It’s the New Year; we are all starting 2014 with a clean slate. Do you ever wonder how some people manage to get so much out of their day while you are struggling with time? After all, we all get the same 24 hours in the day. I hear it from my clients all the […]
The year is almost over, people are finishing up work and looking forward to enjoying Christmas with their families. It is also a time reflect on 2013, what you have achieved and to put plans in place for 2014. When you are doing this, ask yourself these 4 questions: What have you done in 2013 […]
I saw this picture the other week and had to laugh at how true it is. We go through life expecting for it to go nice and smoothly with no bumps in the road but the reality is life doesn’t go in a straight line. Mostly, we are really unprepared for the ups and downs […]
In last weeks blog I wrote about the proposed changes to the rules when defined pension schemes were being wound up. This week I want to talk about what you need to consider in deciding whether to transfer your benefits out of a defined benefit pension plan arrangement or stay. A few years ago, no […]
The Minister for Social Protection announced recently that she secured Government approval for measures to tackle the problems facing defined benefit pension schemes. I am going to have a look at those solutions, but first, we need to look at what the problems are and what the current rules say regarding insolvent defined benefit schemes. […]
As I am discovering myself (running my own business for just a few months now), it is completely different being a business owner than an employee. For a start, your business is on your mind 24/7; what needs to be done, what are the cashflows like, when will that invoice be paid, what marketing strategies […]
When I started up my new business, I knew that I would be working at home a lot as well as in the office. From a security point of view, keeping all my files on my laptop is madness, so I looked at cloud computing, eventually picking Google Apps for Business. While not perfect and […]
For me, this is the most important protection benefit on the market. For most, if you die, you have a life cover plan to pay off the mortgage and other debts so your loved ones aren’t saddled with debt after you’re gone. But what if you don’t die? What if you have an accident that […]
The other week I was competing against another adviser for a new client. During negotiations, the new client (yes, he went with me) said to me “Mr broker says he can get me 8% growth per annum. What can you get me?” I told him I didn’t know how he could make such promises because […]
So what did the Minister for Finance say in Budget 2014 and how does it effect you? The good news (if you could call it that) is that there is no increase in income tax or USC, so your pay on 1st January should be the same as the last one in December. Very bad […]