2011/12 Financial planning guide

What to do? Where to start? Who to ask?

At the beginning of each section, you will find a range of the areas where we can advise. To schedule a planning meeting or to review a specific area of tax planning, please contact us now.

The Government continues to make changes that impact on all our finances. This guide has many planning pointers and takes into account changes announced in the 2011 Budget.

With the reduced rate of economic growth and the ongoing recovery from the recession, a review of your financial and tax planning is important. Maximising your net income, business and family assets should be high on everyone's agenda.

This section of our site contains an important range of personal and business planning guides. Guides that discuss your planning for the immediate future as well as guides that look more medium and long term.

Proper tax and financial planning can lower and defer the tax you pay, freeing up cash for investment, business or personal purposes.

We believe that planning is the starting point for developing your wealth and building financial security so that you are as ring-fenced as possible when market and/or financial collapses occur.

Making sense of your planning and your finances requires more time and effort than ever in today's constantly developing, and often fluctuating, economic environment, with many seeking higher earnings and to rebuild their wealth, it is essential to be abreast of ever-changing tax laws and the wide range of financial products and solutions available.

This guide contains our outline thoughts and basic strategies that you might discuss with us for the current tax year. There is no substitute for personal advice and we trust our website demonstrates our expertise and commitment to helping clients save tax.

An introduction to tax planning

Tax planning is the legal process of arranging your affairs to minimise a tax liability. There are more than 200 such provisions specifically written into tax law. You may invest in shares through an ISA, for example. Here the government encourages taxpayers to avoid tax.

A lifetime of personal financial planning

Throughout life, from childhood to retirement, circumstances and priorities change. At every stage it is important to make well-informed decisions to ensure that you and your family are following the best strategies for achieving your goals.

Strategies for you and your family

No matter what your age, personal or financial status, you will have dreams, and expectations. The impact of the recession necessitates a review in order to evaluate what realistic view you take of your planning. We can advise and help you plan how to make your goals a reality.

For business owners only

If you are thinking of starting a business, you should consider, among other factors: the impact of the current economic downturn, the suitable availability of funding, your break-even, the nature of the business, the profit potential, the rate at which you expect the business to grow, the impact of being the business owner on all areas of your life and the degree of risk involved.

Making the most of leaving your business

The impact of the 2008/09 recession and financial crisis has devastated many people's financial aspirations. The value of almost all property and businesses has fallen, and this against a slump in share prices and falling interest rates.

Employment options

Many people can go for years paying too much (or, perhaps more worryingly, too little) tax. PAYE aims to collect, over the course of a tax year, approximately the right amount of tax from your earnings.

Tax and the company car

The system for taxing those who use company cars has seen annual incremental increases in the cost of benefits, while maintaining the basic approach to taxing those who use a company owned vehicle.

Achieving financial security in retirement

For many people their retirement plans have been devastated by the fall of the stock market in the first decade of the new millennium, reduction in property values and the fall in interest and annuity rates. What chance now of a 'comfortable retirement'?

Building your wealth

Making your savings grow and being able to retire when and how you want is one of your most important financial objectives. But achieving this goal takes planning and perseverance.

Estate planning – "Don't pay death taxes"

Estate planning should start early in life. If your estate is large it could be subject to inheritance tax, but even if it is small, planning and a well drafted Will can ensure that your assets will go to your chosen beneficiaries.

Charitable giving

Gifts to charity can take many forms. Perhaps you are already making regular donations to one or more well known charities, coupled with one-off donations in response to natural disasters or televised appeals. In this special supplement to our guide we will focus on some of the ways you can increase the value of your gift to your chosen charities through the various forms of tax relief available.