Recent Blog Posts

One of the Budget announcements that has left me very puzzled has been the attack on saving policies.  Yes, the same sort of harmless savings policy that our parents used to use to save up for a windfall on our 21st birthday.  Normal, regular savings, endowment policies that have, in one form or another been […]

The regulator has recently said that financial planners should avoid percentages and use fractions instead.  At Parsonage we work hard at making sure our customers fully understand our proposed investment strategy and a key tool we use to project into the future is % growth. I was recently listening to More or Less on Radio […]

The hardest part of my job is to work out how much my client’s investments can fall by before they start to worry. Over the years I have tried and tested many strategies to measure risk, as I know we all have. Currently Parsonage uses Finametrica’s questionnaire because we think it’s the best one. I […]

Do you have a pension for every past employer? Do you want to know what you should do with them all? It’s time to review your pensions. You can download our FREE retirement planning guide to Final Salary Schemes, also known as Defined Benefit Schemes, Money Purchase Schemes, Defined Contribution Schemes Group Personal Pension Schemes […]

With the news earlier this week that Scottish Widows International is closing for new business, many investors will be wondering where this news leaves them? About 18 years ago the “global investor”, then provided by Clerical Medical International, was the chosen solution for the first £1,000,000 I handled. At that time, it was the new […]

Siri really works. It’s great for my business and here’s my list of top 5 best things it does for me. 1 sending texts verbally is great when I’m on the move. Much quicker than navigating to the text function then to the right person and typing. 2 dictating my emails to people instead of […]

At this time of year, I get lots of annuity enquiries.  That gives me lots of work to do and lots of case studies to blog about.  Today, I’ll tell you about Mr T. He’s coming up for age 65 in June, so we met in November to do a bit of pre-retirement work and […]

I’m talking about pension contributions. Those of us lucky enough to earn over £50,000 have just seen a reduction in the amount we can pay into our pensions. That was part of a range of new measures, each measure will affect someone; If you have been paying more than £50,000 into your pension, or if […]

The open gardens was a great success yesterday, thanks to all of you for your support. We raised over £100 for Marie Curie. Also, the large, unidentified plant was a “bowles perennial wallflower”. I paid 30p for it at a plant sale and now it’s huge.

A lot of you had some searching questions for me and the other panelists, it was great to hear such interest in the way financial advice is evolving.

Today, I just have a link for you to see.  Not necessarily enjoy, but definitely see: It’s about facing unknown unknowns. Please be aware that by clicking on to the above links you are leaving the Parsonage Financial Planning website. Please note that Parsonage Financial Planning is not responsible for the accuracy of the information […]

Parsonage’s Flora Maudsley-Barton has been invited on the expert panel at the Manchester Central (G-MEX) Retirement Show on 19th & 20th March. We will also have a stand, come and visit us at E13 and we’ve made a fun guide to investing.

On April 6th, the earliest age people can draw pension benefits rises from 50 to 55. If you’re 30 now, you might file that under “whatever”. If you’re between 50 and 54 now, you might want to think about whether the change will affect you.  Obviously, the younger you are, the longer you will have […]

If you’re unlucky/lucky enough to be facing redundancy soon, with a big severance payment, you might well be expecting your money on 31 March? It seems to be a popular date. Take great care in advance if you’ve got any tax planning in mind: The last day of the tax year is 1 April this […]

I’ve four similar cases on the go at the moment, all at different stages, all investing for long-term income. Drs H invested for income two years ago, when he retired.  Our second annual review will be on Friday.  I’ve begun preparing for that, with a performance review of all the funds and holdings within the […]

After 2012, financial advisers will have to choose a path. Either, they can sell a simple range of products, which will have commission built in, so you don’t have to pay up front for their work. Or, they can be professionals – highly qualified and charge fees for their work. There’s a lot of argument […]

We don’t save enough.  State pensions aren’t enough to live comfortably on.  So what can I look forward to, as a thirty-something? Here’s what I think. Why are we so desperate to retire early?  I don’t think we’re designed to rest for a third of our lifetimes, and our life expectancy continues to get longer.  […]

Parsonage www.parsonage-group.com are holding a tea party to raise funds for Marie Curie cancer care at the Spread Eagle in Lymm on the 26th of June between 2:30 and 4:30.  Please come along and support this great charity event.

No, this isn’t a public flogging for my hubby (even though he didn’t empty the dishwasher this morning), this is about other people’s divorces. I advise a lot of people on the financial implications and consequences of splitting up, you see. Sometimes, they need help with carving up the marital assets.  The house and and […]

Tax or Money?  It seems to be that simple for Mr H, an imminent recipient of a Decent-Sized Redundancy Cheque.  He wants to keep the tax burden down, and needs an income.  Fair enough, but where to draw the line??? That’s what I’m working out for him. I’d better go and do it, then!

The UK savings rate (that’s how much we all put to one side instead of spending on handbags) is up from virtually zero to 4%.  I’m proud of us! I’m from the generation that has found borrowing easier than saving up, so I think we should be proud that we’re adjusting.  Hopefully this is a […]

Do you remember the audi advert that talked about spending twenty million dollars developing the new A4 (I think it was that one, and wait to be corrected)?  The punchline was “that was when twenty million dollars was a lot of money”… I loved it. Unfortunately, that’s why we’re going to need a period of […]

Last week, my new company start-up was covered in the local press.  It’s very exciting to see that the journalist understood what I’m trying to build and she expressed it really well in her article.  Thanks are due to Eddie Mair, John Humphries and John Prescott for years of training me how to answer questions […]

I’m starting this as a new category…not as much detail as a case study, just an insight into what I do every day. Today I’ve been doing mostly research for cases I’m working on… Adam and Anita (*) are old enough to be retired, even though they’re not retired. They’ve got a business that’s struggling, […]

Yep I have finally gone and done it and set up my own business called Parsonage. check it out You can also find us on Google Business

Hi, welcome to today’s post.  These tips aren’t “rocket science”. But they do work. One If you don’t have surplus income, you really need to work hard – because you might suffer even more than most if your income suddenly stopped or reduced a lot. Try to shave a little off all your spending, buy […]

I like this.  I hope you do too. http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=12798307 Merry Christmas from State of the Nation

Here’s an example of why you should not take the first offer when you draw your pension. Names have been changed to protect the innocent. Mr A decided to draw his pension. 

As I take the plunge myself, and become an un-shackled financial planner (I mean starting up in business), I’ve been wondering…What it is about financial advisers that makes us all think we can do better than what the already cluttered market place has to offer? Just imagine if this was common in all jobs? Teachers […]

You might have noticed a bit of a drop-off in share values lately? If you’ve got a pension, it’s probably worth less than it was a year ago.  So why bother paying any more in? Or, if you’re young enough, why bother starting one? Forget, for a minute, that “pensions” usually seem to be over-priced […]