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Two thirds of UK adults don’t have a will in place

Two thirds of UK adults don't have a will in place

giving your child an inheritance

Studies have shown that nearly two thirds of UK adults have not prepared a Will. Meaning possessions, money, property and even dependent children could be left with someone you have not chosen

Macmillan Cancer support, who conducted the study, has found that a shocking 42% of people over 55 don’t have a Will in place.

 

Furthermore, a poll suggested that 1.5 million British citizens may have unwittingly made their Will null and void by getting married as marriage automatically revokes a Will made prior to the nuptials.

One in ten people with Wills have acknowledged that they are planning to update their Wills to include children and grandchildren, but are yet to get round to it.

Several other possible errors were found to be common:

  • The Will still includes an ex-partner.
  • A new partner is not added to the Will.
  • Leaving in someone you “planned to remove”

Official guidance recommends that people review their Will every five years and after any major life changes, but a quarter of Wills have not been updated for at least five years.

Previous research from Macmillan found that people’s top reasons for not having a Will included them having “just never got round to it”, as well as the belief that they don’t have anything valuable to leave and that they don’t need to write one until they’re older.

This can be particularly important where:

  • you share a property with someone who is not your husband, wife or civil partner;
  • you wish to make provision for a dependant who is unable to care for themselves;
  • there are several family members who may make a claim on the Will, for example, a second wife or children from a first marriage;
  • your permanent home is not in the United Kingdom;
  • you are concerned about the possible impact of care fees;
  • Inheritance Tax could potentially be an issue for your estate;
  • you are a resident in the UK but there is overseas property involved; and
  • there is a business involved.
Make sure your Will is legally valid. Likewise check your parent's or partner's Wills are 100% up to date.
Ascot Estate Planning offers a FREE Will review to ensure your Will achieves everything you hope it does.

Request a No Obligation Chat with an Advisor

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Pension Advice Vouchers

Pension Advice Vouchers

Did you know you could claim salary sacrifice on up to £500 per annum spent on pension advice?

Launched in November 2017, the pension advice voucher scheme is a government initiative to encourage employees to seek good quality pension advice. The scheme is backed by HMRC and is similar to that of the child care voucher or cycle to work scheme. It would be deemed a non-taxable benefit in kind.

To make use of the tax saving you would need to sacrifice up to £500 of your pay in return for the pension advice voucher. The voucher can then be used on the purchase of pension advice; this can be used on your personal pension planning or related to your workplace scheme.

Your tax bracket will determine how much the pension advice voucher actually costs you, by saving on income tax and national insurance. 

A £500 pension advice voucher could cost the following:

Basic rate tax payer: £340

Higher rate tax payer: £290

Higher earners caught in the tax trap between
£100,000 - £123,000 = £190

Additional rate tax payers: £265

The only provider of the voucher so far is VouchedFor. There has been a slow take up in the scheme. We believe this could be due to a lack of communication, the off putting administrative burden and lastly the potential concern for employer’s that their employee may seek bad advice.

However you are free to choose your financial adviser, this is not selected by the employer. Therefore you can use Ascot Wealth Management and we are here to help.

Below we have broken down the actions required:

1)Employee agrees to sacrifice up to £500 of salary (which would have been taxed).

2)Pension advice vouchers confirm with the adviser that the employee has paid for pension advice, or is committed to.

3)Employer approves request and transfers funds via Pension Advice Vouchers (which is not taxable).

Result:

Employees pay less for pension advice via the tax saving.

Note: Ascot Wealth Management is happy to use this voucher towards future adviser fees. Please get in touch with us if in receipt of a pension advice voucher.