Your Wealthcare - Financial Planners, Mortgages, Wills and Trusts

10/02/2026

HMRC’s online tool has overvalued 800,000 state pensions. The last thing you need at retirement, is find you have spent years relying on a flawed online calculation only to find out at the last minute that you are entitled to less money than you thought. We urge our clients to sign a copy of form BR19 which we then send off on their behalf in order to get a proper paper calculation. If you want to do the same, please just get in touch.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/state-pensions/state-pension-forecasts-can-be-wrong-hmrc-admits/

17/01/2026

Gilts are falling. That is usually one of the signs that the markets believe inflation and interest rates are also going to fall at some point as well. In itself, that will bring about a different set of new circumstances for portfolios to consider that we haven’t had to for the past few years. But in the short term, if you are considering a mortgage rate change, it would be worth taking into account the possibility at least of one or two base rate cuts over the next few months.

A key metric though, to watch out for is a relatively obscure financial benchmark known as a swap rate, something which is heavily influenced by gilt yields. The five-year “SONIA” (Sterling Overnight Index Average) swap rate, a widely used measure relied on by mortgage providers to gauge medium term financing costs and needs, is currently under 3.6% - one year ago, it was closer to 3.8%. The conventional wisdom is that if this starts to get towards 3%, we’ll see a wave of financing activity and much cheaper mortgages (cue the potential for a much needed economic growth boost).

If you’d like to discuss the possibility of a fresh mortgage deal, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/fromshowcolumns.asp?Travel=NIxAZxSUx&FromSeries=1&ToSeries=50&DAT=RNG&FD=1&FM=Jan&FY=2020&TD=1&TM=Jan&TY=2040&FNY=Y&CSVF=TT&html.x=66&html.y=26&SeriesCodes=IUDSOIA&UsingCodes=Y&Filter=N&title=SONIA%20rate&VPD=Y

11/01/2026

Clients are coming down with the dreaded lurgy, and we now have three new slots open up for next week. So, if you’d like to schedule a review, discuss wills and trusts, become a client or simply have something on your mind, please just message me. Cheers. 👍🏻🫡🍻

04/01/2026

. What’s your intended retirement age?

30/12/2025

Nine months ago, US politician Tim Walz laughed when Tesla dropped to $225. Earlier this month it nudged $500 - how many good folk lost money in 2025 because they listened to spurious noise like this and panic-sold cheaply? In 2026, rise above the chatter, stay away from the noise. Choose wisely!

24/12/2025

Stock markets aren’t the only thing we establish success or failure by, but they’re always interesting to look back on at this time of year. The S&P 500 set a fresh closing record this week after delayed third-quarter GDP figures came in better than expected and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished strongly, after government data indicated that the economy grew at an annualised rate of 4.3% in the third quarter. But over the year, both have been comprehensively trumped by the FTSE100.

24/11/2025

If you could give your younger self some sound financial advice.. what would it be?

13/11/2025

Wealth is a consequence of perseverance, hard work, talent and luck. There is nothing wrong with being lucky, the harder you work the more you create opportunities for luck. Stop feeling guilty about being successful and comfortable. Redefine your relationship with money. Learn to enjoy what you have created.

21/07/2025

You may have heard this morning that Labour is bringing forward the state pension review by three years, something which will unsettle a lot of people in the run-up to their retirement. But it will also impact many who are currently a member or a deferred member of a public sector pension scheme such as AFPS, LGPS, NHS, police, teaching etc.

The state pension age is currently 66 and is already poised to rise to 67 between 2026-2028 and to rise again to 68 by the mid-2040s. The state pension age scheduled to rise to 68 has an impact for anyone born on or after 5 April 1977, and this review could lead to that schedule being brought forward. I think we all accept that it is going to have to change, the question is, what age will it change to and by when, will the triple lock remain in place and will it be means-tested?

The Department of Work and Pensions has commissioned two independent reports on the state pension age which were already required by law by 2029. My gut instinct at this stage, and it is only an educated guess, is that if you were born more recently than the late 60s-mid seventies, you may have to wait a little longer before getting it paid out to you.

Why does it affect many in a public sector pension scheme? Because benefits, if you are young enough, that you decide to accrue within those schemes after 2015 are linked (by secondary legislation) to be paid to you when you reach your state pension age. It is already baked in, hard-wired (however you want to put it) so that you will not get your “post 2015” benefits until you reach state pension age, whatever it is at the time that you do reach it.  If you have a defined contribution pension (otherwise known more generally as a personal pension), you are not able to access that until 10 years before whatever your state pension age is.

All of that of course is correct as at the time I write it this afternoon, but the moment the law changes, which it can do at the drop of a hat, then all bets are off.  We will of course be modelling various scenarios in for our existing clients who might be reading this, in the course of our regular meetings and reviews. 

19/12/2024

If your pension has taken a hit overnight, here’s why. The S&P 500 lost almost 3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.6% overnight because the US central bank has taken the view that unemployment isn’t quite as high as anticipated and that inflation is stubbornly higher than desirable. So, interest rate cuts aren’t as immediately important (if it’s cheaper to borrow then people will borrow and spend more, and prices will stay higher).

15/12/2024

As many as possible of the team got together last week to let their hair down and enjoy some Christmas spirit. As we head into the festive season, I would like to take this opportunity of thanking our clients for their continued support and business, and to wish all our clients old and new, and everyone reading this, a very merry and peaceful Christmas.

28/04/2014

28 April: MoD updates AFOS 75 and 05 forms and leaver packs http://bit.ly/QUHngu http://bit.ly/1h6KOXM

Use these forms when claiming pensions under AFPS 75 and AFPS 05.