On a day of public pension strikes, I thought some comments on pensions (especially private vs public) would be a topical subject. If you are confused as to how much to contribute towards your pension, then you are in the majority. When I was working in the City, I used to think that my employer's contribution (3% of salary) plus a contribution from me (another 3%)...
Read MorePlease see below a link to May 2011's Quarterly Private Client Newsletter from Kennedy Black Wealth Management. In this edition, we focus on some of the fundamental investment beliefs that we hold here at Kennedy Black Wealth Management, namely that stock picking and market timing are sure-fire ways to erode long-term investment performance. We have also highlighted a couple of important themes in the protection market which...
Read MoreAs seen on FT.com With the Child Trust Fund no longer available to babies born since the start of the year - even children haven't avoided the Age of Austerity - parents looking to save for their children don't have many options at the moment. A "Junior ISA" has been promised, but isn't expected until later in 2011. Yet the Child Trust Fund had its limitations...
Read MorePlease see below a link to February 2011's Quarterly Private Client Newsletter from Kennedy Black Wealth Management. In this edition, we focus on some year end tax planning topics such as ISAs and Capital Gains Tax planning. The first article outlines how stocks and shares ISAs are almost as tax efficient as pensions - and since we all should recognise the tax benefits of pensions, perhaps...
Read MorePlease see below a link to the latest Kennedy Black Wealth Management Quarterly Private Client Newsletter. In this edition, we focus on one of our favourite pet topics - Behavioural Finance, and how to beat it (well, perhaps that should be "how to identify it"). We could go on for days, but fortunately (for you) we're limited by space here! If it's something you'd be...
Read MoreIn what could be the most revolutionary changes to pension legislation in decades, the Department of Work and Pensions ("DWP") has recently published "Making Automatic Enrolment Work" (October 2010), a review into two new proposals: Auto-enrolment and NEST (short for "National Employment Savings Trust"). For employers, the implications are significant so here is a summary of what has been proposed and what it means. Firstly, from...
Read MoreSo the Spending Review has now been and gone. I won't dwell on the more general elements here, but I will cast an eye over the pension changes announced - less than a week after the last set of pension reforms. In summary, the State Pension age for everyone will rise to 66 by 2020. Not too big a deal, you might think, since it's currently...
Read MoreThe Coalition government has this morning announced the changes to pension legislation that were first contemplated in June's Budget. To summarise, from April 2011 the Annual Allowance will reduce from £255,000 to £50,000. This is the most an individual can put into a pension in any tax year and get full tax relief. Furthermore, from April 2012 the Lifetime Allowance will reduce from £1.8m to £1.5m....
Read MoreIn response to the global influence of Twitter, we will be publishing these blog articles and more using Twitter. We promise not to bore you with what we've just had for dinner, instead we will focus on providing key updates on the ever-developing world of personal finance. I've already posted the very first tweet, so it would great if you could join us. ...
Read MoreI'm very pleased to see lots of focus on pensions by the BBC at the moment. First Newsnight, now Panorama. Some initial thoughts on last night's Panorama programme. Firstly, the positives: They are right to name and shame pension providers for high charges (for the record, HSBC, Co-op and L&G were the three worst offenders); They were also VERY right to focus on fund rebates as a...
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