Essentially Wealth – Quarter One 2021

Even before the pandemic, high living costs and debt meant that many people found contributing much to their pension pots challenging.

2020 was a year of financial fragility, plagued with money worries for many people, and research suggests that our children are picking up on our anxiety.

Pension savers have long been a target for fraudsters, with high returns for successful scams: the FCA says that pension scam victims lose an average of £82,000.

Lockdown life may have left you with a bit of extra cash, if so, why not take the opportunity to make some tax-efficient savings and investments?

In July 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak charged the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) with carrying out a review of Capital Gains Tax (CGT), sparking speculation that the government is planning to increase the tax in a bid to refill its coffers following the coronavirus pandemic.

Never before have the British population’s life chances been so starkly divided by age, profession and region. The COVID pandemic has had an extremely uneven impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, often giving rise to divisions between the generations.

It’s cold and gloomy, and we’re enduring another lockdown – but don’t despair. Spring is just around the corner, so before it arrives, why not get proactive and knuckle down on your finances?