People retiring this year can expect to receive £3,000 less than those who retired in 2008, according to a new study from Prudential.  Prudential estimates that only 37% of those retiring believe they have saved enough for a comfortable retirement.  Vince Smith-Hughes, Prudential’s retirement income expert said; “the current economic climate has created a perfect [...]

Figures released by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) have found that the collective deficit of theUK’s private sector final salary pension schemes have grown to another record.  The deficit at the end of the year stood at £255 billion, up from £222 billion at the end of November.  5,473 schemes were in deficit at the [...]

Closed provider Windsor Life has rebranded as ReAssure. The rebranding following the transfer of around 500,000 Barclays Life customers to the provider in November 2011.  TFMG comment: This could be a good reason for clients to review their policies and underlying investments to ensure they meet future needs and objectives.

The FSA has recently banned and fined a former UBS Client Advisor £150,000 for circumventing security rules.  Jaspreet Ahuj was an Advisor within UBS’s International Wealth Management business in London. Instances such as this take us back to the time when Nick Leeson brought Barings Bank to its knees through unauthorised trading and it is [...]

It is a sobering thought that up until 20 December, 2011 has seen the FTSE 100 Index  fluctuate between a low of 4944 and a high of 6091 making for a tough investment market.  Reasons for this volatility include Eurozone concerns, political brinkmanship in theUS and worries about a double dip global recession. More than [...]

Buy Now while Stocks Last In the Chancellor’s recent Autumn statement there was much concern that higher rate tax relief on pension investment would be attacked once again.  Fortunately however it was not although there is still a possibility that within the next budget higher rate tax relief on pension investments could well be restricted.  [...]

Critical Illness cover is a very important type of protection that covers against the eventuality of an individual being diagnosed as having a critical illness condition including the likes of heart attack, stroke and cancer to name but a few.  Due to medical advances more and more people are now surviving critical illness conditions so [...]

Standard Life’s 2011 Wills & Trusts report shows that around half of respondents do not have a will drawn up.  Unsurprisingly, two thirds do not have an ongoing relationship with a Lawyer, Accountant or a Financial Adviser. This follows hot on the heels of their other survey which found that 63% of respondents believe the state [...]

Could you live on £140 a week?  63%1 of people don’t think £140 a week is enough for them to live on in retirement This increases to 72% for the 55 and over’s Only 18% of the UK think that they can live on £140 a week New research1 from Standard Life has revealed that [...]

Paul Burstow the care services minister has gone on record saying that we are currently living a “cosy dream” and we do not understand that we will almost certainly have to pay for our own care when we grow old and frail.  The general consensus is social care is free but this is incorrect and [...]