Category: Lifestyle

What’s the solution to the ageing dilemma? As we grow older and live longer as a nation it puts strain on the state and on our own resources. According to the 2017 book The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott half the babies born in wealthier countries since 2000 will see their 100th birthday – 103 in the UK – changing everything from work and economics to our relationships. While living longer, potentially to 100 years and more, is to be welcomed, no-one would want to live it in poor health and relative poverty. 

The challenges of long-term care are well documented. State pension ages for men and women have been increasing and governments have launched new initiatives such as pensions freedoms and auto enrolment in recent years in order to boost individual retirement savings, which for most people are inadequate. As the 100-year life states, what this means for individuals is: “If we live for longer we need to invest more in our financial assets to support a longer life. However, a longer life is not just about getting the finances right but also about making sure you invest in your health, your families and friends and your own productive abilities. A longer life will lead us to reassess how we balance these financial and non- financial forces over our lives.”* 

A recent survey shows that women’s retirement savings are set to fall short by 16 years, while men are on average likely to come up 10 years short. So, although the average woman in the UK wants to retire at 63, if they did so their savings at retirement would run out by the time they were 69, assuming they are spending £27k per year. The survey based this on an average life expectancy of 85 and average savings of £392 per month. It says that in order for Brits to fund their living expenses to age 85, they either need to drastically increase the amount they save or continue working for significantly longer. 

I believe Advisers such as ourselves, are in a unique position to add value and expertise to clients’ wellbeing by helping them do this by building the products and tools that enable them to meet the wealth and health challenges of the future. 

Would you believe it?

Tory leader contender Boris Johnson pledged to cut income tax bills for those earning more than £50,000 a year, if he wins the race to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Johnson said he would use the money currently set aside for a no-deal Brexit to raise the 40 per cent tax rate threshold to £80,000, cutting taxes for around 3 million higher earners. As an MP, the former foreign secretary earns £79,468.

“We should be raising thresholds of income tax so that we help the huge numbers that have been captured in the higher rate by fiscal drag,” he said.

While some of the costs would be offset by the no-deal Brexit fund, if Johnson is named Prime Minister, the Telegraph calculated that the move would cost approximately £9.6bn per year.

Commenting, Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the proposal highlighted “how out of touch the Tories are”, the BBC reported.

According to The Guardian, McDonnell added: “Exactly as predicted, the Tory leadership race is degenerating into a race to the bottom in tax cuts. When there are 4.5 million children in poverty, 1 million elderly in severe poverty, the schools’ budgets and our police service stretched to breaking point, this [is] the Tory priority.”

I can see his point!

Oh dear, dear. I have to confess right here to being old enough to remember those words of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones back in the eighties. Maybe they echo some of the thoughts which have been going on in Mrs May’s head of late although she doesn’t quite strike me as being a fan of The Clash.

Whilst the latest news tells us that Theresa May will step down on Friday 7 June (today), we’ve then got the subsequent leadership election getting underway from 10th June. And with all the shenanigans that it will involve. Those hoping to see some light at the end of the Brexit tunnel are still very unsure what her departure might actually mean in terms of getting Brexit decisions made. Or not made. Whether you think that her departure as PM is a good thing or not, the whole thing throws yet more short-term uncertainty into an already very uncertain situation. At the time of writing, at the end of May, (oh the irony) the latest inflection point around a possible fourth attempt at getting the Withdrawal Agreement though the house of commons was all too much. It looks though we are about to enter the next phase of the Brexit saga with as much clarity as a very muddy pond.

The Sunday Times reports a CBI warning that growth in business activity has virtually ground to a halt over the last 3 months as a result of what it terms ‘Brexit limbo’

There’s an interesting profile of Andrew Formica, head of Jupiter Asset Management, who is out to confound the naysayers, while James Timpson, CEO of Timpson Group, advises retailers to look after the rents and the rates will take care of themselves.

Louise Cooper provides a sobering guide to the potential pitfalls of freelancing, while an article about pension equality shows how just 63p a day can close the pension gap for women who take a break from work.

There is also a Raconteur supplement about the future of banking, leading with an analysis of how the race is on as tech shakes up capital markets.

The Mail on Sunday takes a look at the sport and leisure sector, with an item about giving portfolios a fitness boost and some added muscle without all the legwork.

They report ‘L&G sells off British insurance unit to Allianz’, and that Mr Kipling firm Premier Foods has lost its chairman.

Fraudsters pretending to be the taxman will be hit as HMRC deletes over 1,000 fake phone numbers, while The Prudent Investor asks “I want to add some emerging markets funds, but which should I choose?”

Sarah Davidson wonders how many savings accounts is too many, and reckons that 4 is the magic number.

The Sunday Telegraph reveals how you could save £17,000 a year on care by staying at home and reports that pension savers who follow the crowd could lose out by £2m.

As £165m Lendy collapses, experts warn that ‘a dozen more peer-to-peer firms will follow’.

They also name the 6 ‘cheapest’ British investment trusts.