7 Jun 2023

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS? Inheritance tax aka iceberg tax Here at FiveWays we sometimes refer to inheritance tax (IHT) as an iceberg tax. You don’t always see it coming, but there can be a whole lot of trouble hidden beneath the surface.The first rule of IHT is that you do not usually have to pay it

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Posted by Jon Lawson
22 Mar 2023

Analysing the…Budget for GrowthThe Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget last Wednesday (15 March) had one overarching goal: to steady the ship of the British economy amidst banking turmoil in the United States.Hunt’s Budget also provided an opportunity for the Chancellor to distance himself from the disastrous ‘mini’ budget of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng back in September.Therefore,

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Posted by Jon Lawson
13 Feb 2023

Changes to Social Care FundingHow to Navigate New Capital Gains Rules In September 2021, the Government set out plans to reform adult social care in England. It said that £5.4 billion would be used to fund the reforms between 2022/23 and 2024/25:The funding was initially planned to come from the new Health and Social Care

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Posted by Ian Evans
11 Mar 2022

According to HMRC’s latest statistics, inheritance tax (IHT) receipts for April to November 2021 are just over £4.1 billion, which is £0.6 billion higher than in the same period a year earlier.

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Posted by Jon Lawson
21 Sep 2021

On the 7th September 2021 Boris Johnson made a statement on the long-awaited changes to paying for Long Term Care and funding for the NHS

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Posted by Ian Evans
27 Aug 2020

Ian Evans, Head of Later Life Advice at Fiveways Financial Planning, talks to Chris Gilchrist about how to identify scams aimed at the elderly and the right way to use Lasting Powers of Attorney.

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Posted by Chris Gilchrist
29 Apr 2020

In our current state of enforced isolation, many of us have more time on our hands than usual. It’s a time when we actually get round to doing those things that we tend to say ‘I will get around to it’ but never do. Apart from all the DIY, two activities have suddenly become much more popular: writing or updating a Will, and creating a Lasting Power of Attorney.

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Posted by Chris Gilchrist
14 Feb 2019

We arranged a SOLLA/SFE joint event on 24th January 2019 at Exeter Racecourse, to listen to several speakers and to help IFAs and Solicitors to work together. The event was attended by 45 delegates and was generally regarded as extremely successful with excellent feedback.

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Posted by Ian Evans
13 Feb 2018

Ian Evans of FiveWays Financial Planning was honoured at The Symponia Crystal Dolphin Awards for his expertise and commitment to advising elderly people and their families on the complex workings of care fees planning.

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Posted by Chris Gilchrist
13 Feb 2018

Almost any day some news programme or newspaper carries an item about the crisis in care. NHS chiefs complain about bed-blocking by patients who cannot be discharged because social services cannot find accommodation for them. Care homes teeter on the verge of bankruptcy because the rate local authorities pay them is barely enough and costs have risen due to the Minimum Living Wage. Local authorities’ increasingly desperate pleas for more money from the government have had no response.

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Posted by Jim Bloodworth
13 Feb 2018

We had yet another case this week of an elderly person being discharged from hospital after an illness, who was no longer capable of looking after herself, but who was not – as the rules require – given a needs assessment by social services.

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Posted by Jim Bloodworth
13 Feb 2018

Our lawyer friends regularly tell us about problems and costs that have arisen because someone did not register a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Here are details of one such case.

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Posted by Jim Bloodworth
2 Jan 2018

Most people know that almost all insurance companies now have a policy of giving the best deals to new customers. To get the best deal on car or home insurance, you need to check the rates and perhaps switch almost every year.

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Posted by Chris Gilchrist