After months of speculation and in one of the longest ‘Budget’ speeches in memory, Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave the first Labour Budget speech for nearly 15 years on 30 October 2024.

The 2024 Spring Budget included the widely anticipated reduction in National Insurance as well as a new British ISA allowance which had been rumoured. Exactly how the new ISA allowance will work in practice is yet to be determined but we do know it will only permit investments into UK assets. Here we summarise some of the key announcements along with a reminder of various previously announced changes that will take effect from April 2024.

In this article, Amy Fox a Partner in the Family Team at Penningtons Manches Cooper, Alice Sanders a Wealth Manager at Edison Wealth Management and Dr Lucy Atcheson a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, explore how people become trapped in controlling and unhappy marriages. They answer the most common fears their clients have about divorce and explain how the three of them work together to make divorce less daunting for you.

In this article, Alice Sanders, a Financial Planner and Pension Specialist at Edison Wealth Management, and Priya Palanivel, a Partner in the Family Team at Sheridans, a West End law firm, consider how pensions are treated on divorce, the tax benefits of pensions and how to avoid falling into the pension poverty trap.

Yesterday’s Spring Budget included pension measures that went further than recent rumours suggested, with Jeremy Hunt announcing the abolition of the pensions Lifetime Allowance (the limit on total pension benefits above which there is an additional tax charge) alongside increases to the various forms of the Annual Allowance (the maximum that can be paid into a pension before additional tax charges apply). Here we summarise some of the key announcements.

Jeremy Hunt used the Autumn Statement in an attempt to calm markets and reset public finances with a series of tax rises achieved through cuts and freezes to allowances. Here we have provided a summary of the key points in the Autumn Statement.

Separation and divorce entails re-setting one's needs, priorities and longer term objectives. Tackling these all at once is a daunting task. One approach is to break down the big decisions into little ones to create time and space to think. The focus should be on making good long term decisions, instead of looking for quick decisions.

A wealth manager is qualified to help with the difficult financial decisions during, and after, a divorce. Some individuals are sufficiently experienced to navigate these decisions unaided. But if that is not you, or you simply do not have the time, then you may need to take some advice. Here we explain what wealth management advice is, how to engage with a wealth manager and what you can expect in return.

Many of the changes in yesterday’s Budget had been previously publicised, even before the current Chancellor took office barely a month ago. The remainder of the Budget was a post Covid-19 government spending package the likes of which we have not seen for a while.

We have summarised what we think are the highlights.

Defined contribution (DC) pensions offer valuable legacy planning opportunities, but it’s vital that DC pension holders and their advisers act early to utilise these benefits.

Here we highlight the potential tax advantages of planning early.