Inheritance tax tangles and pension worries: what YOU asked our financial planning experts this year

From wondering what to do with an in-demand bungalow inherited from a parent, to fearing what will happen to a disabled child’s benefits if they inherit a house, This is Money readers have had plenty of questions when it comes to their finances.

Our financial planning channel launched at the start of the year and has skyrocketed in popularity, as a tough economic climate combined with a new government weighed on minds and pocketbooks and people looked to shore up their future.

Fears over the autumn budget and the subsequent changes made by the Chancellor caused much confusion.

A host of questions flooded in as readers feared they would lose out on tax increases and struggled to understand what the Government’s plans mean for them.

These are the questions that weighed most on the minds of our readers.

People often don’t know where to start with their financial conundrums, and this is where we come in. See below how to get your financial planning question answered by our panel of experts.

Inheritances weigh on the minds

Many of the emails that landed in our financial planning inbox this year focused on one thing: the inheritance tax.

Readers wanted to know how to mitigate their future tax bills to leave as much of their assets as possible to their loved ones.

While the amount parents planned to leave their children ranged from just above the zero rate band to well above the maximum allowance for those using spousal transfer and residence zero rate bands, none came close to a reader who contacted This is Money. about the 10 million pounds they were about to inherit.

Maybe it was a good problem, but it was causing some headaches for the reader.

More commonly, readers were interested in seeing how they could pass on rather more modest sums to their families without paying inheritance tax, exploring how they can make the most of the gift rules and use gifts from the surplus rule of income, and even begin to pay family expenses. holidays to avoid the bill.

Others were waiting to find out what they should do with the money they were inheriting or, in one case, whether they could pay off their estranged child’s student loans.

Capital gains increases

The words on the lips of many this year were “capital gains tax”, and this was only accentuated by the announcement in the summer that the Autumn Budget would prove “painful”, a sign of months of fear and decisions panic-driven financial crisis.

This is where the madness comes in. One reader, who had been divorced for three years, got in touch to ask if remarrying her ex-husband was worth reducing her capital gains tax bill on jointly owned properties.

It could work as a tax mitigation strategy, although HMRC is likely to examine a marriage that appears to be for tax mitigation purposes only.

Whether remarrying your ex-husband is a good idea for all non-financial aspects of your lives…the jury is still out on that issue.

Another was concerned that through his investments he had walked into a capital gains tax trap after contributing £300 a month to his investments for eight years.

Pension funds were a concern

As a future source of income after retirement, it’s no surprise that most of us worry about the health of our pensions.

One reader contacted This is Money worried he could lose half of his £177,000 pension if his provider went bust, as the Government only protects the first £85,000.

There is a small risk of this happening, although it largely depends on the type of pension you have, as many are fully protected.

For many others, however, the fear is that their pension will not be enough to fund them in the future. Figures from the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association revealed that those using auto-enrolment may have saved only half of what they need by the time they retire.

Many readers are interested in boosting their pensions as much as possible, for example through a redundancy payment and minimizing their tax bill at the same time, while others wanted clarity on whether they are on track to be able to retire whenever they want. do it. .

Then, with the announcement that pensions will be included in inheritance tax calculations, readers feared they could be pushed above the nil rate band.

Readers sought higher returns

With the democratization of investing that has come with the launch of online platforms, savers are increasingly dissatisfied with the meager returns offered by their bank accounts and are instead turning to stocks and shares to grow their money.

Many readers contacted This is Money to ask how they could increase the return on their wealth, whether it was a £200,000 inheritance or £100 a month set aside for the future of a newborn baby.

A reader sitting in an inherited bungalow asked if it was best to avoid selling to make money from rising property prices, or if they should move this elsewhere.

Most of these concerns aren’t likely to go away any time soon, and with more tax changes taking effect starting in April, This is Money’s financial planning inbox will remain open for readers to ask our experts how they can make the most and keep as much of their money as possible.