;
- The maximum period for the loan is 5 years (although the loan can be rolled over once).
The Alternative Way
If the SSAS loan route does not provide the flexibility for your business, there are other solutions available to you and your business. The benefits of these are:
- Provide funding to your business by investing up to 100% of the pension scheme value;
- No security needed as the funding is an investment not a loan;
- No maximum period for the investment;
- Overall greater flexibility afforded, but still within pension regulations.
Why not consider giving your bank manager the boot and taking control of your pension and business funding?
Are you in this situation? If you are, we might be able to help you. For a free no-obligation consultation call me today on 0844 848 2277.
Arthur
Undoing Pension Simplification
6th April 2006 (or A-Day as it was termed) gave us Pension Simplification, whereby the numerous pension regimes that existed before this date were replaced by one ‘simplified’ regime. Of course this was too good to be totally true, but it was at least a step in the right direction.
Three years passed before the Government decided to muddy the waters.
In the April 2009 budget the Chancellor announced that from April 2011, tax relief on pension contributions would be tapered down for those with incomes over £150,000, reducing to the basic rate level of 20% for people on incomes over £180,000. Anti-forestalling measures were put into place immediately, designed to prevent people making large additional pension contributions prior to the April 2011 changes.
That was then, this is now.
The new coalition Government has proposed an alternative approach to take effect from April 2011. On the face of it is looks a simpler option, whereby the annual allowance (currently £255,000) is reduced for all, to a suggested range of between £30,000 and £45,000. Any contributions up to this level would receive full tax relief applicable to the individual, with any excess subject to the annual allowance charge.
As with all changes, there are winners and losers.
Members of final-salary pension schemes would appear to fit in the latter category. This could result in an employee receiving a pay rise, which would not have triggered a tax charge under current rules, having to pay extra tax through their tax returns.
Of course, 8 months is a long time in politics, especially for a relatively new coalition government, so watch this space.
Don’t leave it to chance, call for more information on 0844 848 2277.
Can my business really take a loan from my pension?
Is your business in need of a cash injection, but your bank will not provide a loan or are charging too much?
What if you could use your pension scheme to lend money to your business for that new project or just to ease cash flow?
Well you can and our clients and their businesses have benefited!
That is the power of a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS)
A SSAS is a corporate pension scheme that allows a loan to the sponsoring employer of up to 50% of the schemes assets.
Let me give you an example…
You have existing personal and occupational pensions with a combined value of £100,000.
By transferring the existing pensions to a SSAS, you are now able to loan up to £50,000 to your company, the sponsoring employer.
Not only does your business have the funds it requires, the pension scheme receives the interest payments rather than the bank!
A SSAS can have up to 11 members and it’s the combined assets that count when calculating the loan of up to 50% so in the right circumstances the loan can be substantial!
There are restrictions and this may not be suitable for everyone, but can your business afford not to find out more?
Call today for your free consultation on 0844 848 2277.
