Lowes Magazine Issue 127

INSIDE TRACK

We’re here to support you

We understand life happens and certain situations can mean you need additional support. At Lowes, we’re flexible in our approach, ensuring you get personal, sound financial advice in a way that suits you. Whether you would like a family member or trusted friend to attend your appointments with you, as an extra pair of ears, or need communications adapted to make them easier for you to digest, please make your adviser aware or contact us on 0191 281 8811 .

Thinking ahead to April 2024 In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced that the Capital Gains Tax exemption would be reducing from £12,300 a year to £6,000 in the 2023 2024 tax year and would be cut again to £3,000 from 6 April 2024. If you are planning to realise any assets that would generate a capital gain post April 2024, which will be greater than the £3,000 exemption at that time, it is worth considering whether you can bring forward that date to take advantage of the exemption in the current tax year. Your Lowes Adviser can help you allocate assets and calculate the capital gains. Financial security is now the biggest influence on when people retire, whereas health and wellbeing used to be the biggest factors, according to the latest Retirement Voice study from Standard Life. People’s desire to build a solid pension pot to fund the duration of their retirement has also affected when people think they will retire. Those currently aged between 45 and 64 envisage they will retire at 68, after the state pension age. In comparison, current retirees stopped work, on average, at the age of 61. Thinking about your retirement, and putting plans in place to build your pension pot as early as possible will help you to retire when you want, with the lifestyle you’re accustomed to - or even sooner if possible. Financial security affecting retirement dates

NI top up deadline now 2025

The government has extended the deadline to pay voluntary National Insurance (NI) contributions, which can boost an individual’s state pension, to 5 April 2025. Gaps in NI are normally allowed to be paid for the previous six years. However, as part of the transition to the new State Pension in 2016, voluntary contributions to fill up any gaps have been allowed from April 2006 to April 2016. The deadline for making these additional payments was originally 5 April 2023; this was pushed back to 31 July 2023. It has now been extended to 5 April 2025. The cost of filling one year’s gap is currently £907.40 and the additional benefit is currently around £303 a year for as long as you draw the state pension (increasing each year in line with the triple lock), so checking your contributions via the gov.uk website and topping up any shortfall is well worth doing.

The content of the articles featured in this publication is for your general information and use only and is not intended to address your particular requirements. Articles should not be relied upon in their entirety and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute, advice. Although endeavours have been made to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No individual or company should act upon such information without receiving appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of their particular situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of any articles. Thresholds, percentage rates and tax legislation may change in subsequent Finance Acts. Levels and bases of, and reliefs from, taxation are subject to change and their value can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Covershot: Mosque in Morocco Photo: Pixabay

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LOWES Issue 127 · Published July 2023