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The UK is finally moving away from a decade of austerity, as the 2020 spring budget has seen spending soar across many different sectors. The newly appointed chancellor, Rishi Sunak, spent a large part of his speech targeting the current and future impact of the coronavirus and how the government could help people affected. But the rumoured inheritance and pension tax relief reforms were given much less attention, if any. Reports that the chancellor could drastically overhaul the inheritance tax (IHT) system by reducing it to 10% with a £30,000 lifetime gifting limit came to nothing. Little airtime was also given to pensions, with the only measure taken by the UK government being Read more…

Companies could slash UK pension promises to 11 million employees, potentially knocking thousands of pounds off the incomes of people in retirement, if proposals in a government consultation paper are approved. Unions are likely to react furiously to the proposals, which would allow companies to save £90bn by providing annual increases in their retired employees’ pensions based on the consumer price index, rather than the retail price index. As CPI is generally lower than RPI, the impact on pensioners is likely to be significant over time. Analysis by advisers Hargreaves Lansdown suggests that for every £1,000 in pension income in 1988, under RPI it had increased to £2,586 this year, Read more…

Property Development Loans – From UK Expat Pension Reviews Property Development Finance and  Property Development Loans are short-term funding options, used to develop either an existing building, i.e. refurbishment, conversion, or a new build development. They can also be for residential houses, shops, offices, industrial buildings. It can be for investment purposes or owner occupied. Development Loans are usually taken over a period of between 6-18 months. This really depends on the type of Development; with a light refurbishment it would be as little as 3 months, and with a larger scheme up to 18 months. Bridging finance for development is used to build a new building or convert an existing Read more…