Directions to Hyde Park House

Directions to Hyde Park House

From Putney mainline Rail station

It is a 10-12 minute brisk walk from the mainline station to the office:

Turn left out of station, to the main crossroad junction and turn left staying on the same pavement, past Halifax and Foxtons estate agent

Continue along the Upper Richmond Road, past the multitude of estate agents, past Virgin Active Gym and crossing Oxford Road.

Another short row of shops includes a 'beer boutique', a cafe Nero coffee shop and a number of convenience stores.

You will now pass under the railway bridge at East Putney, passing the builder's yard and can continue directions from there (below), starting outside the Wandsworth Court and crossing Oakhill Road:

From East Putney Underground/Tube Station (District Line, Wimbledon branch)

this is a 5 minute brisk walk:

Turn right out of station,

Under bridge, past Valentina foods and SW1SH flats

Cross the main road at the pedestrian crossing outside the co-operative supermarket, crossing towards the Wandsworth court building.

Once you have crossed the Upper Richmond Road onto the other pavement, turn right, crossing Oakhill Road and continue along the Upper Richmond Road

You will see and pass Majestic wine warehouse on the opposite side of the road

The first road on your left is Manfred Road

Manfred Road, as seen approaching from East Putney Tube

Hyde Park House is the white building immediately after Normanby Close on your left

If you reach and pass the request bus stop and The Lodge Hotel you have gone too far



 
 

Hyde Park House - Green Financial is behind the arched window

 
BICYCLE
There is currently no designated cycle parking nearby but there are cycle posts within a few minutes walk. We are in discussions with the local council to have cycle posts installed nearby.


We may be able to arrange cycle parking inside our building given notice - please contact us in advance if you'd like to consider this.


CAR
Limited Parking is available on the driveway to our building. However it is first come, first served.

Parking is VERY limited in Manfred Road and many bays are resident only or tightly time patrolled by local traffic wardens. Manfred Road is a turning off the Upper Richmond Road and is an 'L' shape, and continues into a one-way street, 'Oakhill Road' which itself returns to the Upper Richmond Road - so if you miss a space on Oakhill you can loop round again easily.
However, parking bays which allow both permit holders and visitors to park are available in nearby roads, such as Schubert Road or across the Upper Richmond Road in Keswick Road. Look out for signs which say 'Permit holders or pay at machine'. There is a separate post on parking, a local map, spaces in nearby roads, Putney shopping centre parking and more, here:

http://greenfinancial.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/parking-for-visitors-to-green-financial.html


Please note our meeting room is on the first floor with stair access only.


If, for any reason, you are unable to climb 15 stairs, please contact us in advance in order that alternative provisions or arrangements can be made.

CASH ISAs for Investment Clients of Green Financial

Are you an investment client of Green Financial?
Are you considering a CASH ISA for the tax year 2012/13?

And possibly one that locks you in to the product for a number of years?

As a rule, for clients who have previously stated to me they have sufficient accessible cash, unless you have a need to accrue more cash for emergency purposes (and I’m assuming this isn’t the case if you have opted for a fixed term cash ISA where you lock the money away) I am not currently recommending cash ISAs

If you are simply rolling an existing ISA over, to obtain a better rate – or transferring an existing cash ISA to a better rate, that makes great financial sense.

And as above, if you are wishing to accrue more cash for a specific purpose, then sheltering the interest from tax makes sense.

But for most (not all) Green Financial planning clients we have already considered the amount of cash you have available.

Based on this, and on the premise that in the future, we are aiming to help you provide tax efficient income and capital for when you are no longer working, the current numbers don’t seem to stack up for cash ISAs

The current official rate of inflation on the Bank of England Website is 3.4%

On the day of writing this, the last day of the 2011/12 tax year, using my professional sourcing software I can recommend cash ISAs paying up to 3.5% for instant access.

MoneySavingExpert.com shows instant access rates at 3.1%

I can recommend products where you lock your money away for a year and it goes up to 3.6%

Lock your money away for 5 years and rates of around 4.5% are available

So if inflation remains the same (ie doesn’t go up) you’ll earn a real return of 0.1%, on the best instant access ISA. Using the maximum £5,340 that is just £5.34 a year. If you locked away for 5 years in year 1 you’d be earning £53.40 – I know every little helps but it hardly seems worth locking away £5,000+ to earn £50 to me?

And if inflation goes up – it will eat into that real return.

And many people feel the official rate of inflation is not realistic. Many people report things like petrol, heating costs, food bills etc going up far in excess of 3.4% which means in real terms you may be even lose money in terms of spending power over the term of the product

Anyway, just my thoughts as your professional financial adviser.

But to reiterate, this blog post is not intended to be personalised financial advice. If you have other reasons for investing in cash ISAs they may well override what I have typed here. If you wish to discuss your own personal situation as a client of Green Financial I’d be delighted to speak.

But as a general rule, for those clients that have a financial plan, whereby we have already taken into account your cash savings, and given the current rate of returns on ISAs compared to the rate of inflation (official and ‘real life’) and given the long term nature of a financial plan, I do not think cash ISAs make much sense today.

Offshore 'cluster' bonds

According to budget documents HMRC will introduce measures to combat tax avoidance on insurance policies, capital redemption polices and annuity contracts.


No clients, who purchased their product via Green Financial, will be affected by this.
The measures apply to so-called cluster arrangements where tax charges are confined to just one segment of life assurance bond.

Green Financial have always considered this very aggressive tax planning and subject to threat of legislation or query by the authorities.


With the 'cluster policies' an example would be a bond holder who wants access to their cash before the end of the bond who then redeems nine segments of a ten segment bond while the taxable gains are applied only to the tenth.

It is still the case that with investment bonds we recommend due care and attention should be made to how withdrawals are taken, so as not to trigger unneccesary tax - but this is not to be confused with the type of plan and action the budget has outlawed.

If you are a Green Financial client and have any questions regarding this matter or your investment, please contact us.

Tax tables – March 2012

Please find below a link to our tax tables, outlining the key tax data in George Osborne’s Budget of 21 March. The Chancellor unveiled a range of measures that left no doubt that the ‘age of austerity’ is not yet over – though thanks to a steady stream of pre-Budget announcements and leaks, Mr Osborne had little to offer in the way of surprises.
The Budget highlights included:

• The personal allowance will be increased to £9,205 in 2013/14, but the higher rate threshold will be reduced by £1,025 to £41,450.

• There will be a limit on the maximum amount of income tax reliefs that can be claimed from 2013/14.

• As expected, from 2013/14 there will be a drop in the higher rate of income tax from 50% to 45%.

• The so-called ‘mansion tax’ has taken the form of higher stamp duty on house sales over £2 million.

• Child benefit is to be phased out where income is over £50,000.


The tax tables are available for download on the website at: www.iangreen.com/taxtables.pdf

or to view at www.facebook.com/GreenFinancial

These will be joined by budget summaries and other info in the days to come.


We trust that you find the enclosed tax rates useful, and that you find them to be a helpful basis for a discussion with us about your financial future.

Card £1.99, Flowers £10.99, Mum. Priceless.

With mothering Sunday this weekend, what is a mum actually worth?

The answer of course, is priceless.

But those actuarial types at a life insurance company have calculated a number.

And not just mum, but dad too. Legal & General (www.legalandgeneral.com) have been surveying the nation for over 30 years and the latest figures can be summarised as follows:

Value of a PARENT

Legal & General in their ‘Value of a parent survey’ state it could cost £30,000 a year to pay someone to replace a mum’s domestic work and £21,000 for a dad. The actual national calculated averages are £30,032 and £21,306.

These figures are calculated using the number of hours spent on household chores and childcare, then multiplied by the average hourly pay rate for equivalent jobs, as published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Finally the weekly numbers are multiplied by 52 to obtain the average value.

A mum is perceived to do, on average, 18 hours worth of work a week around the home. However, this is 53 hours less than the 71 hours of actual work they do [author’s note: My mum says she didn’t need a survey to tell her that!]

Dads are perceived to do an actual 15 hours worth of domestic work reckoned to be 35 hours less than the actual figure of 50 hours.

These figures were obtained by asking mum or dad what they thought the other one did. So the survey found a massive difference in the perception of what one parent thinks the other does compared to what they really do!

Mum’s do an average of £249 per week of childcare.

Value of a GRANDPARENT

In addition, over a quarter (27%) of households rely on grandparents for extra unpaid work.

For single parents this figure increased to 36%. Parents with younger children also relied more on grandparents with 34% obtaining regular assistance. On average, across the nation, grandparents are providing 7 hours of time a week to help out. If these parents were to pay for a childminder instead, the average cost would be £60 per week, or £3,120 a year.

Time

In terms of time to themselves, mum’s are averaging 6.5 hours a week. Quality time spent with partner averages just 3 hours per week.

From the L&G survey 49% of parents said they’d rather spend time with children than work. For parents with children between the ages of 0 & 5 this figure was almost 60%

The £30,000 figure was calculated using the hours of a non-working parent. Interestingly the value of household chores completed by a full-time working parent still came out at around £20,000!

Since the financial crisis [we can call it a recession even if the powers that be won’t!] in 2009 68% of parents said they had cut back on spending. In households earning over £70,000 this reduction was lower, but still there, at 51%

Full disclosure: Why the Green Financial interest in this?

As a financial adviser, I have seen claims pay out on insurance products to a family when a parent ‘is no longer there’, be it illness or disability that means household chores can’t be completed or in the worst case, the unfortunate and untimely death of a parent.

Most parents in the survey (57%) stated they didn’t know what state benefits would be available if their partner were to die. Over three quarters (77%) of parents think that if a partner was unable to work due to disability the government should be responsible for helping financially. That probably means a lot of disappointed, not to say hard up, people when they discover the actual level of state benefits payable.

Only half (53%) of families surveyed had any life insurance. For illness protection the number was nearer a quarter

In all cases, be it life insurance, health insurance or critical illness cover, mums had less protection than dads. And since the last survey in 2009, due to the financial crisis, the total cover in place has fallen across families. The upshot of this being that the global financial crisis may well be stretching further and causing a family financial crisis for those that suffer the illness or death of a parent and do not have any or sufficient cover.

In a similar fashion, only 34% of parents surveyed had a Will. The likelihood of having a Will does increase with age and more dads (40%) than mums (30%) had a will.

If you wish to read more on protecting your family or making a Will there is a free 28 page guide here: http://www.iangreen.com/downloads/protection.pdf
Life Insurance help is on page 4 and Wills on page 18. Do seek professional advice if you think your circumstances may require it.

And remember this Sunday, even if you don’t have the full £30,032 to give the mum in your life, a simple heartfelt thank you is also priceless.

The Financial Year End, The Budget & A Tax Planning Ticklist

Financial folk speak of the end of the tax year and rush to finalise fiscal matters.

But what exactly is the tax year, what needs to be done and why?


Whether a layperson, interested observer, lapsed expert or those simply in need of a memory jog there follows a quick introduction to the tax year, a brief guide to the budget and a short tax planning ticklist.

THE FINANCIAL YEAR END

The UK tax year, or financial year, runs from 6th April until 5th April the following year. It is a twelve month period used for, amongst other things, measuring earnings and calculating income and the tax payable on them. Confusingly for the purposes of corporation tax and government financial statements the year starts April 1st (no fooling!) and finishes March 31. And those readers who run companies or know someone that does will know a company year can start and end whenever the owner wants and a company year can even be longer than 12 months! But that is for another blog post…

Back to the UK taxpayer fiscal year. Why April 6th? Surely running the tax year the same as the calendar year would make life easier? The sensible Swedes and the economical Germans do exactly that. But we Brits are not alone in our quirky dates. Across the pond Americans run from October to September and down under our Australian cousins have a tax year that starts in July and ends in June.

The April 5th year end for personal tax and benefits reflects the old ecclesiastical calendar, with New Year falling on March 25 (which was known as ‘Lady Day’), the difference being accounted for by the eleven days "missed out" when Great Britain converted from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. The British tax authorities and landlords were unwilling to lose 11 days of tax and rent revenue so under the ‘Times of Payment of Rents, Annuities, &c’ of the Calendar Act 1750, the 1752–3 tax year was extended by 11 days. From 1753 until 1799, the tax year in Great Britain began on April 5, which was the "old style" new year of March 25. A 12th skipped Julian leap day in 1800 changed its start to April 6. It was not changed when a 13th Julian leap day was skipped in 1900. So since 1800 the start of the personal tax year in the United Kingdom has been April 6th.


THE BUDGET

The next Budget will take place on Wednesday 21 March 2012. Readers who are up to speed with social media will be able to follow the official HM Treasury Twitter channel with the #Budget2012 hashtag.
Or me at @ianjamesgreen

Most of us recognise budget day as when the Chancellor appears on his doorstep with the famous red box. The Budget box or 'Gladstone box' was used to carry the Chancellors speech from Number 11 to the House for over 100 consecutive years. The wooden box was hand-crafted for Gladstone, lined in black satin and covered in scarlet leather. The word “budget” derives from the term “bougette” – a wallet in which either documents or money could be kept. And one more fascinating budget fact … Chancellors are allowed to refresh themselves with alcoholic drinks during their Budget speech - no other Member of Parliament can do this although we could be forgiven for thinking otherwise with some of the hullabaloo we witness!

The Budget is the single most important economic and financial statement made each year by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Parliament and the nation. There is an act of parliament that requires the Government to produce a Budget Report for each financial year. There is a ‘Charter for Budget Responsibility’ which sets out what the Budget Report must cover.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has to publish two economic and fiscal forecasts for each financial year, one of which is to be the official forecast on which the Chancellor sets out the Government’s fiscal policy in the Budget. The OBR’s duty is to examine and report on the sustainability of the public finances and it is required to do so objectively, transparently and impartially.

The Budget is actually the Chancellor’s response to the OBR’s forecasts.

Historically, the chancellor would often announce in the budget (end of March) a new measure, such as the removal of a benefit, or an increase in an allowance, and give a number of days to act, normally the start of the new tax year (first week of April). Buy now, while stocks last, in other words. Sadly, those days are gone with any new measures (that usually make us worse off!) implemented immediately. This is why the market for budget forecasters is now so big, as those of us that read the financial pages know too well. In the run up to the budget the press is full of ‘what might happen’

Rather than go over here what can be read elsewhere with a quick google, let’s look at just one personal financial matter, that has been mentioned as possibly going every single year I can remember since starting as a financial planner in 1995. Higher rate tax relief on pension contributions. Will this finally be the year it goes? Those against say it is the last thing that should happen. We need to be encouraging private pension provision, not the opposite. Those for say it is a fair tax, that only hits higher earners and will raise billions. Which camp are you in? Tune in to George on March 21 to find out…

What are my predictions? Clients of Green Financial will know that in all matters, whether financial, legal, political or investment I do NOT claim to own a functioning crystal ball! But climbing down off the fence, albeit briefly, I think a budget for growth is needed. I think there will be a few hard decisions for the chancellor and a few unpopular items, normally hidden away in the small print rather than announced in the House. But I also think the nation needs good news, so maybe a few pleasant surprises could be in store.


TAX PLANNING TICKLIST

In terms of personal financial planning, a few items to consider. Please remember, if you are in any doubt as to whether any of these tips apply to you or your family, either please ensure you know exactly what you are doing or preferably seek professional independent financial advice.

ISA – open and use your ISA allowance. You’ll pay no income tax or capital gains tax on any gains. You can choose cash or stocks and shares versions. This year’s allowance is £10,680 per person.

ISA – next year. The allowance rises to £11,280 on 6th April but you can apply now. For those that contribute monthly amounts you’ll need to change your direct debit amount from £890pm to £940 per month

Junior ISA – introduced in November 2011 the allowance is £3,600 per eligible child and the benefits are similar to adult ISAs

Capital gains – we all have a CGT allowance of £10,600 a year. Many of our clients sell shares to realise a gain and use the proceeds to fund the next year’s ISA.

Pension – Will this be the last hurrah for higher rate tax relief? (see above). Currently tax relief up to 50% is available. But pensions are a long term commitment with seemingly ever changing rules. Weigh up the pros and cons for your situation before committing too much.

Junior pension – parents and grandparents can contribute to a pension for a child, placing up to £3,600 away at a cost of only £2,880, a tax break of £800. But will the child thank you for a present they can only open when age 55?!

National Savings – the rates have dropped massively and the number of accounts on sale has also fallen. But there are still tax shelters available including the ever popular premium bonds

Inheritance Tax – There are a number of gifts one can make to reduce the liability including giving away up to £3,000 from capital.

Personal allowances – Ensure you make full use of these, especially if one of a couple is a lower rate tax payer than the other.

As at the start of this part of the article, PLEASE seek professional advice if in any doubt whatsoever over the suitability of these tips for your own situation.

There is a FREE download on end of year tax planning here:

http://www.iangreen.com/downloads/tax2012.pdf


and a FREE wealth & tax tips guide with FIFTY tips here:

http://www.iangreen.com/GFA-Tax&WealthTips2011.pdf


Both of the above are also available as photos to view at www.facebook.com/GreenFinancial

End of Tax Year Tips 2011-12