The phrase “use it or lose it” is very relevant to ISAs. As of April 6th 2015 you have 366 days to save up to £15,240 in your ISA. Even though 2016 is a leap year, giving you an extra day to achieve this, it's recommended to get off the starting blocks quickly. Let's cover the basics first. What Is An ISA? ISA stands for Individual Savings Account. In very simple terms, you pay into an ISA out of your post-tax income. You can either keep this money as cash or use it to buy investments. You should know that there is a government-defined list of ISA-approved investments and you have to choose from these. Having said that, the list is pretty extensive, so you have a good chance of finding

It seems that wherever one looks in the media at the moment a commentator, government minister or journalist is stepping forward to tell us how awful annuities are and posing the question: why are annuities so bad? This, therefore is an important statement that should be absorbed before we continue; not all annuities are bad, some offer good value for money and many policy holders are happy with their choice of product. Some savers with policies have been busy asking themselves ‘how much is my annuity worth’, and at least a few will have been pleasantly surprised by the answer. Others will be demanding to know ‘how do I sell my annuity?’ Ok. That’s that out of the way and the reason in this

It seems like a world away now, but the 1970s and 1980s both saw periods of double digit inflation, where prices rose at one point in 1975 to nearly 25 percent. How any economy could function like this seems a mystery, until the obvious answer presents itself - Britain’s economy didn’t function under this burden, strikes, chaos and by 1982 over three million unemployed. Ah, the good old days. It rather puts our recent difficulties into perspective, whilst we have had a tough time as a nation since 2008, prices have remained stable in some areas and fallen dramatically in others. We are in a period of deflation and whilst this might be bad news for manufacturers or property developers who hop

One issue in the world of personal finance has dominated the headlines for months; the changes to Britain’s pensions industry that will have profound implications for savers and retirees for decades to come. Much of the focus of the reportage has been on the effects of the changes on savers waiting to retire, but there are equally far reaching changes afoot for those who have already finished their careers and are enjoying their retirement. In this article, we will explore what already retired pensioners need to know about their rights and entitlements under the new pension laws that come into effect this year. What is an annuity? There are currently five million pensioners living off annuit