You may not find an immediate impact on your finances after the election, yet it may be an appropriate time to consider your overall situation – and to assess whether you could be doing more to make the most of your money, and on the right path to achieve your goals.
Has anything changed?
It might be hard to discern straight away if there are changes which might affect you, but some changes are inevitable sooner or later, and it is better to be prepared for them rather than be blindsided and have to respond quickly.
As an indicator of what might happen, the only guidance we have so far is what is in the Labour manifesto, which you can view here. On page 19, for example, they pledge to abolish non-dom status, to end the use of offshore trusts to avoid inheritance tax and examine loopholes in private equity.
Some of the areas where clients have already expressed concerns, or sought advice on include:
The proposals so far may or may not affect you, and of course, like any new government, their positions could change once they have closely assessed and have a better idea of how they intend to pay for various spending commitments. If you think you may need financial advice as a result, or wish to pre-empt any potential changes, please get in touch.
When should you seek financial advice?
We generally suggest you should seek financial advice when your circumstances change, or if you want to assess whether you are on the right path for your future. It’s worth asking some important questions to help you decide.
- How do you effectively leave money for the next generation?
Many of us want to pass on wealth to our family, but managing the balance between tax efficiency and control while maximising the benefits for the next generation requires careful thought and planning. How much should you gift and when? What is the impact on your pension? The right mix of outright gifts and more complex structures will depend on your objectives and in many cases the level of assets you would like to pass on.
- Have your circumstances meaningfully changed?
Certain events in life such as a divorce or a death in the family may require a reassessment of your overall finances. When your circumstances have changed in a big way it is worth finding out if you need to put more aside for the future, how to better manage cash flows or if a planned retirement date needs to change.
- Are you taking an appropriate level of risk to achieve your goals?
Taking more risk when investing usually leads to higher returns, but typically over longer timeframes. You should find out whether the risk you are taking now is enough to meet your future goals, or whether you can afford to take less risk if, say, you are approaching retirement.
- Have you enough to retire comfortably?
Optimising your pension planning ensures you don’t just retire, but have enough to retire comfortably. The nature of pensions and effective retirement planning is complex and you should consider numerous factors such as your risk levels, the fees you pay and the impact of inflation on how long your pot could last. Our free Retirement Ready Scorecard lets you find out in two minutes – with a personalised report – whether you are on track.
- Do you pay too much in fees?
Paying excessive fees when investing or for your pension can have a surprisingly outsized negative outcome. It seems reasonable not to lose too much sleep over an extra 1% in fees a year, but this excess can add up considerably over time as we show here.
The above questions are just a sample of when financial advice might be appropriate. However, there are many situations when you may feel advice could be of benefit, so in the first instance you can get in touch with us for a free discussion.
If you don’t need advice, more clarity can help
Whether you should get financial advice or not is an individual consideration. Many factors will contribute, such as your level of knowledge and experience or the complexity of your requirements.
It may be that you don’t need advice and that with some self-research and by using our powerful tools you can get a clearer picture of your finances now and how they might progress over time. MyNetwealth is a free service that lets you track all of your investments in one place. You can plan for your financial future and gain detailed insights into how to meet your long-term goals – with our expert advisers on hand to help.
The tools provide a remarkable picture of your financial potential, and allow you to change numerous parameters (including amount invested, risk level, inflation assumption, timeframe) to let you explore multiple outcomes and to see the effect of changes to any of these inputs.
When you have a specific need for advice, however – that may or may not have been generated as a result of the election – please get in touch.
And if you would like more in-depth analysis of how the new government could affect your financial plans and investments, please join us for our free webinar on 18th July at 12 pm.
Please note, the value of your investments can go down as well as up.
Netwealth offers advice restricted to our services and does not provide independent advice across the market. We do not offer advice in relation to tax compliance, personal recommendations with regards to insurance and protection, or advise upon the transfer of defined benefit pensions.
