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Expert Blogs

Read our experts' opinions here. The writer's views are their own.

UK Pension provision: A disaster in the making?

27th May 09 By: Resident IFA

I caught the BBC News at 10 yesterday. It had a feature on the impending ‘Pensions Crisis’...good copy /airtime, don’t you think?! Regardless of media hype and titles, it is unfortunately very tru...

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Money issues: Diminished mental capacity

24th May 09 By: Resident IFA

It is 4.45 p.m. on a gorgeous 24-degree Bank Holiday Sunday…so I will keep it short and sweet! Earlier in the week, I was approached by an Officer representing a (not particularly) Local Authority ...

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Recession-lead financial awareness...and a Magician

20th May 09 By: Resident IFA

Recently, are you more conscious of the pennies and your financial arrangements generally? Have you thought about reviewing your Mortgage, Insurances and the like? In the last few weeks, I have ha...

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Personal Financial Planning is vital

16th May 09 By: Resident IFA

I had appointments with two potential Clients yesterday, being at different stages in their lives and financial planning priorities. Potential Client 1 – Building a sound financial base A couple...

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Personal Pension transfers and you

13th May 09 By: Resident IFA

Back to Personal Finance today! I am currently advising a Client who has a Personal Pension with one of the major players in the Personal Pension market. His Accountant suggested he talk with me to ...

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A Blog in 2 parts: My shareholdings and The Laptop maze

9th May 09 By: Resident IFA

I know this is meant to be a Personal Finance Blog, but I am having a day off from Insurances, Mortgages, Pensions, and Investments! Part 1: My shareholdings Many moons ago, on 29th October la...

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The part-time Traders dilemma

6th May 09 By: Resident IFA

I had a conversation with a business contact this morning, and he mentioned that he was using lse.co.uk and spending far too much time on the Share Chat pages...when he should be running his window ...

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The importance of the tax-efficient product hierarchy when investing money

2nd May 09 By: Resident IFA

The first consideration when investing money is the tax status of the person investing and the type of products available. Only after this has been established and analysed can you compare products a...

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(Allegedly) Rarer than a Dodo...a caring Hedge Fund Manager!

29th April 09 By: Resident IFA

The Sunday Times rich list had all the usual suspects from Abramovich through Branson down to Duffy. What spiked my attention, however, was the list of ‘Givers’, especially when this list was order...

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Higher-rate taxpayers face a double-whammy of taxation (Income & Pension)

26th April 09 By: Resident IFA

One of the more eye-catching…or should that be eye-watering…parts of Alistair Darling’s Budget on 22nd April 2009 was the spectre of the double taxation of income. This will only apply to higher-ra...

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The Budget 2009: Snapshot & what it means for you

22nd April 09 By: Resident IFA

o Alcohol & Cigarettes subject to a 2% tax increase o Fuel Duty to rise by 2p per litre from September o Car Scrappage Scheme to be introduced. £2,000 discount on a new car if you trade in one more...

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Surprising savings on your life insurance premium…please review your policies!

19th April 09 By: Resident IFA

On Tuesday evening past, I prepared for my weekly early Wednesday morning networking meeting with other businesses in my locality. But what would I say to them in my ’60-second’ slot? The rusty co...

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Mortgage rates: When is a good time to buy your next product?

15th April 09 By: Resident IFA

The $64,000 question. A lot of people currently find they are better off by resting on their mortgage lender’s variable rate of interest, also referred to as the Standard Variable Rate (SVR). Why ...

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Government car scrap scheme imminent and a win-win scenario allied to VAT at 15%?

13th April 09 By: Resident IFA

With well over 100 Blogs written, I sometimes struggle for inspiration. I have just read a couple of interesting stories on the BBC TeleText (is it still called that?) service, providing food for w...

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Consumer Credit Act loophole to write-off your debts?

8th April 09 By: Resident IFA

I met a chap on Monday from a company called Cartel Client Review . For any Economics students out there, you may appreciate why I find that an unfortunate name. By the by... Cartel came about a...

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Sage + GABRIEL = The excitement of an FSA return!

6th April 09 By: Resident IFA

For those regular readers, you will know that I am an IFA (Independent Financial Adviser) by trade. One of the more ‘interesting’ parts of my job is supervising my firm’s 6-monthly Financial Service...

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Naked Trader seminar (3): A marathon research session in a sauna!

1st April 09 By: Resident IFA

In my last Blog I mentioned the varied and diverse crowd who attended the Naked Trader seminar. It was fascinating to note the different occupations – IFAs, Accountants, Florist, Market Researcher,...

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Naked Trader seminar (2): A poorly chocolate-giver

29th March 09 By: Resident IFA

I made it to the Naked Trader seminar in good time, staying in the local Travelodge turning out to be a masterstroke. Entering the room, the ubiquitous (well at least in the NT book!) ‘Mrs. NT’ g...

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Naked Trader seminar

25th March 09 By: Resident IFA

lse.co.uk visits Robbie (aka The Naked Trader ) on Friday! Well, two of us are, so it’s not quite en masse! The Naked Trader is undoubtedly a cult legend in Share investing terms. How many small...

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Business success seminar: Gold-dust or Baloney?

22nd March 09 By: Resident IFA

I attended a seminar yesterday entitled ‘Building Success in Times of Uncertainty’, which came about through a colleague winning two free tickets to it. The speaker was Mark Rhodes - a nice guy and...

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