Blog | Posts by Clive Barwell

When you start investigating later life resources, you soon find that it’s often confusing and difficult to see when information applies to you.

Balancing the risk you are willing to accept with the investment returns you need to meet your investment objectives will help determine which investments to choose.

Unlike investing money for yourself, where caveat emptor – “let the buyer beware” – applies, investing as a Trustee is governed by a whole series of rules and regulations, which you ignore at your peril.

Understandably, families who are watching their inheritance disappear whilst an elderly relative is paying for care home fees are keen to put the burden on the NHS and reclaim care home fees wherever possible.

In the summer budget of 2015, the Chancellor announced measures for which the headline was an increase in the Nil Rate Band for Inheritance Tax to £1m, but is this true and, if so, who will benefit?

Whilst Granny’s home doesn’t have to be sold during her lifetime, it may well still need to be sold after her death to repay the debt.

My mailbox recently had the following question in it and I thought I should share my answer as it is a commonly recurring theme…

“My question is, no doubt, the most common one; should I put my 88 year old mother’s house (approx value £220,000) in our joint names; she has no savings? My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 5 years ago, but the illness is progressing slowly and she is unlikely to need care for 2/3 years. Would this fall under the ‘deprivation’ rule?”

My post box recently had the following question:

“My Wife will soon be going into permanent care. At present our home is in “Tenants in Common” format. At some stage in the future I will probably want to sell and move to a smaller property. Can the new property be held under “Tenants in Common”?”

My mail box recently had the following question in it regarding a “granny annexe” and I thought the answer would be of interest.

The question was on behalf a friend. The father, late 80s, with Alzheimer’s Disease has recently lost his wife. The family is considering the possibility of the father selling his house and using some of the money to build a granny annexe to the home of one of the children.

With the average annual cost of paying for nursing home fees already at £39,000, according to recent analysis¹ this could rise to £69,500 by 2035 if current trends continue. This huge increase has been mainly attributed to the implementation of the National Living Wage which rose from £8.21 to £8.72 per hour in April 2020, […]

You may consider that Granny can no longer safely live in her own home and that she needs to go into a Care Home, but if the Local Authority doesn’t share that view, there will be no contribution to costs, regardless of whether Granny would qualify on financial grounds alone.

Cash does not offer any long-term hedge against inflation in the current climate

An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a “wrapper” for cash and/or investments which confers some valuable tax benefits to UK resident savers and investors.

Whilst overall divorce rates are falling in the UK as a whole, the number of those divorcing who are over 60 is increasingly significant

Here at Yorkshire Prestige Car Brokers we understand that for many people, especially those who are elderly or who have little knowledge of how the motor trade works, changing their car can be a stressful experience.

That’s the whole story in a nutshell. Investment is really not that complicated. In fact, the more complicated that people make it sound the more you should be sceptical.

Brussels IV is the solution to the forced heirship provisions, which can currently thwart the best laid plans of British Will-makers. However, what many people are not aware of is that the new rules will only benefit those British nationals who have taken appropriate action during their lifetime by drafting a new Will.

All forms of investment carry some degree of risk and whilst I don’t want to understate the risk of investing in shares quoted on the AIM, I will argue that the step-up from investing in shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange is not that great, if fundamental investing principles are followed.

In Inheritance Tax – Mitigation using Business Property Relief – I introduced both Business Property Relief (BPR) and the concept of this being available to non-entrepreneurs. In this article, I will begin to explore the use of BPR products, which have been put together by specialist Investment Managers to bring BPR relief from IHT to […]

Written under a simple family trust, the policy proceeds then cost-effectively compensates the beneficiaries for some or all of the IHT on death.