August 2019
InNAVIGATING the know THE INHERITANCE TAX NIGHTMARE
IN THIS ISSUE.
New research just published shows that almost 1 in 4 Inheritance Tax returns will be investigated by HM Revenue and Customs. The new main residence nil rate band introduced in 2017 made what was already a complex system even more convoluted. ‘Pension freedom’ rules introduced in 2015 saw the most radical changes to pensions, which has led to pensions often being an investor’s best Inheritance Tax planning tool. But few people have realised the implications of all this. And as most of this was ‘back of a fag packet’ legislation, subsequent tweaks to try and make sense of it all have just tied everyone up in more knots. A good example of this is this barmy rule. Final salary pensions pay out until someone dies. Then they stop. If you have one of these schemes, and are sick or have lower life expectancy than average, it can make sense to transfer to a personal pension rather than taking the scheme pension. That way, your family can benefit from the pension – Inheritance Tax free - after you die. But if you die within 2 years of transfer, the tax man can challenge the Inheritance Tax free status of the death benefits. Essentially, this is HM Revenue and Customs penalising you for sensible tax planning. And that’s just madness. And all this nonsense means it is even more crucial than ever that consumers get specialised professional financial advice to make sure their families – not the tax man – benefit from their wealth. pg 2 - JULIE’S RANT & MONEY FOR NOTHING OR A CHEQUE FOR FREE pg 3 - MEET THE TEAM & OUT OF OFFICE pg 4 - EN ROUTE TO RETIREMENT & ALFIE’S ANTICS pg 5 - WORDSEARCH, FEEDBACK & DEMENTIA FORWARD CORNER pg 6 - OUR GUEST HOUSE pg 7 - WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY ABOUT US, QUOTE OF THE MONTH, TOP TIP & CALENDAR COMPETITION pg 8 - AROUND THE WORLD PenLife Associates Ltd, 3 Tudor Court, Opus Avenue, York, YO26 6RS Tel: 01904 661140 Email: office@pen-life.co.uk Registered in England No: 2390548. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Authorisation Number 212972.
JULIE’S RANT: AGREEING TO DIFFER I’ve been asked to write a piece around Brexit. Oh dear. I can see trouble ahead. When you get very divisive subjects like Brexit (and fracking) we’re never going to get everyone to agree. Incidentally, I must apologise for a typo in my fracking rant, which read that only 3% of our energy needs comes from renewables. It should have read 30%. Sorry. Whatever the number, the fact remains that car emissions do way more damage than properly regulated fracking does. And spending £7 billion to import resources we already have just seems bonkers to me. Without any viable alternative, the oil (still a fossil fuel, whichever you look at it) producing countries will continue to have us over a barrel. (See what I did there?) Anyway Brexit. What can I say? As I write, it appears that Boris Johnson will become our next Prime Minister. Did you see the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Invention of Boris Johnson’? The most telling bit of footage was the moment Boris Johnson learned that the UK had voted to leave the EU. The colour drained from his face. He went grey. He looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. For all his EU bashing over the years and the highly successful leave campaign, it was patently obvious that he never thought it would actually happen. And, having said he would absolutely leave the EU by 31 October – deal or no deal – there is already talk of the deadline being extended. And he hasn’t yet set foot in Number 10. Oh dear. This doesn’t bode well.
MONEY FOR NOTHING OR A CHEQUE FOR FREE We’ve built our business around referrals from lawyers, accountants and existing clients who like our ‘hands on’ approach to investment and tax planning, as well as our commitment to client care. And we really appreciate it. So we decided to reward clients who refer prospects to us with a crisp £50 note (or £50 cheque if preferred, but we really don’t think that has the same appeal as a relatively rare £50 note). We’ve already given away loads of £50s which we’re happy to do, and even better, we’re helping more people increase and protect their wealth from greedy bankers, crazy Governments, grasping authorities and other legalised robbers, and most importantly, helping our clients get the life they want.
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MEET THE TEAM 1. What would be your ideal day out? I would love to go and watch Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger live in concert in America 2. If you could trade lives with one person for an entire day who would it be and why? Bill Gates so that for one day I would understand how computers work! (nothing to do with his money) 3. What is something you’ve always wanted to try but have been too scared to? Look at my wife’s credit card statement! 4. What’s the best holiday you’ve ever had? This is going to add to my sad reputation but I went to the Norfolk Broads in the blazing summer of 76 with 4 mates and had a right laugh John Whiting Sales Manager PenLife Associates
5. Where do you want to visit before you die? Mount Everest 6. What’s your strangest talent? I could change that round a little as my wife thinks I have a talent for being strange but my party trick since I was a kid is that I can touch my nose with my tongue
OUT OF OFFICE
This month’s Out of Office comes from one of our advisers Justine Cutt. So my life out of PenLife normally consists of running round after my boys Will, 15, and Ollie, 9. Our weekends can be spent travelling with Will for a trampoline competition or with Ollie to a football tournament. Will has had a passion for trampolining since he was 5 years old and I absolutely love watching him bouncing and tumbling, which he seems to do so effortlessly and gracefully. It makes me so proud to watch and even better when he gets a medal. He recently competed in Hull achieving gold for his age group. Ollie’s passion is for football, a day never goes by without him kicking a ball about. The winter months are spent competing in league matches and summer months they enter many tournaments, a favourite being Bridlington beach tournament... which is fun but hard work... have you ever tried running in the sand? Not easy.
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EN ROUTE TO RETIREMENT The later you leave it, the less chance you have to undo it if it’s wrong. Or so it can be argued. Does this apply when it comes to retirement? Some people like to work as long as possible. This is either because they genuinely enjoy their job, because they don’t know how long they actually need to work for to be able to retire comfortably, or purely because they aren’t ready for the transition into retirement yet. Realistically, all this means is that these people will have a shorter retirement. And for some, we understand, that’s just how they like it. So that begs the question…is there a right time to retire? It’s more about getting what you want out of your retirement, however long that may last. It’s about being worry-free and taking these years as an opportunity to do more of the things you love. However, not enough people understand the options available to them, or how important their choices actually are. What you do (or don’t do) in the run up to retirement will affect the quality of your lifestyle and the security of your family. It’s best to do a bit of research and properly consider how you want to live your life in retirement. A few hours out of your life now to plan for retirement will prove worth it when it comes to the transition out of employment.
ALFIE’S ANTICS It’s been an eventful month for me! Early on, I tore my ACL at doggy day care which meant I had to have ‘restricted exercise’ but that was so boring, I prefer running around as much as I can. I did get a paddling pool and a bubble machine though; they helped with the boredom for a while. This month I’ve spent a lot of time with my brother, Eber. I went for a long walk with my brother and uncles where I found a big bag of dead fish at the end… JACKPOT! I rolled around in the bag, which was great but my uncle wrapped me up in a jumper so I wouldn’t get fish all over the car, which was not great. I hated the jumper and the ridiculous amount of time I had to spend in the bath getting rid of the smell.
Alfie
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WORDSEARCH This month’s word search is about types of birds. Find the 10 words within the wordsearch, send it back to us and you could win a £25 M&S voucher. The closing date for this edition is August 31st 2019.
ALBATROSS EMU GOOSE
NAME: ...............................................................
HUMMINGBIRD
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OWL
ADDRESS: .......................................................
PARROT
........................................................................... .......................................................................... .......................................................................... .......................................................................... EMAIL: ..............................................................
PENGUIN PHEASANT PIGEON TOUCAN
FEEDBACK
We’ll be developing content based on your valuable feedback. Use the form below to tell us what you think and what you’d like to see more (or less) of. Or email evie@pen-life.co.uk. We’ll select an entry at random who will win £25 in M&S vouchers. YOUR COMMENT: ........................................................... .......................................................................................... .......................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... ..................................................................................... .......................................................................... NAME:................................................................. ADDRESS:..................................................................... EMAIL:...................................................................
DEMENTIA FORWARD CORNER
As all you ‘In The Know’ readers will be aware, PenLife are on a mission to raise much needed funds for local charity, Dementia Forward. We thought you might like to follow us on our fundraising journey and so have dedicated a little corner of the newsletter to bring you news of our fundraising exploits and total raised to date. We are delighted to announce that the total amount raised is now a whopping £2,006. The PenLife Tough Mudder Team has been training hard for their muddy challenge - and the countdown is now on! The challenge takes place on Saturday 27th July 2019, so it’s not too late for anyone who would like to sponsor the team. You can do so on the following fundraising page: https://www.everyclick.com/ penlifetoughmudder4dementiaforward This link will still work for a few months after the event. PenLife Associates are proud to support Dementia Forward, your local dementia charity. Registered Charity Number 1148225
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OUR GUEST HOUSE Making room for the great businesses and individuals we work alongside
This month’s Guest House segment comes from Naomi of Morgan + Wells, creators of luxury leather goods: Yorkshire is a beautiful county to live and work in and it inspires what we do at Morgan + Wells in so many ways. When my good friend John Walker at Penlife kindly invited me to tell you more I was delighted to be able to share it with you. As an artisan leather worker I only use the type of traditional hand tools, skills and methods that have developed over thousands of years. The pure resourcefulness and ingenuity of early man to see the hides from their cattle as a resource, was an essential part to the development of civilisation as we now know it. I love the fact that using leather in this way has such a glorious past and yet is still of course the ultimate luxury by-product! The finest leather is so expensive as a raw material that here at Morgan + Wells we respect the journey it has had and limited our waste. Everything is hand cut, hand stitched, hand riveted and of course, burnished by hand, here in York. Every item is unique and bespoke something you definitely can’t get on the high street! We’ve had a whole host of commissions and bespoke requests including creating the leather costume pieces for the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this summer, at the London Palladium. It’s been an all-round fabulous experience and to see our work on this world-famous stage is just exhilarating; we even got a backstage tour to see THE coat! So every day at Morgan + Wells is different but it’s such an honour to be keeping this traditional craft alive and
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at the forefront of fashion and today’s media. We’re proud that our products are plastic-free, chemical-free and are the ultimate bag/wallet/ purse for life. We exist to design and make heirlooms and we can’t wait to bump into some of them in 30 years time! www.morganandwells.co.uk
If you would like to feature in our newsletter’s Guest House send an email to Nora at eleanor@pen-life.co.uk with your company details and she will organise your segment.
WHAT OUR CLIENTS ARE SAYING:
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Both my wife and I feel very welcome and valued customers. PenLife do a great job!”
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” -Benjamin F ra n k l i n
TOP TIP:
COMPETITION TIME!
Before you hit the ‘checkout’ button on your online basket, do a quick online search for available promotional codes. Promo codes can save you on average 10 to 15% on your purchase
With your help, we want to make our PenLife 2020 calendar the best it’s ever been. We live in God’s own County. So here’s what we’re going to do. Throughout 2019, send us your seasonal Yorkshire photos and we’ll run a competition – Countryfile style – where we’ll select your photos to feature in the 2020 Calendar. The entries selected for the Calendar will win prizes. Please email your photographs, in either JPEG or PNG format, to Nora at eleanor@pen-life.co.uk. Sending us your photograph in this format will help us ensure your image is reproduced at a high enough quality - should your entry be selected. If you are unable to provide your photograph in this way, please post a hard copy to us (Calendar Competition, PenLife Associates, 3 Tudor Court, Opus Avenue, York, YO26 6RS) and we will endeavour to do the best we can to make it printable.
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AROUND THE WORLD UK The economy has likely lost momentum in the second quarter, after Brexit stockpiling flattered the first-quarter GDP reading. Economic activity contracted sharply in April, albeit in part due to a temporary shutdown at car manufacturing plants. On the political front, the race to choose a new Conservative Party leader—and by extension the next prime minister—continues. Boris Johnson, who has advocated leaving the EU on 31 October with or without a deal, remains the clear favourite. However, all options remain on the table, including a general election, second referendum, leaving the EU with a deal and not leaving at all. EU Growth revived in the first quarter of the year, after slowing sharply in the second half of 2018. A solid domestic economy drove the acceleration, with household spending picking up, boosted by a falling unemployment rate and wages growing at the fastest rate in a decade. Meanwhile, exports growth slowed amid the turbulent external environment, although overall the external sector still contributed modestly to growth.
USA Economic momentum will slow this year primarily due to lower global growth and the effects of the trade feud with China, although a strong labour market should keep private spending robust nonetheless. The trade war now appears unlikely to subside this year and an all-out escalation is by far the main threat to the outlook, with high corporate debt another key risk.
Russia Sliding private consumption and a downbeat external sector will restrain growth this year, although an uptick in public spending should provide some relief. Meanwhile, growth in the short-term should pick up slightly thanks to monetary policy easing, while a stronger boost over the medium-term is expected as the “national projects” plan gains traction.
Japan Faltering global demand is expected to weigh on growth this year. Conversely, the economy should benefit from frantic front-loading of consumer purchases ahead of October’s sales tax. The key downside risks are further trade restrictions, which would reduce demand for Japanese goods, as well as weaker global growth, which could strengthen the yen. PenLife Associates Ltd, 3 Tudor Court, Opus Avenue, York, YO26 6RS Tel: 01904 661140 Email: office@pen-life.co.uk Registered in England No: 2390548. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Authorisation Number 212972.