Last year was challenging, with job losses and pay cuts causing many to tighten their budgets. It was particularly difficult for the self-employed, with many freelancers losing income as companies cut costs and stopped using contractors. Despite government grants being available, many self-employed workers have found they are not eligible.

Almost five million people in

More than ever, UK savers are struggling to prioritise their pension, with over half saying they are likely to review or reduce their pension contributions in the wake of the pandemic*.

It’s true that it can be easy to think of pension contributions as a drain on your resources. And yet, despite travel restrictions, Britons were still expected to spend £46.8bn on

Last January, as a new decade dawned, little did we know how the next 12 months would unfold. Now, as another year begins, there are growing shoots of optimism but, whatever the year does bring, a crucial lesson from 2020 is undoubtedly the need to prioritise financial wellbeing in order to ensure we can cope with life’s trials and tribulations.

Key lessons

The

With the end of the tax year fast approaching (Monday 5 April), if you have cash that you don’t need to access in the short term and would like to use some or all of this year’s ISA allowance, don’t leave it too late and risk missing out on this opportunity to save tax-efficiently; remember you can’t carry any unused allowance over to the next tax year, so timing is

This week is Talk Money Week, a campaign created by The Money and Pensions Service to try and encourage people to talk openly about money to improve their financial wellbeing. This is a campaign which we really support as, even in 2020, money can still be seen as a rather taboo subject with 9 in 10 UK adults* finding it difficult to talk about money, or not even discussing

Previously, Trusts only needed to be registered with HMRC’s online Trust Registration Service (TRS) if they generated a tax consequence. But new rules, introduced to tackle money laundering as part of the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), mean that many more will need to register.

Trustees need to take note.

We work closely with WAY Investment Services

Sometimes we have to put together case studies for competitions and awards. It's hard to describe what we do and just how powerful it can be, but in this abridged version of a financial plan you can begin to see how useful working with a Financial Planner can be.

Here we have a fictional scenario, albeit a rare one with us not being based in London! Rupert who is in the

At FMB, we often talk about wellbeing, both with our clients and our staff and most of our events are linked with improving our wellbeing in one way or another:-

• Nordic Walking taster classes
• ‘The Psychology of Retirement’ seminar with Psychologist, Shelly Rubenstein
• ‘The Art of Looking Good’ workshop with Image Consultant, Jasmin Hall
• Regular Conversation and Coffee