Financial planning insights

Mortgage Planning Remortgaging to pay off debt: when it helps and what it costs Moving credit cards and loans into your mortgage can lower your monthly payments. When it makes sense, what it can cost in total, and the options to compare. 29 September 2026 ·4 min read Mortgage Planning How to get a better mortgage rate when your deal ends What happens when a fixed rate ends, how early to start, and the things that decide the rate you are offered: loan to value, credit file, fees and term. 29 September 2026 ·4 min read Business Owners How do I get my corporation tax down? What actually brings a corporation tax bill down, what only looks like it does, and why profits between £50,000 and £250,000 cost 26.5%. 17 September 2026 ·8 min read Business Owners Retirement plans for business owners Company contributions, a SIPP, a SSAS or selling the business. The four routes to retirement for business owners, and where each one lets you down. 17 September 2026 ·8 min read Estate Planning Don’t Fear the Reaper: Your Pension and Inheritance Tax from 2027 From April 2027 unused pension pots fall into your estate for inheritance tax. Adam Davey on what changes, who it hits hardest, and why acting early matters. 13 January 2026 ·5 min read Business Owners Budget Summary November 2025 What the November 2025 Budget changed for pensions, inheritance tax and business owners, and which announcements are worth acting on. 2 December 2025 ·4 min read Business Owners Salary sacrifice – time is running out to save money and enhance employees benefits The window on salary sacrifice is narrowing. What is changing, what it means for your payroll, and what employers should be doing about it now. 1 December 2025 ·3 min read Estate Planning Using Trusts to Support Children and Vulnerable Beneficiaries How a trust lets you provide for a child or a vulnerable family member without handing over control, and the tax treatment that goes with it. 30 November 2025 ·2 min read Business Owners Using a SSAS to buy your business premises Can a SSAS buy commercial property, residential property or your own premises? How it works, how the rent is taxed, and the rules that catch people out. 23 November 2025 ·7 min read Estate Planning Trusts vs. Wills: Which Is Right for Your Estate Plan? A will says who gets what. A trust controls how and when. Where each one fits, where they work together, and which questions decide it. 16 November 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning Trusts Explained: What They Are and How They Protect Your Wealth What a trust is in plain English, the main types used in UK estate planning, and the situations where one genuinely earns its keep. 9 November 2025 ·2 min read Financial Planning Six Steps of Financial Planning What a financial planning process actually looks like, step by step, and what you should expect from an adviser at each stage. 2 November 2025 ·3 min read Business Owners Salary sacrifice: a guide for employers How salary sacrifice works, what it saves an employer and an employee, and the compliance points to get right before you set one up. 26 October 2025 ·7 min read Business Owners Relevant life insurance for company directors Life cover paid for by your company, tax-efficiently, without a group scheme. Who it suits, how the premiums are treated, and what it pays out. 19 October 2025 ·6 min read Retirement Planning Pension Tax Relief: Making the Most of Your Contributions How pension tax relief works, what higher-rate taxpayers have to claim rather than receive automatically, and how much is going unclaimed. 12 October 2025 ·2 min read Business Owners Pension funding for company directors How company directors fund a pension through their own limited company, what it does to the corporation tax bill, and how much can go in each year. 5 October 2025 ·6 min read Retirement Planning Pension Drawdown Strategies: Flexibility, Freedom, and Financial Control How drawdown works, the ways people take an income from a pension pot, and the decisions that determine whether it lasts. 28 September 2025 ·2 min read Retirement Planning Pension Consolidation: Is It Time to Simplify Your Retirement Planning? When bringing old pensions into one pot is worth doing, when it costs you a valuable guarantee, and what to check before you move anything. 21 September 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning Lifetime Gifting: What You Can Give and When The gifts you can make free of inheritance tax, the seven-year rule, and how to give money away in your lifetime without creating a tax bill. 14 September 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning Inheritance Tax and Property: What Homeowners Need to Know How your home is treated for inheritance tax, what the residence nil-rate band adds, and where homeowners are caught out. 7 September 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning Inheritance Tax Planning in 2025 – What You Need to Know The allowances, the rates, and the planning that is available. A current guide to reducing an inheritance tax bill legitimately. 3 September 2025 ·3 min read Estate Planning How to Legally Reduce Your Inheritance Tax Bill Gifts, trusts, allowances and pensions. The legitimate routes to a smaller inheritance tax bill, and how early each one needs to start. 27 August 2025 ·2 min read Business Owners Financial Planning for UK Small Business Owners Pensions, profit extraction, protection and planning for a business sale. What financial planning actually covers when most of your wealth is in the business. 20 August 2025 ·2 min read Financial Planning Navigating Life’s Big Financial Moments Marriage, children, inheritance, selling a business, retiring. The financial decisions that come with each, and when to take advice. 13 August 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning Estate Planning FAQs – Your Most Common Questions Answered Wills, trusts, probate, power of attorney and inheritance tax. Straight answers to the questions we are asked most about estate planning. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning How to Create a Bulletproof Estate Plan Step-by-Step Guide A practical order of work for putting an estate plan together, from the will and the power of attorney through to trusts and inheritance tax. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Estate Planning The Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes And How to Avoid Them The errors that cost families the most: out-of-date wills, unwritten trusts, forgotten pensions, and leaving it all too late. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Mortgage Planning Mortgage and Insurance FAQs – Your Top Questions Answered Deposits, affordability, rates, life cover and income protection. The questions buyers ask most, answered by whole-of-market advisers. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Mortgage Planning The Ultimate Mortgage Approval Checklist – Get Ready to Buy What lenders want to see before they say yes, the documents to have ready, and the things that quietly damage an application. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Mortgage Planning The Truth About Mortgage Myths – What You Need to Know You need a 20% deposit. Self-employed people cannot get a mortgage. The common beliefs that are wrong, and what is actually true. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Investment Planning How Smart Investment Planning Helped One Client Achieve Financial Freedom – Case Study How one client moved from scattered savings to a plan with a purpose, and what changed about their position over the following years. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Investment Planning The Ultimate Investment Planning Checklist for Smart Investors Goals, timescale, risk, tax wrappers and cost. What to settle before you invest, and how to tell whether a portfolio still fits. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Investment Planning The Power of Investing – Why You Should Start Today What compounding does over time, what waiting costs, and how to start investing sensibly rather than waiting for the right moment. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Retirement Planning How One Couple Secured Their Dream Retirement A couple in their fifties with several old pensions and no plan. How the pieces were brought together into one retirement plan. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Retirement Planning Step-by-Step Checklist for a Secure Retirement Plan Work out what you will need, what you are on track for, and what closes the gap. A practical checklist for building a retirement plan. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Retirement Planning 10 Signs You Need to Start Thinking About Retirement Planning Ten signals that retirement planning has moved up your list, and the first things to do about each of them. 17 January 2025 ·2 min read Retirement Planning How Much Do You Really Need to Retire Comfortably? What a comfortable retirement actually costs, how that translates into a pension pot, and how to check what you are on course for. 10 January 2025 ·3 min read Retirement Planning Future-Proof Your Retirement: Adapting to Economic Shifts Inflation, rule changes and longer lives all move the target. How to build a retirement plan that survives the things you cannot predict. 10 January 2025 ·2 min read Retirement Planning Property vs. Pension: Which is the Better Investment for Retirement? Buy-to-let or a pension? The tax treatment, the real returns, the work involved, and why the answer is often not one or the other. 10 January 2025 ·3 min read