Move Along… Nothing To See Here

Posted on March 15, 2024 by - Uncategorised

Move Along… Nothing To See Here

Well, the Budget was certainly ‘as expected’ last week.

As is so often the case nowadays, all of the key announcements had been leaked in the days leading up to the event and so there were relatively few real surprises.

The consultation on a new “British ISA” (BRISA?) and a slight reduction to the top rate of Capital Gains tax on property sales were the only significant announcements that had not been previously rumoured.

What was conspicuous by its absence however was any mention of Inheritance Tax.

Waste Not, Want Not

Posted on March 5, 2024 by - Uncategorised

We often have conversations with clients who have ‘too much money’. Now, please don’t get me wrong. As far as ‘problems’ go – this has got to be one of the better ones to have!

However, it is a problem nonetheless

KISS

Posted on January 29, 2024 by - Uncategorised

I am sure you will be familiar with the saying ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ or KISS in acronym form.

I had an interesting conversation with a client this week on this subject.

We were discussing the implementation of their estate planning framework, including new wills, trusts and some lifetime gifting for their children.

During the conversation, when I asked how they would like to distribute things, they said “oh we are going to keep it really simple – sorry”.

Sorry?

Welcome To 2024

Posted on January 5, 2024 by - Uncategorised

Well that year went by in a flash – we say it every year, but 2023 really did feel like a whirlwind.

There will be countless ‘review of 2023’ articles online, so I will focus instead on what’s to come in 2024 as it will undoubtedly be an impactful year.

The Autumn Statement That Never Was

Posted on November 28, 2023 by - Uncategorised

Well that was all rather uneventful. This time two weeks ago, the Autumn Statement was looking completely benign from a personal finance point of view. Yes, there was some degree of speculation that we would see some modest tinkering with personal taxes, but there was certainly nothing of any significance to speak of in the rumour mill.

Then on Thursday evening, the big one dropped – there were (apparently) discussions around reducing, or even abolishing, IHT.

Personally I always thought this unlikely, but the rumour mill seemed to go into overdrive at the weekend and I was starting to doubt myself – could they do it? Would they do it?

After all the drama of the weekend and the prospect of a really rather exciting Autumn Statement, it ended up being… rather benign really – just like the original predictions.

Estate Planner of the Year 2023

Posted on November 2, 2023 by - Uncategorised

We are so proud to announce that for the fifth year in a row, Buckingham Gate were awarded the Solidus Estate Planner of the Year Award at the Solidus annual conference held on the 18th of October.

Estate Planning is a very large part of the work we do with our clients and so to receive such a prestigious award serves as a testament to the hard work and passion that our team invests in the work we do.

Be Careful What You Say

Posted on October 24, 2023 by - Uncategorised

The team and I attended the Solidus conference this week and there was a fascinating presentation delivered by our legal friends at Mills & Reeve about the concept of Proprietary Estoppel.

Proprietary Estoppel is a fascinating legal doctrine that often comes into play when individuals are promised property rights (usually verbally, with no legal documentation in place), and then those promises are not fulfilled.

Do You Understand The Impact

Posted on September 22, 2023 by - Uncategorised

Much of the estate planning work we do with clients centers around reducing an Inheritance Tax liability. This tends to be a top objective for many of the clients that we work with.

When we take the conversation a little deeper though, it often turns out that this is not really the objective – it is simply the means to an end.

The real objective is to leave a greater legacy to our beneficiaries – our husbands and wives, our children and grandchildren.

Having framed things in that way, is it then not a good idea to consider the impact that your legacy might have on your loved ones?

The Other Threats to Family Wealth

Posted on August 4, 2023 by - Uncategorised

We so often meet clients whose primary objective is to ‘reduce my Inheritance Tax liability’. Now this is a noble enough objective – the UK Inheritance Tax regime is one of the harshest death duty regimes in the world  (certainly compared with some of our peers on the world stage, Australia and the USA, who have either zero death duties or allowances so high it really is only the 0.1% who need worry about them) and it stands to reason that we would want to try to pass on more of our hard-earned wealth to our loved ones.