Good to be back with another Q&A show to kick off the new year. This week we cover, ETFs, Pension contributions for high earners, tax relief for non-earners and lots more besides.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA3

02:21 First of all I have to thank you for the many years of enlightening listening that I have enjoyed. I thought it was excellent when Pete created the content, however it only improved with the addition of Rog. Yours is by far the best personal finance podcast that I listen to, and long may it continue. My question revolves around index funds & ETF’s. Many of the American podcasts cite the advantages of ETF’s over traditional index funds (unit trusts) however from what I understand this is due to tax considerations which apply in the US & not here. Please could you confirm if this is the case. I use a Vanguard index fund (unit trust) and wish to continue doing so, however am I missing out on not using ETF’s? Thanks again for all that you do for us, your listeners. Best wishes, Steve Horton

07:32 Love the podcast! I’m trying to understand what I can pay into my workplace pension. I’m close to £180k on my P60 & have no other income. My firm pay 6% into my pension, I then pay 6% which they also match. In addition I contribute another 2% so 20% in total, approx. £27k for a Pension Input Period. Feels like I have a relatively simple setup but I’m worried about breaching any limits around the £60k. Do I really need advice as I feel like I should be able to work this out myself! Thanks Steve D

11:26 I am 38 and 4 years ago came into a large sum of money (£600k). My wife and I were in decent shape with a manageable mortgage, life/CI insurance, decent pension balances. I opted to not employ a financial advisor, mainly because I was wary of fees. I am now questioning my decision. I have slowly been putting the money into my SIPP and ISA, keeping the rest in a GIA (invested in global index - Vanguard), paying the tax on dividends and, with time, capital gains. Also been using my wife's allowances. My question is this, was I silly to not employ a FA? Would there have been an obvious non-risky way of protecting the GIA balance from the tax-man, which would have paid for the FA many times over? We’re still saving into the GIA with regular monthly direct debits, although modest amounts. Love your podcast/YouTube output, which I feel have made me a better citizen - more relaxed because I am sure that my finances are unlikely to have any nasty surprises! Keep up the good work. Stuart

16:32 I've been listening to your great podcast for years and have a simply question for you both. If I am retired with no earnings and taking money from my drawdown pot, can I still contribute £2880 into a pension and get the £720 tax relief off the government? Can I do this even if I might not even be paying tax? Nigel

19:33 I’m 57, self employed (so no employer contribution for me!) and have a SIPP and Stocks and shares ISA. Basic rate taxpayer. I plan to start drawing from these in a few years time. I’m wondering ( as there aren’t going to be many years for the compounding ) whether it’s still worth adding to my SIPP? I’ll get the tax uplift if I put money into my SIPP but then 3/4 will then become taxable but I don’t think there will be enough time to make a gain large enough to offset the tax I will then pay. Should I just bung everything into my ISA? Have I missed something? Thanks very much if you’re able to answer my question! Best LC

25:23 I made a mistake when starting my investment journey by choosing platform recommended funds which are currently not performing well. I have had them for 3 years, is it best to cut my losses and invest in to my choice of global multi asset fund which I've had for 2 years that has been performing well? Thanks, Marc

30:08 Matthew asks: 1. My wife and I are selling both our homes (bought before together) and moving into a rental for 1-2years in a new area before we buy. We will have £500k in cash for 1-2years. Are we best investing in government bonds? Premium bonds? High interest savings accounts? We’re both top rate tax payers and have no other assets. 2. My NHS salary will soon go over £100k and we are starting a family. You speak a lot about overpaying pension for tax reasons and it also helps keep the £20k childcare allowance. I don’t think I can overpay an NHS pension, or can I? Others seem to be getting cars on lease to avoid it. Any ideas?

Today we’re going to look at combining or consolidating pensions - a big subject which we’ll try to do some justice…

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB10

What You Need To Know

02:15 Why transfer?

04:47 How the process works.

07:47 Things to watch out for.

14:39 About Defined Benefit transfers.

Everything You Need To Do

26:44 Get up to date with your existing plans.

Pension Transfer Checklist (PDF)

28:27 Decide if there’s any reason to leave the pension where it is.

29:44 Request the transfer.

31:07 Chase to completion.

35:07 Podcast Review.

In this episode, we want to look at the financial advice process, and give you the helpful basics that you need to think about if you are considering getting professional financial advice.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB9

What You Need To Know

02:24 Advice vs planning - Advice is product-led, Planning is outcome-led.

08:11 The Financial Planning process.

08:50 Establish and define the relationship.

11:50 Collect client information to have context for advice.

15:04 Analyse and assess the current position.

16:45 Develop the plan and make recommendations.

22:32 Implementation.

23:33 Ongoing review.

28:05 Costs and value.

35:00 Qualifications and designations.

What You Need To Know

39:03 Begin with the end in mind.

41:30 Contact several advisers.

45:47 Get costs and scope in writing.

48:25 Be prepared to be vulnerable.

53:50 Podcast Review

It's time for another listener Q&A! This time we cover paying off student loans, old pensions, alternative to pensions and ISAs and much more.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA2

00:40 Sophie - My question is that I am about to start earning a lot more than I thought I was as a graduate. I have always been told to ignore my student loans by my parents as it's essentially a tax, but looking at some calculators I would pay it all off in 25 years before it gets cleared and pay more than double the £45,600 in interest. I'm thinking of trying to overpay it off more quickly than that as it seems very big to have especially with 7.3% interest rate. I'm not sure if I should prioritize this, as I could start now, but as I'm starting work I'm still very uncertain of what to save and how I should treat this debt. Or should I not worry about it this early on?

06:55 Ellie - My partner recently traced a pension from an old employer. When he contacted the company they told him the pension was all paid out to him when he left the company, 9 years ago. He was 28 at the time. Is that possible? I believed it wasn't possible to access pensions until 10 years before state pension age. The exceptions I'm aware of (certain types of job/illness) aren't relevant here. I can't believe this pension would have had particularly special properties. It was while he was working for Experian. He doesn't remember receiving a lump sum, and is checking with his bank (it's too far back to see online). Did the person he spoke to just make a mistake? He is reluctant to go back to them without anything concrete, and it is hard to trust what they say. Any advice on what to do next?

12:15 Joanne - I am a higher rate tax payer and contribute to a SIPP on top of my employer pension (very generous DB scheme) to keep my earnings underneath £100k so that I can benefit from free childcare hours and about the 60% tax trap bracket between £100-£125k. However, I am now breaching the annual £60k pension allowance and so end up paying significant tax on the additional pension contributions in my self assessment. I am so aware that this is a privileged position to be in and want to contribute my fair share of tax but I wondered what other channels I should be exploring to be as tax efficient as possible please (I have never dabbled in VCTs!)

18:44 James - How do I weigh up the relative value of AVC on my DB pension rather than investing in a LISA or S&S ISA where I retain my capital?

22:25 Giles - I have fallen into the 60% tax trap on a number of occasions, to mitigate this I have tried to top up my pension to get my earnings below 100k to reduce my tax bill. Being the main earner and with 2 very expensive teenagers I don’t have enough spare cash to do this easily so have taken the money out of a S+S ISA in the past. I know this shifts the balance of my assets massively into pensions but it seems worth it to reduce tax. My question being is this a reasonable plan? Is it a good idea to do this or am I better keeping retirement options more flexible with a larger ISA pot?

Today we’re going to focus on a subject that we often allude to, but which we want to take a bit further and deeper. We’re always talking about the need to be intentional, but what does that actually mean, in practice?

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB8

Everything you need to Know

02:03 The definition of being intentional .

02:59 About goals .

06:48 Consistency .

Everything you need to Do

07:50 The Two Spheres .

08:58 Be intentional with our personal finances .

18:38 Be intentional with our investments .

37:37 Rinse and repeat.

38:49 Podcast review.

Meaningful Academy Financial Foundations
https://meaningfulacademy.com/financialfoundations

In today’s episode of our Helpful Basics season, we’re going to be talking about Pensions and ISA, explaining how they work, comparing them and helping you to know which ones to use and when.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB7

Everything you need to Know

02:07 Paying money IN.

13:50 Taking money OUT.

22:40 What happens when you die.

Everything you need to Do

33:07 Join your employer's pension, or stay in it, or open one if self employed.

36:50 Use ISAs for medium term savings.

38:17 Use LISAs for first-time house purchase or to supplement retirement savings.

40:17 Blend

41:15 Be intentional, review regularly.

43:56 Podcast review.

Today we’re going to be covering Helpful Basics in the area of self employment and side hustles. We’ll be talking about what you need to know and what you need to do if you’re planning on going it alone in business or supplementing your income in some way…

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB6

What You Need To Know

01:55 What is self-employment?

04:08 What is a side-hustle?

09:18 How tax works as a self-employed person.

Everything You Need To Do

20:37 Start as you mean to go on.

26:44 Register for self employment.

29:22 Start a pension.

31:07 Think about insurance.

34:03 Plan for the future.

39:25 E-myth Revisited book.

40:40 Review of the podcast

We have a slightly different episode because today I am speaking with the good people from a company called CheckMyFile all about credit files and credit scores - why they are important and how we can optimise them to our benefit.

CheckMyFile: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/checkmyfile

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/HB5

01:33 - Pete chats with Beth.

04:15 - What is a credit record / credit report / credit score

06:50 - Purpose of a credit record.

08:52 - What makes a good / bad credit file

12:00 - Credit card to increase your score before buying a house - is that true?

13:26 - Important to be on Electoral Role.

14:28 - Bad debts, using debt responsibly.

18:15 - What can be done to improve your credit score?

21:24 - Credit is attached to person, not address. Financially linked people.

23:40 - Check your credit file.

26:35 - Is there a business equivalent?

27:43 - What is CheckMyFile and why should people use it.

32:00 - Pete and Roger chat and a podcast review.