What we’ve been doing and thinking

Significant changes that were introduced in the October 2024 budget concerned inheritance tax relief on business and agricultural assets, these reliefs are known as Business Relief (BR) and Agricultural Relief (AR).

Good news! We’ve finally recorded a webinar version of our December client seminar. If you weren’t able to attend in person, you can now catch up and listen to our voices (and insights) as many times as you like.

My first instinct is to laugh because the gap isn’t just big. It’s huge! In most UK schools there is little education about money beyond a few references in maths lessons.

As the value of assets have grown over the past decades, combined with legislation bringing more assets such as pensions in to the scope of inheritance tax, many more people are facing inheritance tax liabilities when they pass on.

The 2025 Budget has been and gone. As the dust settles and we look more closely at the lay of the land, we have launched a new podcast series called Colmore in Conversation.

When it comes to retirement income, there are normally two choices for advisers and clients.
The first choice is an annuity where income is secure and paid for life or a fixed term in exchange for a capital sum passed to an insurance provider.

Having to explain the features, so far so good: generous tax reliefs, tax free growth, employer contributions and a lump sum on retirement.

Spectacular scenery, eagles soaring overhead, hard work to the point of questioning my decision to commit to this at times. But most of all I (and her) now have the most incredible memories of the experience and time we got to spend together pedalling along lost in our thoughts.

The last time I wrote an update note, Trump’s tariff policy had just landed, and portfolios had fallen quite abruptly on the assumption he meant it – odd given his track record!

The lessons of history are endlessly valuable to investors. On the back of the new BBC drama ‘King & Conqueror’, financial planner Charlie Garner looks at the climactic events of 1066 and what it can teach investors about the importance of timing.

Disregarding the constant stream of tax rumours coming out from the Government currently (which deserves a separate article), the new proposed inheritance tax (IHT) rules on pensions is the hottest topic in financial planning right now.

In a recent CityWire New Model Adviser feature, Colmore Partners managing director Richard Meek reflects on the value of experiences over simply accumulating more assets, and asks whether planners should challenge the conventional measures of financial success.