The summer months are typically characterised by limited news, thin trading volumes and illiquid conditions which, can serve to accentuate moves in financial asset prices both to the up and the downside. The summer of 2022 has proved an exception.
Day One Of The Rest Of Your Life
Visualising what you want in retirement before you get there may lead to greater fulfilment, writes Alastair Brown of Raymond James
Like all major life events, transitioning into retirement will be an adjustment. One day you may go from your seat at the top as a powerful executive to an armchair in your living room. It is important that you are ready for that change, so you can step into your new life with confidence.
Without your career to define you, you may want to discover a new purpose. Finding the answer takes a lot of preparation – emotionally, physically and financially – and a lot of thought.
While the financial component is critical to a sustainable retirement people often forget to consider the psychological factors. If you can start visualising your ideal retirement now, you will set yourself up for a more satisfying and fulfilling one.
“AS YOU WORK TO FOCUS IN ON THE ACTIVITIES THAT WILL HELP YOU LIVE WELL ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, MAKE SURE YOUR VISION IS DETAILED IN A WELL-DOCUMENTED FINANCIAL PLAN”
THINKING AHEAD
Experts say a steady transition into retirement makes for a more successful one. One psychologist suggests focusing on these key areas to consider the life you’re looking for:
Focus on enhancing relationships. Establish weekly game nights with friends or Sunday dinners with family, for example. Be sure to maintain or expand your social life and stay connected. Studies show having friends and family for entertainment and support significantly enhances a retiree’s quality of life.
Keep your mental and physical health a priority. Set up, keep wellness appointments and exercise daily. Don’t forget to relax. You have earned it! Take time for yourself when you need to and nap when you feel like it.
Set key milestones and make sure you feel as financially secure as possible. An adviser will make sure that your financial life is well organised, so you feel in control and won’t leave a mess behind for your loved ones when your time is up. Milestones are a bit like waypoints on a long journey, they enable you to check that you’re on course, without worrying about how much longer you’ve got to travel to get to the destination. Most people’s principal financial milestone is to get to a place where money is not something they worry about, nor holds them back from living the life they want.
“ONE DAY YOU MAY GO FROM YOUR SEAT AT THE TOP AS A POWERFUL EXECUTIVE TO AN ARMCHAIR IN YOUR LIVING ROOM”
Stay young at heart. Take up an old hobby or find a new one, learn welding or Spanish, play a new instrument. The point is to plan and embark on a new adventure every week, even if that’s tutoring a student in maths or trying a new restaurant. Find something that keeps your brain firing.
Be kind. Acts of kindness make everyone feel good. Volunteer, donate time or money, or contribute to your community in another way.
As you work to focus in on the activities that will help you live well on a day-to-day basis, make sure your vision is detailed in a well-documented financial plan. Being able to clearly articulate your vision helps to prioritise your needs, wants and wishes in order to figure out how to make them a reality.
NEXT STEPS
As you approach retirement:- Visualise how you’d like to spend your days in retirement without a schedule to dictate your day
- Consider each psychological/emotional aspect of your life to ensure it’s being fulfilled by your retirement plans Need help? Speak to one of our wealth managers today to ensure the financial plan you have in place will make your vision a reality
Financial markets make progress in July against a difficult backdrop
The investing environment could hardly be more challenging. Global economic activity is slowing, Western developed economies are flirting with recession, inflationary pressures are extremely elevated, and Western central banks remain committed to raising interest rates in a concerted effort to bring them under control. The geopolitical backdrop is still as dark as ever; the war in Ukraine continues, China’s bellicose threats against the United States ahead of House speaker, Mrs Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Asia have become more pointed. Europe faces a natural gas shortage over the coming winter, Dr Mario Draghi’s Italian government has collapsed, while in the UK, the same fate has befallen Mr Boris Johnson’s administration.
Important Information Regarding Trusts
If you are a Trustee of a Trust, it may need to be registered with the Trust Registration Service by the 1st of September 2022.
For all Trusts required to register, the Trustees will need to provide information on the persons involved in the Trust (Settlor, Trustees and Beneficiaries) as well as details of the Trust itself.
It is advisable that you contact your accountant or your solicitor, or a Trust Registration Specialist to assist you with the registration process as failure to register your Trust with the TRS could lead to the Trustees of the Trust suffering a financial penalty.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office on 01772 780300..
Raymond James Professional Development Forum
Raymond James Professional Development Forum
Branch Principal Wayne Hayhurst reflects on his workshop presentation ‘Real world ideas to help you grow your practice’ at this years’ Professional Development Forum.
The Forum welcomed delegates from Raymond James and Charles Stanley, who, alongside head office staff and sponsors, helped lead to a record 440 attendees over the two-day event.
Our values guide our path forward, steering our activities and interactions to continually invest in the future of our businesses, colleagues, and communities.
“The annual Raymond James Professional Development Forum provides a chance to reflect and consider the potential for our future; educating and connecting us so we can continue to provide the best service to clients.”
Tom O’Neill: New Birthday Cards
For many, a daily hike became an integral part of their routine during lockdown. For those in and around the Longridge area, they will immediately recognise the adjacent image of the highland cows. These placid animals quickly became ‘local celebrities’, attracting a great deal of visitors to their field atop green bank quarry each week.
This stunning picture was taken by local photographer Tom O’Neill and featured many times on the local community Facebook group, ‘Your Longridge’. Whilst giving our client birthday cards a facelift, we reached out to Tom via social media and asked if he would be willing to feature his striking images of the highland cows on the cover of our cards. Tom was delighted to help and as thank-you he asked us to make a donation to charity on his behalf.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to Raymond James, Ribble Valley for using my images for their birthday cards – it’s a supreme privilege and honour for me to have been asked”.
Keeping It In The Family
Give your family the best chance at preserving wealth from one generation to the next, advises Alastair Brown of Raymond James
As gloomy as it might sound, death and taxes are often described as the only two certainties in life, and inheritance tax (IHT) means they can turn up at the same time.
*Almost £5.4 billion was paid in inheritance tax in 2018/19 – a record high.
With people living longer and enjoying more active lives in retirement, the age at which the next generation will eventually benefit and how tax efficiently the wealth is transferred can be a real headache. Whether your motivation is to support your relatives, protect vulnerable family members or to leave a legacy, passing on your wealth is a highly emotive and potentially complicated topic.
Ensuring the tax man isn’t your largest beneficiary
What is Inheritance Tax (IHT)? Will you have an IHT liability? Can you reduce it? What can you give away in your lifetime? More and more people are likely to be impacted by Inheritance Tax. However, paying Inheritance Tax doesn’t have to be inevitable. In many cases this most unpopular of taxes can be minimised using allowances or exemptions, or potentially be avoided altogether with careful planning.How, when and to whom should I transfer my wealth?
When is the best time to give money away? If you have children should they be treated equally? Who do you leave your money to if you have no immediate family?
Will your partner automatically inherit your wealth if you have no legal partnership? Deciding who should inherit and how best to transfer your wealth is rarely simple. Family dynamics are often highly complicated. You and your spouse or civil partner might have different views on how, or even if, any of your respective relatives should inherit your wealth. Whatever your goals, getting financial advice will help you pass on your money in a way, and at a time, that creates maximum benefit for the people that matter to you most.
Estate Planning
Getting all your affairs in order, from deciding who should inherit your wealth to making provisions for vulnerable family members, can be an extensive but invaluable process. Known as Estate Planning, it ensures you eliminate uncertainty over the administration of your assets and aims to maximise the value of your estate by reducing or eliminating taxes and other expenses. From setting up trusts to mitigating Inheritance Tax, Estate Planning should also consider your needs in later life, including the potential cost of long- term care.
Risk Warning: Opinions constitute our judgement as of this date and are subject to change without warning. With investing, your capital is at risk
Could we help save you and your loved ones thousands?
Ready to have a conversation? Give us a call and we’ll help you understand whether IHT is likely to impact you, and whether you could take action to reduce it. If it looks like we can help you keep more money in the family, we’ll book your free, no obligation initial consultation with one of our in-house specialists.
Deciphering the Market’s Difficult Message
More than 200 years ago, a French military officer stumbled across the Rosetta Stone, a 2000-year-old carving with clues to deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs that had puzzled the world for centuries. We don’t exactly have a Rosetta Stone for our perplexing market’s future – no one does. But just as the Rosetta Stone opened a window into Egypt’s mysterious past, we have some clues that might help investors crack the code in the coming months.
Local Team Sponsorships
Longridge Local Team Sponsorships
Andrew Barr, Wealth Manager at the Ribble Valley branch, reflects on some of our most recent sponsorships and why investing in local sports teams is so important to us and our community:
“We’re always looking for ways to help our local community and the idea of sponsoring grass roots football is always appealing as it provides so many benefits to young people. From learning to work together to staying active, competitive sports teach children valuable lessons that they’ll carry with them throughout life.”
“A number of our employees are avid football and cricket fans, so we’ll be watching the teams with great interest to follow their progress”.
Personalised Strategies For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
The expert team at Raymond James Ribble Valley has extensive experience working with business owners and entrepreneurs, guiding them through the different stages of growing their company
As a business owner and entrepreneur, you’ve built something you care about – and you want to see it last. We understand. We’re well-versed in the challenges and opportunities before you. As your financial guide, we help you further your success by giving you the confidence to focus on what you do best.
You’ve refined the skills necessary to thrive in the marketplace and lived the continuous commitment that is running a business.
Like all business owners and entrepreneurs, you’ve learned that your personal and professional lives may intertwine in ways you had not anticipated. As your guide, we help you see all angles of the bigger picture – important things like passing on a legacy to the next generation and helping to ensure your team have options for retirement planning.
Complex financial situations
We help you cut through the complexity of your financial situation to create, implement and manage an all-encompassing plan designed to pursue your goals – personally and professionally. Our strategies capitalise on our extensive resources and world class analysis and are customised to your needs. The result is a balanced plan combined with the details of how you picture your life.
We know from experience that you may face several challenges. The board room for small business owners can be a lonely place, so we aim to help you:
- Ensure that you build up a tax-efficient fund for your retirement that closely matches your life goals and financial objectives
- Undertake an in-depth review of your business and help implement a tailored financial plan
- Invest spare cash in the business, above working capital, to produce a tax-free income
- Help prepare you and your business for exit – including achieving financial independence – or having an effective succession plan in place to secure the future of your business
- Put in place the right protection policies to safeguard you, your family and your business, from life’s unforeseen events such as serious illness or death.
Working with business owners
We have extensive experience working with business owners and entrepreneurs through the different stages of growing their businesses and supporting their personal lives. Whatever stage your business venture has reached, whether you’re established, growing, exploring your exit path or considering life after exit, we will support your growth.
To find out how our specialist team could help you, get in touch with us on 01772 780300 to book a free no obligation consultation.