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FingerprintFinancialPlanning are Truly Independent Financial Advisers based at the Historic Dockyard

17/07/2026

1. Using your pension to fund your retirement

While you may have previously been advised to preserve your pension, the upcoming rule changes mean it could be more prudent to use pension income to fund your retirement, leaving more tax-efficient assets, such as ISAs, to your family.

Although these are included in your estate and could be subject to IHT, they could help you to avoid the double-tax trap.

2. Gifting during your lifetime

There are several ways you can gift your wealth while you’re still alive. Not only could this reduce your estate for IHT purposes, but it’s also a lovely way to help your family and see them benefit from your gifts.

Annual exemption

You can gift up to £3,000 a year free from IHT. If you have any unused allowance left from the previous year, this can be carried forward into the next year.

Potentially exempt transfers

Gifts above your annual exemption are typically considered potentially exempt transfers (PETs). If you live for seven years after making a PET, it will be exempt from IHT. If you die between three and seven years after making the gift, then IHT will be applied on a reduced sliding scale.

Gifting from surplus income

If you have excess income, you can make regular payments to your children without this being included in the scope of IHT. The gifts need to follow a regular pattern and not have a detrimental impact on your lifestyle.

This can be a good way to add to your children’s or grandchildren’s savings or pay school or university fees.

Small gifts

Another tax-efficient way to support your family during your lifetime is with small gifts. You can give up to £250 IHT-free to as many people as you choose each year (as long as they haven’t been the recipient of a larger gift), which can be useful for birthday and Christmas presents.

Look out for part 3...

15/07/2026

The way pensions are treated after you die is set to change, and this could have a direct effect on your beneficiaries’ inheritance.

From 6 April 2027, unused pensions will be included in your estate for the first time. This could mean your loved ones face an Inheritance Tax (IHT) bill or be liable for a larger payment than expected.

Understandably, you’re likely to want your hard-earned wealth to go to your chosen beneficiaries, rather than be eroded by a tax bill. As the date for the new legislation is fast approaching, putting some measures in place now could help to protect your wealth at the same time as boosting your children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

Read on to discover five ways you could reduce your IHT bill and pass more of your wealth on to the younger generations.

Frozen thresholds and new pension rules could see more estates fall into the scope of Inheritance Tax

Historically, pensions have remained outside an estate and not been in the scope of IHT. This has made them a relatively simple, tax-efficient way to pass wealth on to loved ones.

However, the new rules could require a significant change in mindset in order to offset any potential increase in IHT.

Acting now could help to protect your wealth. First, here’s a quick reminder of the IHT thresholds, which have been frozen until 2031.

The nil-rate band is £325,000 and is the usual tax-free allowance for your estate.
The residence nil-rate band is £175,000 and is an additional allowance if you leave your main home to your direct descendants.
Combining these two thresholds can allow you to pass on up to £500,000 free from IHT.
Spouses and civil partners can pass any unused allowances to the surviving partner, potentially giving you £1 million to pass on free from IHT as a couple.
IHT is usually applied at 40%.

Another important consideration is the “double-tax trap”. If you die after the age of 75, your beneficiaries will be taxed on pension withdrawals at their marginal Income Tax rate. This could mean paying 40% in IHT, along with 20%, 40%, or 45% on withdrawals.

However, forewarned is forearmed, and making a few changes to your estate planning strategy could help to reduce your estate’s IHT liability.

To be continued.....

14/07/2026

4. Security and privacy concerns

Asking AI for mortgage advice will mean entering some sensitive and private financial details, including things like your salary, any debts, and personal information.

While a financial planner will be held to high standards in terms of data privacy under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), AI has no such regulation, and your data could suffer from a serious breach.

5. US defaults

According to Wealth Investment News, most AI tools struggle to provide UK-specific guidance, often defaulting to US references, rules, and products.

It doesn’t have enough capability to explore the nuances of UK income structures or affordability criteria. And because AI always gives you an answer, instead of simply saying “I don’t know”, the bot will give you a US-focused reply without making this apparent.

10/07/2026

2. Lack of nuance

AI platforms talk to you in a way that makes them feel real. But they are just feeding you information from data they have scanned. This doesn’t account for the inevitable complexity of real-world circumstances and individual preferences.

Your finances don’t just start and end with numbers on a page, which is what AI will look at. You may be self-employed with an irregular income, have a bad credit history, or have very specific requirements for your mortgage.

A financial planner matches your situation with the right lenders, because they know which will work best for your own unique circumstances and long-term goals.

An AI bot will simply perform calculations, and even these aren’t guaranteed to be correct.

3. No access to exclusive deals

A very large proportion of the UK mortgage market is invisible and inaccessible to AI tools.

According to Mortgage Strategy, in 2024 brokers accounted for 87% of all mortgages written in the UK, a figure which is expected to rise to 91% in 2026.

However, if you use an AI bot, it will be unable to integrate with a high number of databases, which means it will miss exclusive products and niche loans which aren’t openly published. In turn, this means that you could be missing out on a much better type of mortgage product if you confine yourself to the narrow choices given by AI.

A professional planner, however, will be able to gain deep access to rates and deals that AI won’t be able to even see.

More information to come....

08/07/2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily lives, often without us really realising.

For example, every time you open your phone using biometric face recognition, use a digital assistant like Siri or Alexa, or open up Google Maps, then you’re using AI.

While AI can be useful in many situations, there are some circumstances in which you should proceed with caution.

According to MoneyMarketing, almost a quarter of Brits have used AI for mortgage advice, although just 7% said they were very confident in the accuracy of the information they received.

The research also uncovered the fact that, when the same information was entered into different AI platforms, significantly different recommendations were generated.

While AI tools can be good for basic research or to understand jargon, using them to give you specific mortgage advice could backfire spectacularly.

1. No legal accountability

AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can “hallucinate” false information, but present it with such absolute confidence that it’s easy to believe it’s correct.

However, if you use an AI bot to calculate complicated mortgage details and it gets it wrong, there’s no legal recourse for you to complain.

Speak to a human adviser, and you’ll have the reassurance that they’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and have insurance. This means if you’re given incorrect or negligent advice, you are protected.

To be continued....

06/07/2026

Fingerprint Financial Planning would like to wish Ellie a very Happy Birthday today have a fabulous time.

05/07/2026

Do you watch Formula 1?

Do you have a favourite driver or team?

Have you been to any of the races?

Do you want to go?

The Barcelona Grand Prix 2026 made Formula 1 history by securing an all-British podium for the first in 58 years! It would be amazing to repeat this on UK soil so fingers crossed.

Happy Sunday

01/07/2026

On Saturday 6th September Jack & Mark will be running in the 2026 Big Half. Fingerprint Financial Planning are supporting The British Heart Foundation this year and hope to raise as much money as we can for vital research.

Every penny is gratefully received so if you could help us please follow the links to donate.

2026thebighalf.enthuse.com/pf/mark-hidson

2026thebighalf.enthuse.com/pf/jack-kerswell

29/06/2026

2. Cash ISA limits

Currently, you have a total ISA allowance of £20,000 that can be spread across a range of ISA products, which can earn tax-free interest and tax-efficient growth. From April 2027, however, while the total allowance remains the same, if you’re under 65, your allocation options will change.

You will still be able to save into a Cash ISA, but up to a limit of £12,000. The remaining £8,000 will need to be put into a Stocks & Shares ISA or a Lifetime ISA (LISA) if you plan to use your full allowance.

You can invest as much of your allowance as you like in a Stocks and Shares ISA or a LISA (up to the relevant subscription limits for each product), and the rules for Cash ISAs won’t apply if you’re over 65.

Existing balances can continue to earn tax-free interest, so if you want to boost your Cash ISA, make sure you’re using as much of your 2026/27 allowance as possible before the restrictions kick in.

3. Income Tax rates on savings interest to rise

From April 2027, any interest you earn from either savings or property rental income will be taxed at two percentage points higher than the current rate.

Basic-rate and higher-rate taxpayers have a Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) of tax-free interest. Above is an outline of what the current PSA and tax rates on interest are and the new rates from April 2027.

26/06/2026

1. Pensions included in an estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes

Pensions have traditionally acted as a fairly simple tax-efficient asset, with the added bonus that they lie outside your estate. However, from April 2027, any unused pension funds and death benefits will be brought into the scope of IHT. This could result in an unexpected bill or a higher bill than would have previously applied.

According to government estimates, 10,500 estates will have an IHT liability where they previously would not, and 38,500 will pay more than they would have before the new rules. The average IHT liability is expected to increase by around £34,000.

This means that, in some instances, it might be a case of “back to basics” for your pension, shifting it from being a tax-efficient wealth transfer mechanism back to its original purpose of funding your retirement.

There are also some strategies we can help you put in place to keep your estate out of the scope of IHT. The threshold is set at £325,000 until 2031, meaning assets above this amount will usually have IHT applied at 40%. Mitigation approaches include:
Leaving your house to your direct descendants, which can raise your threshold to £500,000 using the residence nil-rate band
Gifting up to £3,000 a year using the annual exemption, which is allowable without IHT being applied
Making small gifts of up to £250 to any number of individuals
Gifting from surplus income: these must be regular payments which don’t have any detriment to your lifestyle
Leaving 10% or more of your estate to charity, which could reduce your loved ones’ IHT rate to 40%.

However, there could be other implications attached to these strategies, so it’s important to take financial advice before you proceed to make sure you’re operating on the most tax-efficient basis.

Look out for more changes coming soon....

Address

Admirals Offices, The Historic Dockyard
Rochester
ME44TZ

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+443452100100

Website

https://linktr.ee/fingerprintfinancialplanning

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