CAN YOU AFFORD TO BANKROLL YOUR KIDS?
While the Bank of Mum and Dad is now firmly established as one of the country’s leading mortgage lenders, there are growing concerns this generosity is putting parents’ future finances in peril.
Making home ownership a reality
Parents are increasingly finding themselves in a financial conundrum: if they don’t provide money for a deposit it may prove impossible for their children to buy a home but doing so can place their own retirement plans in jeopardy. And evidence suggests that, for many, there is a tendency for hearts to rule heads, with research1 showing more than half of over-55s help family simply because it’s ‘a nice thing to do’.
But at what cost?
The research also highlights how funding children’s property ambitions can have significant financial consequences for parents. For instance, over a quarter who provided support are not confident they will have enough to live on in retirement, while more than one in seven have had to accept a lower standard of living.
Seek advice
All parents will clearly want to help their children financially; but it’s vitally important that doing so doesn’t put their own financial security at risk. So, if you are thinking about helping your children onto the housing ladder, make sure you seek sound financial advice first. Get in touch.
1Legal and General, Aug 2019 |
UNCOVERING THE MYTH – COMMON-LAW MARRIAGE
The number of cohabiting couples in the UK is on the rise, with an estimated 3.3 million couples living together who are not married or in a civil partnership. It’s a common misconception that if you live with your partner for a couple of years, you are afforded the same legal and financial rights as couples living together who are married or in a civil partnership.
Confusion surrounding the concept of common-law marriage still exists. However, in reality, couples living together have hardly any rights automatically. In fact, your financial affairs need more careful planning to make sure your family is protected.
Where there’s a Will there’s a way
Making a Will is vital for unmarried couples because cohabiting partners have no automatic right to inherit if their partner dies. Making a valid Will helps to ensure that assets go to those you wish to receive them. Under the laws of intestacy (not identical across the UK), the unmarried partner is only entitled to jointly owned assets if their partner dies. If you have children together, the estate of the deceased partner will pass to them when they are 18. If there are more than two children, they will each inherit the same amount. This rule applies regardless of whether they are children of the existing marriage/civil partnership. If there are no children, the estate will go to the deceased partner’s closest relatives, not to the surviving partner.
Insure to ensure
Taking steps to protect your finances should also be a priority for cohabiting couples. A life insurance policy provides a valuable safety net and would help your loved ones maintain their lifestyle if you were to die. Take the time to calculate how much money your family would need if they lost your financial support, including paying off the mortgage, covering regular household bills and clearing debts.
So, if you are cohabiting, no matter how long you live together, moving in doesn’t give you automatic rights to each other’s property, or entitle you to inherit, leading to potentially catastrophic consequences for a surviving partner.
STAY SAFE DURING BREXIT
It’s worth reminding yourself of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) advice regarding staying safe from scams taking advantage of Brexit.
On leaving the EU, because most UK financial services regulation is drawn from EU directives, the government requires financial services companies to proactively contact anyone likely to be affected. For example, transfers of money to Europe or paying for a purchase in euros could take longer. Any disruption during this time could present a perfect opportunity for scammers, who may contact people pretending to be from their bank, insurer or other financial services provider.
Top tips
- Beware of all unexpected calls, emails and text messages
- A genuine bank or organisation will not ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account
- Never give out your personal or financial details unless it’s for a service you want to use and where you trust the provider
- Don’t be pressured into acting quickly – a genuine bank or financial services firm won’t mind giving you time to think
- Always double-check the web link and company contact details in case it’s a ‘clone firm’ pretending to be a real firm
- If you get an email, expand the pane at the top of the message and see exactly who it has come from – if it’s a scam, the email address of the sender may be filled with random numbers or be misspelled
- Beware that fraudsters can ‘clone’ real email addresses to make their emails seem genuine
If you have any doubts about what you are being asked to do, don’t respond to the message or click on any links. Check with your provider using contact details you can trust, for example the phone number on your bank statement or policy documentation. You can also ask your adviser to verify that the message you received is genuine.
ScamSmart
Don’t forget, the FCA’s ScamSmart website is a reassuring way of checking an investment or pension opportunity you’ve been offered and avoiding scams. For more information read the FCA pension scams leaflet, or find out more at www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart.
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