Celebrating 10 years of Ideal Financial Solutions Limited!
For those of you that weren’t aware, February 14th 2024 we celebrated our 10th anniversary as Ideal Financial Solutions Limited whilst up in Wales, where we also climbed the infamous Mount Snowdon. The former being a very proud achievement in which we are grateful to each and every one of our client’s old and new.
Hello all and welcome to issue 3 of our quarterly emails, I guess we’ll start by saying Happy New Year to everyone albeit a little late. I hope 2024 is of to a flying start for you all, and if it’s a little slower than expected then you’re not alone, we are hearing that a lot so keep going.
Budget March 2024
On topics, no where else really to start. Who better to sum this up, than an Accountant. I’ve pinched his hard work, so for those of you who would like an informed summary please do read the attached. We receive weekly emails from this firm, really informative, so if you would like to be included please let me know and we will pass this on.
ISA Season
It’s that time of year where if you haven’t used this year’s allowance, then you have a month to do so. Then you’ll have another allowance come 6th April, so that’s £40k that can be invested without any tax applied to the interest earned, £80k per couple. Now, if you’re prepared to put as a minimum £20k away and forget it for at least 5 years, with the prospect of a better return than the Banks will ofer, then we have a great little proposition for you, and would love the opportunity to explain more. It’s not for everyone, and of course we have to use the investment disclaimer that values can rise as well as fall. If we do nothing else though other than to remind you to use your allowance, then we’ve done our job.
Mortgage Updates
Rates have for the last few months been slowly coming down, however following two negative quarters and the UK being deemed “in a recession” lenders understandably have started to increase them again. Don’t panic they are small increases at the moment. We have had a lot of people ask if we think they will continue to rise, personally we always sit on the fence with these questions as you really never know, but looking at it from all the forecasts we’ve seen we don’t believe these will be a permanent increase, more that banks are trying to be cautious. Compared to some of the madness we saw last year it still is a good time to buy.
Equity Release
Kirsty does most of the Equity Release here so I thought we could give her a little space. Kirsty is really very passionate about this subject, and the value of good honest advice in this area is vitally important. I’ve asked Kirsty to provide me some reasons why people have been doing Equity Release over the last few years.
‘The biggest reason is to help family (bank of mum and dad), many cases have been to get children or grandchildren onto the property ladder.
Second would be home improvements, roofs, windows, doors, etc, due to energy increases people have become far more conscious to ensure their home is working for them.
Lastly would be day to day living, IHT planning and paying of historic interest only mortgages. Many people can’t keep up with cost of living on state pension!’
Personally, I’d also add holiday’s, cruise’s and as one Chancellor famously said (OK, was in regard to pensions!) that Lamborghini you’ve always wanted!
In Summary
There’s so many other matters and subjects we could have included and gone on about, however we’ve probably bored you enough already. We may do another interim mail in between the quarterly versions, so if there’s anything you’d like us to include within these, or any other current burning questions, please do drop us a line to let us know. If nothing else, at least this will prove you’ve read until the end of this email.
As always, may we reiterate how much we truly value and appreciate your business. We will never take this for granted and we appreciate the continued journey you share with us.
So I’ll sign of by saying Happy Anniversary IFS, here’s to the next 10 years.
