Protection Planning

Making a gift of certain amounts of money or assets can be a valuable exemption from Inheritance Tax.

There are various additional ways to use your gift allowance, such as an annual exemption for gifting to an individual up to £3,000 per tax year. Using income to fund the contributions to a life policy held in trust may be immediately exempt if you meet certain criteria. Parents can also each give up to £5,000 to each party of a marriage/civil partnership in the event of a marriage/civil partnership. Additionally, a lifetime gift of capital designed to maintain a dependant is exempt under certain circumstances.

Gifts to charities, political parties or for the public benefit, such as universities, national museums, and the National Trust are also exempt.

Please contact us to discuss your options further, as we are able to advise you on the best options available to suit your own personal circumstances.

The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time.  The value of any tax relief is generally dependent on individual circumstances.

Protection is fundamental. It may not be the most exciting of subjects, but it answers one of our most basic desires – to keep safe all that we hold dear.

But how can you decide what kinds of insurance should be a priority for you?  The following list may help you put your protection needs in perspective:

• Stolen car
• Burglary
• Major illness, e.g. heart attack
• Stolen credit cards
• Fire at home
• Your family surviving without your income

Now ask yourself:

• 'Which of the above have I insured against?'
• 'Which of the above have I not insured against?'

Providing protection cover in the various forms of life, critical illness and disability solutions is one of the fundamentals of our business.

Working with carefully selected providers, we offer an extensive product range including:

• Life Cover (including Term Assurance and Whole of Life)
• Critical Illness
• Income Protection
• Employee Benefits
• Private Medical Insurance

The above are just a selection of the solutions available. Please seek our advice so that we can tailor a solution specifically for your needs.

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Thanks to better medical care and healthier lifestyles, we have the prospect of living longer.  But while an increase in life expectancy may seem like good news on the face of it, it has to be recognised that there are a number of financial implications that go with it.

The average cost in a residential care home in the UK is rising and often there are additional costs for nursing as you age.

The St. James's Place Later Life Planning Scheme enables you to plan for Inheritance Tax (IHT) by providing monetary gifts to your loved ones and securing an income to help cover your long term care costs.

We are committed to helping people meet their financial needs throughout their lifetime and long term care planning is no exception. The St. James's Place Later Life Planning Scheme helps provide peace of mind enabling you to plan your IHT exposure, make gifts to your heirs during your lifetime and secure a pre-set income should you need long term care in the future.

Its key benefits are:

• Safely make monetary gifts to loved ones during your lifetime
• Plan your exposure to IHT
• Arrange a pre-set income for life to help safeguard against care costs, if required in the future
• Keep control of your money
• Benefit from using gifts and trusts**

The value of an investment may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested. If the "income" taken exceeds the growth on the Plan, the capital will be eroded.

**Trusts are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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If you live in England or Northern Ireland and your personal assets are more than £23,250 you now have to pay the cost of the long term care you will receive.

Apart from the emotional cost, arranging care for yourself or a loved one is also extremely complicated. Dealing with issues like mental capacity, eligibility for state benefits, Lasting or Enduring Powers of Attorney*, the type and location of the care home and funding the care itself causes stress and worry.

If you need care, and have to fund the fees yourself, there are many things that you will need to consider. Not only will it be important that you receive care in a home you have chosen, you will also need to consider whether you can afford to pay the fees for as long as is needed. You may also wish to protect your wealth so that some inheritance may be passed on to the next generation.

Paying for care can be an expensive and long term commitment. There are pros and cons to the funding solutions available, so it is essential to seek financial advice from a specialist adviser as early as possible to find the right solution to suit your individual needs.

Whether you are concerned about saving for care home fees in the future, or facing the possibility of needing to pay these fees now, St. James's Place Wealth Management can help you and your family with the options available.

If you would like further information, then please contact us.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.

* Powers of Attorney involve the referral to a service which is separate and distinct to those offered by St. James's Place and are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Estate administration is the process of dealing with a person’s legal, financial and personal tax affairs after they have died.

It involves far more than obtaining a grant of probate (confirmation in Scotland) which is just one element of the process. It means dealing with all of the deceased's assets (such as property, investments, and personal possessions) and liabilities (such as outstanding debts and estate expenses) before transferring whatever is left to the beneficiaries, but also:

• Notifying beneficiaries and dealing with their questions
• Redirecting post and cancelling or transferring utilities
• Dealing with any Income Tax liabilities
• Advising on the distribution of assets to avoid or mitigate tax liabilities
• Calculating and paying Inheritance Tax where relevant
• Dealing with specialist legal work

These are just some of the tasks that are involved and every estate is different. While some people decide to administer the estate by themselves, this can take a significant amount of time and effort; and it leaves them personally liable for any mistakes made during the process.

Whether their estate is simple or complex, the issues faced with the death of a loved one are rarely straightforward; not least because it involves procedures most of us are not used to dealing with, and at a time when financial matters are the last thing on our minds.

St. James’s Place have selected Kings Court Trust as it's preferred provider of estate administration, to deliver an estate administration service. Kings Court Trust is one of the leading specialist estate administration service providers in the UK and, like us, they place their clients at the very heart of everything they do.

Please contact us if you wish to discuss your personal situation.

Please note this involves the referral to a service that is separate and distinct to those offered by St. James’s Place.