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New Annuities Code should help increase retirement incomes

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says its new annuities code which should be ready by March and which come fully into force in March 2013 will make provide a code of conduct for annuity sales encouraging people to take … Continue reading

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Increase in costs of childcare leads to increased risk

It costs £218,024 to raise a child from birth to age 21, up by 3.3 per cent from last year, a report from LV= shows.  The largest element is education at £72K, followed by childcare and babysitting at £62K the … Continue reading

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Retirement funding through ISAs?

There have been drops in annuity rates of around 10 per cent last year, and the amount people can take in drawdown is also decreasing.  This gives more reasons for retirement solutions based on other tax efficient solutions, such as … Continue reading

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Mortgage Ignorance?

Almost one third of customers did not know the interest rate on their mortgage, research from Firstdirect shows.  One quarter of the 1,022 people surveyed did not know whether they could overpay on their mortgage.  Twice as many people were … Continue reading

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Home equity helps make ends meet

Recent research released by Responsible Equity Release shows that three quarters of its clients used some of the equity released from their homes to help themselves or their families cope with the economic crisis.  While debts, inflation and unemployment are … Continue reading

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Delay for medium sized employers having to auto-enroll

The Department of Work and Pensions has said that firms with 50-249 employees would get later dates between 1/4/2014 and 1/4/ /2015.  Firms with 250 or more employees must still auto-enrol between 1/10/2102 and 1/2/2014.  The last firms are due … Continue reading

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First Time Buyers Struggle

It is now more difficult for First Time Buyers (FTBs) to get started on the housing ladder than in the 2009 recession.  The RBS FTB Ability To Buy Index, which takes into account the effects of tax, NI, earnings, living … Continue reading

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