• Scheduled reviews with your adviser in person.
• Your own dedicated Client Account Manager for administrative help.
• Baker Davies ‘fund monitoring’ to manage your portfolio.
• Updating your income and expenditure requirements.
• Monitoring your portfolios for risk and return and reviewing performance with you.
• Clarifying your future needs and aspirations.
• Checking the tax efficiency of your wealth.
• Planning for or managing inheritance tax.
• Liaising with other professional advisers and family members as you require.
• Paperwork assistance, Later Life Planning, Probate Service as required.
• Whatever you want on your agenda at your review meeting.

There are many legitimate solutions.  The first step is to do some sums. Total all your net worth, which might include equity in property, savings and investments (not protected by trusts) and if it exceeds £325,000, we should talk further.  Gifts between UK married couples and the value of family home passing to children can be exempt up to a certain amount, but you need to be sure.

If your estate is likely to be subject to inheritance tax you do have a choice.

A/ Do nothing, and your estate could have to pay tax that could have been avoided.

or

B/ Explore options for reducing the tax, while ensuring your financial planning is giving you all that you need.  

Regrettably, many people neglect or delay important IHT planning due to myths or misunderstandings:   

They think it’s not relevant to them.   

They may not realise how much of their estate is subject to IHT, or they think they are too young. Unmarried couples, couples without children and people with more than one property and growing portfolios of investments can very quickly exceed the exemptions and Nil rate bands.

Others miss out because they assume that in order to reduce the value of their estate, they have to lose control of their wealth or lose access to their wealth.

Neither is necessarily true. There are many ways to achieve control and access to what you need while reducing your estate’s potential inheritance tax. Baker Davies advisers have been helping many clients save thousands of pounds through IHT planning for a long time. Your adviser will explain the ins and outs suitable for your particular situation.

Another myth is that people believe you have to have live seven years for IHT planning to work. 

Again, this is not true; there are ways to reduce tax immediately, although there are more options available the sooner you plan.

Some people fear the only way to reduce IHT is through dodgy deals or expensive solutions.

Baker Davies has always been conservative in our approach to IHT planning and recommend tried and tested legitimate solutions provided by recognised product providers using trust law that is well-established.  The cost of advice is often very small compared to the massive tax saving that can be made. 

If people have capital that cannot be put in trust or otherwise taken out of the estate, life insurance can help fund the tax.

In situations where the use of life policies are appropriate, it may be that the beneficiaries would like to pay the policy premiums, as it is they who will ultimately benefit.

Another common objection we hear from clients is that they worry about IHT planning because they assume they can’t afford to give anything away, in case they need to supplement income in retirement or fund expensive care in later life.

Firstly, you don’t have to necessarily give it away to reduce IHT.  Nonetheless, it is reassuring to be able to make sensible projections about what you might need in future.  We can help do this with our Cash Flow Planning Service and our specialist later life in-house advisers.

At Baker Davies, we know that planning ahead can make a huge difference often very quickly, as client testimonials and case studies demonstrate. However, do remember that each client situation is different and so bespoke advice is crucial. The case studies just give a flavour of the kind of situations where we have helped people save thousands. 

Click here for IHT Case studies.

It can help you understand how spending capital on something or acquiring capital might affect the amount you have to save to achieve a specific goal.

Or project how making a gift from capital might affect one’s income.

It can also help older people in retirement consider forecasts for how much they can afford to pay for long term care or other services at home, should their spending needs change. 

Sometimes a concern about what one might need in later life can delay considering IHT planning. Having later life specialists within Baker Davies means that we can provide the specialist information to help.

“Clients will often be fearful of spending money now because of both coming from a generation of savers as well as their perceived worries about later life care costs. We are able to help clients to get to a point where their future needs are addressed which gives them the ability and freedom to spend money now and enjoy life more fully today.”  Tony Davies

What is later life?

Later life and getting older is different for everyone. Some people will stay happily independent in their own home coping magnificently, enjoying a full and meaningful social life. Later life for them may involve planning how to maximise income from investments and assets to enjoy life as much as they can.   

For others, gradual change or a sudden illness can lead to home becoming difficult, scary and even dangerous as they can’t manage to do the things they used to. Some people want to downsize, others want to get home help or gardeners and stay put in a larger property. 

Some people find life has become lonely and they would like to move to some kind of assisted living for company, as well as practical help.   When a person is no longer able to care for themselves or even make decisions for themselves, their family or guardians will be appointed to do what in their best interests.  

Baker Davies Care Now is a specialist service for people interested in long term care, whether in their own home on in a care home. 

This is a very emotive issue, and financial advisers need to be particularly sensitive to the needs of potentially vulnerable people. The regulator requires advisers operating in this area to have passed exams to demonstrate appreciation of how to operate with vulnerable people. In addition, they have to prove their technical knowledge about the various benefits available and the specialist financial products which can form part of the funding solution.

The Care Now Service may be offered as a stand-alone service selected from our menu (which you can download) for people who need solutions NOW. 

There is a menu to choose from which you can download now. 

• Regular reviews (usually in person with your adviser) to assess your priorities, goals, concerns and aspirations.  
• Identifying progress toward goals.
• Discussing strategies and opportunities to progress further.
• Cash flow planning may be conducted periodically to forecast scenarios and check your progress toward your goals. Inheritance tax planning may also be included.
• Your investments will be monitored, and adjustments recommended to make the most of returns in line with your attitude to risk.
• You will receive a yearly summary and valuation of your portfolio held with Baker Davies.
• You can contact your adviser at any time if your circumstances change or if you need specific advice.
• You can call your adviser to chat through ideas as you consider next moves.
• You have your own dedicated CAM (Client Account Manager).