Female Focus - Now in our 21st year!
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Female Focus Add value to your lives, make money or save money.
Hello, I am Steve Iball, Area Manager Costa Blanca office for deVere-Spain and in the coming months I aim to give you some valuable advice about financial matters.
My first topic is the changes to British State Pension in April 2016. The good news is that it will rise to minimum of £148 p/w (actual amount to be confirmed Autumn 2015) for full entitlement, up
from the current rate of £113.10 p/w. This is very good news and will allow people to enjoy a better standard of living.
However for those who will not have reached state pension age (SRA) by 06-04-16 there are some checks that need to be done. You need to be sure you have sufficient National Insurance (NI) years either from working in the UK, being a carer, having a period of drawing job seekers allowance or a number of other events, as this will effect the amount of pension you will receive.
After the calculation, if your NI record adds up to less than 30 years then you should be looking at the options to ´add extra years´, as this could benefit you when you move into retirement.
The maximum number of years is changing from 30 to 35 years for people under SRA age on 06-04-16, but the current advice is NOT to increase your years from 30 to 35 years as the HMRC will have not completed their calculations until end of 2015 tax year.
With the madness of the summer now passing us, now is a very good time to take stock of your finances before the focus turns to Christmas!
To help you, here is a list that you can consider about financial products that you may have left behind in the UK:
Endowments that you are still paying into, old stocks and shares, ISAs, PEPs, Tessas, and without question the one that could be your biggest asset… Any frozen Company or Private pension schemes from UK.
People tend to know exactly how much is in their bank current account (often down to the last Euro!) but usually know very little indeed about what is in a pension scheme where they worked for perhaps 5 to 25 years!
Questions like ´How is it performing?´, ´Is the scheme underwater on liabilities?´ ´What tax will I pay?´, ´What happens if I died?´, ´How much does my partner get if anything at all, and could they manage?´ Very often the lack of answers that I hear from new clients is scary, but I assure you that everything can be sorted by working with an IFA to get the information, and to ensure that you receive the correct advice.
Most people hear on the TV, or read in the newspapers about changes in financial matters. But until they sit down with a Professional Adviser they tend to take no action. I want all residents in Costa Blanca to enjoy their lives knowing full well they are in control of their income, savings and potential future financial matters.
So here is an action plan! 1) Ask your female partner where the paperwork is (it is true in most cases that the lady of the household knows where the important papers are!)
2) List your assets and financial products and try to establish your wealth; ´How much?´, ´Who is the owner?´, ´How is it doing?´, ´What happens if I contract an illness, or worse?´, ´Who gets it?´, ´What is the tax situation?´, ´Have I declared it here in Spain either directly or reported it under Modelo 720?´, ´Can I avoid reporting it?´
3) Take action and speak with an Financial Adviser who should involve other Professionals such as a lawyer for legal matters and an accountant for Tax matters.
Yes it’s all rather dry stuff, and enjoying personal activities is far more interesting, but the for the small amount of time it takes, the savings and peace of mind is much greater and I guarantee you will save money either in tax, lawyers or prevention of loss in the markets.
If you want any no obligation advice I am happy to help and no cost to yourself.
Please contact me on
steve.iball@devere-spain.es or the Denia office number +34 965 785 609.
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