Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024!!

We’d like to start the year by looking at some financial New Year’s resolutions that everybody should consider. Have a listen – you might just find that you need to put one of these into action…

#1 Review Emergency Funds

In the run up to Christmas, our expenditure often spikes – “just another little gift for Florence”, and, “maybe we should buy some more mulled wine??”. Now is a good time to check whether you’ve eaten into your emergency fund, and it needs rebuilding.

Before looking to invest or gift, you should build up a comfortable emergency fund, which is an accessible pot of money to cover any unexpected costs in the future, for example a broken boiler.

#2 Check Your Bills When life gets in the way, it’s easy to forget about bills that may have run beyond their initial ‘good deal’ period. Did you forget to cancel a free trial, and you’re now paying for it? Does your mortgage or phone bill need renewing on a new deal or tariff? Is the interest rate that you receive on your emergency cash competitive? It all adds up.

#3 Utilise Your ISA Allowance

The end of the tax year is only 3 short months away, so it’s worth considering your ISA allowance of £20,000. This cannot be carried forward into the next tax year – so you’ll lose it if you don’t use it.

#4 Utilise Pension Contributions

Pension contributions are subject to income tax relief up to your highest marginal rate, and can therefore be a highly valuable part of your financial plan – are you making use of this?

#5 Utilise Other Allowances

You can gift £3,000 each tax year, without the gift being added to the value of your estate upon death. Consider this as part of a larger inheritance tax strategy.

The amount you can gain on some assets before paying capital gains tax (otherwise known as your Capital Gains Tax allowance) was halved this tax year and will be halved again in April. Speak to your financial planner to discuss whether you should utilise this year’s allowance.

If you’ve got any questions, or would like to discuss these financial resolutions further, please speak to your financial planner.

Happy New Year!