Fraser Hunt, Chartered Financial Planner

04/01/2026

Sharing an upcoming educational seminar on inheritance tax and estate planning at Norton House, Mumbles on 19 January 10am - 11:30am.

We'll be discussing -
- Wills
- Power of Attorney
- Inheritance Tax Strategies
- Q&A

Refreshments provided. All welcome!

Please follow the link for full information and registration details.

Many thanks!

Join us at Norton House for this educational session on inheritance tax and estate planning, where we'll discuss key planning strategies.

01/01/2026

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From 1965 to 2025, Buffett’s Berkshire has averaged ~19.8% annual returns. Nearly double the S&P 500 over that time.

27/12/2025

12/12/2025

Defined contribution pensions are not all built the same

Defined contribution pension arrangements can vary widely in how they are structured and documented, particularly older plans. Some include contractual features that are not immediately obvious from a standard valuation statement.

Depending on the arrangement, these can include:

- Safeguarded benefits, such as guaranteed annuity rates (GARs), guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs), or guaranteed growth or bonus structures

- Exit penalties or market value adjustments, particularly within with-profits arrangements, where the timing and method of access can affect value

- Allocation rates or other contribution adjustments, where not all contributions are initially invested

- Additional insured benefits, including embedded life cover and or waiver of premium features

- Protected tax-free cash above the standard 25%

- Scheme-specific or protected retirement ages

- Limited retirement income options, including mandatory annuity purchase or restricted flexibility

- Investment constraints, such as restricted fund ranges or pre-set lifestyle strategies that automatically adjust asset allocation over time

- Some individual contracts not written under trust, meaning death benefits may fall into the estate for inheritance tax purposes, depending on the policy terms

- Contract-specific death benefit definitions, which can differ materially between arrangements

In some cases, these features can materially affect outcomes in ways that are not obvious at first glance.

This is general information only.

04/12/2025

How Inflation Affects Spending Power Over Time 📈

According to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, £24,000 of annual spending in 1994 would need £49,069.91 in 2024 to maintain the same buying power. That’s a 104.5% increase over 30 years.

This highlights how much living costs can rise over the course of a typical retirement. Inflation is often overlooked, yet it can have a greater long-term impact on spending power than many people realise.

Different assets grow at different rates, and not all keep up with inflation. The same is true for different types of income, including pensions. If assets or income don’t keep pace with rising prices, maintaining the same lifestyle becomes increasingly difficult. That’s why inflation is such a central consideration in retirement planning.

This is for information only and does not constitute financial advice.
The value of investments can fall as well as rise.
Source: Bank of England inflation calculator.

28/11/2025

Proposed £2,000 Salary Sacrifice Cap – What It Actually Means

There’s been a lot of confusion around the Budget proposal to limit the NI advantage of salary sacrifice pension contributions to £2,000 a year.

Importantly, the Government has indicated that this measure is not due to take effect until April 2029.

Equally important:

✅ This is not a £2,000 cap on total pension contributions
❌ It does not limit employer contributions
❌ It does not limit employee contributions paid in the normal way
❌ It does not reduce the Annual Allowance

The proposal affects only the National Insurance treatment of salary sacrifice, not the ability to contribute.

What salary sacrifice actually is

• You agree to reduce your contractual salary

This is a formal contractual change — not the same as choosing a higher pension deduction. Your employer records a lower salary going forward.

• Your employer pays the sacrificed amount into your pension

Once the salary is reduced, the employer makes an employer pension contribution of the same value.

• The advantage comes from National Insurance

Because contractual salary is lower:

– You save employee NI
– Your employer saves employer NI

Many employers pass some or all of their NI saving into the pension as an additional contribution.

• Legally, these are employer contributions

Even though the arrangement is driven by the employee’s choice, all payments made under salary sacrifice are employer contributions in law.

What changes from April 2029?

Only the first £2,000 per tax year of salary-sacrificed pension contributions will remain exempt from NI.

Anything above £2,000 can still be paid via salary sacrifice and still receives full income tax relief — but:

- Employee NI will apply on the excess
- Employer NI will apply on the excess

The contribution above £2,000 remains an employer contribution legally, but the NI position becomes much closer to what you’d see if the individual had made the contribution directly under the net pay method.

In short, this change limits the NI savings available from salary sacrifice above £2,000 a year. It does not restrict how much can be contributed to a pension overall.

18/11/2025

The FSCS deposit protection limit is increasing to £120,000 from 1st December 2025. Good news for savers ⬇️

17/11/2025

Excellent visual of the world’s 50 most valuable listed companies.

A few standout points:

1. Nvidia’s scale – at around $4.5tn, it is now comfortably the largest company, reflecting significant market interest in AI and semiconductor technology.

2. Technology’s prominence – companies such as Microsoft and Apple dwarf many well-known global brands in other sectors, including Toyota and Coca-Cola.

3. US market dominance – the majority of the top 50 companies are headquartered in the United States, with relatively few from other regions represented.

4. Sector diversification – technology aside, there is still notable representation from other sectors such as healthcare, consumer staples, energy and financials, highlighting the broad mix of industries that contribute to global equity markets

Ranked: The World’s 50 Most Valuable Companies in October 2025 🏢

https://www.voronoiapp.com/markets/The-Worlds-Most-Valuable-Companies-as-of-Oct-2025-6998

13/11/2025

Few people realise that someone can contribute to a pension and receive basic-rate tax relief even if they have no UK relevant earnings — including non-taxpayers — provided they are a UK resident and under age 75.

Under current rules, individuals without relevant earnings can contribute up to £2,880 a year, and HMRC adds £720 in basic-rate tax relief, making a total of £3,600 paid into the pension.

This is simply a feature of the UK pension system and not a recommendation to make a contribution. Whether it is suitable will depend on your personal circumstances.

This information is based on current pension and tax legislation, which may change in future. It is not personal financial advice.

06/11/2025

When building a retirement plan, financial planners tend to plan up to age 100.

Longevity risk refers to the possibility of outliving your financial resources, in other words, living longer than expected and running out of money in retirement.

This recent post from Visual Capitalist highlights just how extreme human lifespans can be, and it’s fascinating (and a little daunting) to see the ages some people reach.

With rapid advances in medicine and longevity science, perhaps living to 120+ could one day become the new normal.

That’s great news for humanity but it certainly makes things more challenging from a financial planning perspective!

Ranked: The World’s Oldest People in History 👵

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-worlds-oldest-people-in-history/