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In this Meaningful Money Q&A episode (QA46), Pete Matthew and Roger Weeks answer six listener questions on the financial decisions many UK households are wrestling with right now. We cover bridging the gap to the State Pension with fixed-term annuities, strategies for staying under £100,000 adjusted net income (and avoiding the 60% tax trap), and how LGPS "CARE" pensions work including whether salary sacrifice can reduce student loan repayments. There's also practical guidance for self-employed listeners facing a tough year and needing to cut costs, plus how to think about funding private school fees without derailing long-term plans. Finally, we discuss how to decide whether to take the maximum tax-free lump sum from a defined benefit pension, including the trade-offs and how to model the impact. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA46  02:18  Question 1 Hi Pete & Roger, I am a long-time fan of your podcasts, and I often sneak off during the day for some peaceful R&R and listen to your latest release or even go back on old shows. My wife and I are in the fortunate position that we have both retired but still have a number of years before the state pension will commence (6 years / 2 years). Our long-term plan was to build up our private pensions so that we would have a comfortable retirement but also be able to leave our two children a reasonable inheritance which has meant we have been reluctant to dip into our DC pensions too early. With the proposed changes to IHT bringing in the unused pension pots on 2nd death into the estate and on current projection we have in excess of £1m in DC pensions which unfortunately are heavily weighted in my favour to 80/20 and we both have a DB scheme each (circa 5K) which have been activated. My questions relate to fixed term annuity. To bridge the gap between retirement and receiving the state pension for my wife circa 6 years, I was considering looking at one of these to cover sufficient income to take her up to the personal tax allowance limit bearing in mind the annual DB income. My dilemma is where or how best to fund this. Can we or do we use our personal savings? Do we use my wife's DC pension in part? Can I use my own DC pension, but any withdrawal would be subject to 20% tax rate so not a preference even if allowed? As part of my look into these fixed term annuities, there also seems to be an option to have guaranteed cash return at the end of term.  Is there any sense in considering this as it would require a bigger investment or withdrawal?  Would this cash also be tax free or would it be income and added to your existing income stream? It would seem to me that if I wanted to reduce the pension pot differential but ensuring the tax payable was only 20%, then I could either max my withdrawal requirement annually or consider the annuity route but this could be complicated with my state pension commencing 2027? Should I be hung up on the pension pot differential values between us and does the IHT rule of the couple's tax-free limit being £650,000 nil rate ignore where the money originates.  This pension pot differential must be quite common, do you have any other comment or suggestions that would be helpful. I, like many of your listeners enjoy your banter and how you impart knowledge to the wider audience for their better good – a big thank you for this. Best Regards Brett. Meaningful Academy Retirement Planning 11:04  Question 2 Hi Pete & Roger, I'm a big fan of the podcast — thanks for all the clear and practical advice you share each week. My base salary is about £76k, but with shift allowance and a car allowance my total package is closer to £90k. On top of that, I can earn overtime (which is unpredictable) and I also get a discretionary bonus of up to 20% of base salary. The challenge is that we don't find out the actual bonus figure until the end of March, but if we want to waive it into pension we have to decide in advance — so it's guesswork. Without any planning, the bonus can push my adjusted net income over £100k, which means I start to lose my personal allowance and fall into the so‑called "60% tax trap" between £100k and £125k. At the moment, I already have several salary sacrifices in place: – Pension, Holiday purchase, Share Incentive Plan (SIP). I'm now considering adding an electric vehicle through salary sacrifice, which would reduce my taxable pay by about £10.5k a year. That would keep my adjusted net income below £100k, but it obviously reduces my monthly take‑home. I'm 29, so I don't mind putting a bit extra into my pension for the long term, but I don't want to over‑commit too early and lose too much cash flow now. In the next year or so, my wife and I are also planning to have children — which adds another layer, because if my income goes over £100k we'd also lose access to childcare perks. I know there are worse problems to have, but I'd really like to maximise my take‑home pay without losing benefits and while staying as tax‑efficient as possible. So my question is: how should someone in my position — with variable overtime, an uncertain bonus, existing salary sacrifices, and family planning on the horizon — think about the £100k threshold, the 60% tax trap, and the personal allowance taper? And more broadly, how should PAYE employees balance lower monthly net pay against the tax efficiency, taper protection, and childcare benefit eligibility that salary sacrifice schemes can provide? Many thanks. Lewis. 19:48  Question 3 Hi Pete and Rog I'm 28 and my fiancé is 26 so we're at the early stages of building our empire. The knowledge and insight I've picked up from listening to you over the past 12 months has been a massive help, so thank you! My financial situation is fairly run of the mill: a  Salary Sacrifice DB pension with a 6% employer match, early days Stocks & Shares ISA, emergency fund etc. However my Fiancé works for our local council and has a DC pension titled "CARE". From what I can understand, this means every year she works, she builds up an amount, that yearly amount tracks inflation up to retirement, then at retirement all those revalued yearly amounts are added together to give her a guaranteed annual income for life. To my question! Firstly, is my understanding correct, or is there anything I'm missing? And secondly, is there a way of playing with her percentage pension contribution to lower the amount of student loan she has to pay back? Bonus question: I've just finished Q&A Ep31 and caught wind Pete had a beer - what's your tipple of choice? Always thankful for each episode and video you provide! Thanks, Tom   24:23 Question 4 Hi Pete and Rog Long time Facebook group, podcast and you tube fan, asking a question that I haven't heard answered yet. I am self employed, and have been for 12 years now. 2025 has been an unexpectedly difficult one in my industry with corporate customers cancelling projects and budget cuts, and individual clients feeling uncertainty. How can I make hard decisions about cutting back on my business and personal expenses, whilst also staying as positive as possible about the future? My turnover is down about 30%, with a knock on effect on my income. I've stopped investing in my pension as the business isn't making enough profit to do so, and am now looking at cutting back on business expenses like the subcontractors I book to work with me and marketing (which I've held off doing hoping income will recover). Meanwhile I took on many personal expenses that feel very hard to cancel like private health cover for my family, income protection insurance, gym membership, kids sports clubs and their  orthodontist treatments - all totalling £6-800 pounds per month. I'm not sure where to start! Thanks for considering my question. Best Wishes, Lara   31:40 Question 5 Dear Pete and Roger, Loving your podcast. I can honestly say listening to it has transformed my relationship with money and investing. My husband used to do all the money management alone and seems thrilled I've finally shown an interest... Short version: - She 39, he 44 - Her - late starter due to Uni and maternity - now profits of £60pa self emp - He has £50k pa accrued in DB scheme plus AVCs - maxing contributions - He sacrifices to stay below £100k - ISAs - they don't say how much As the children are approaching secondary age and with some SEND issues in the mix we are looking at all the options including fee-paying independent schools. Luckily with the age gaps we have we will only be paying for two kids at any one time and grandparents are stepping in for eldest. This is costly, but I think doable for us as we're quite frugal people anyway. I'm now working out how best to fund this. If we reduce our pension contributions we will lose huge amounts to tax and student loan deductions (in my case) - 62%/47% (him) and 51% (me) will be deducted and we'll lose the childcare funding for our toddler which will be a massive blow. Would it be mad/bad to release some equity from the house, enjoy this money now and pay this off with a pension lump sum when we can access it? I feel that it would be absolutely mad to retire with far more than we need, whilst our children missed out but also mad to miss out on the tax relief. I'm really interested in your thoughts and if there are other ideas? We have just a few years to prepare and ideally I'd like some flex or contingency in any plan. Could an offset mortgage be useful here? I could go full time but I don't want to miss out on raising the kids so this would be the last resort. It just feels like a cash flow issue that needs some planning for. HELP! Thank you for reading, fingers crossed I've got all the vernacular right and haven't caused any confusion. Take care and best wishes, Annie   36:58  Question 6 Hi Nick…Roger…and the other guy!  I'm an avid new listener h

In this episode of the MeaningfulMoney Q&A, Pete and Roger answer six listener questions covering a wide range of personal finance topics. We tackle a tricky inheritance tax situation involving a property bought in children's names, look at pension and ISA options for a daughter likely to spend her career working outside the UK, and offer some perspective on balancing financial sensibility with life's genuine passions. We also cover whether a minimal LISA contribution strategy actually works, how to manage the transition from 100% equities to a retirement asset allocation in the years before you stop work, and what income protection options exist for a young professional wanting to guard against long-term illness or injury. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA45  02:20  Question 1 Hello Peter and Roger (without a D) I am so pleased I discovered your podcast a few months ago, since then your words of wisdom accompany me on my daily dog walks and I have become the annoying older colleague in the office telling the younger colleagues about the power of compounding and contributing to the pension scheme. I have a rather unusual query I would really appreciate your view on and maybe the potential pitfalls we are experiencing would be of interest to other listeners as I have read lots of questions on-line about potential benefits of putting property in children's names. My parents retired to Spain 25 years ago, they cash-purchased a UK flat for when they come back 10 years ago. In a bid to avoid inheritance tax they bought this in mine and 3 siblings names (all in our late 40/early 50s). They did not seek professional  advice, just assuming it was the right thing to do, which could be the morale of the story. Sadly my Dad recently died and as executor of his will I have been looking into the UK assets. I realise now that this cunning plan does not work, as they regularly stay in the flat without paying rent. Therefore, it is classed as gift with reserved benefits and still included in the estate. However this is not an issue as they are well below the IHT threshold. The question I have relates to the future financial position that I think they have inadvertently created. My mum wants to sell up in Spain buy a house in the UK and then either rent the flat for some more income or potential sell it. But how does this work if the property is in our names? Can she legitimately take rent (with our permission) without it having income tax implications on us (I am higher rate so do not want this!). If she wants to sell it I assume it will be sales to us siblings so we will pay capital gains (but what rate? we are a mix of tax brackets and one of my sisters doesn't own another house.) She says she might be best just transferring into her name, but I don't think it will be that easy and we will still be liable for capital gains as it will effectively be a sale to her. Is there something we have missed here and is it something we should be concerned about? Or is it OK to leave as is and let her keep to draw down income. Could it be the right thing to do and having the property in our names be simpler to resolve when she dies? I am hoping your soothing Yorkshire/Cornish tones can reassure me all will be OK. Vicky a faithful listener.   11:24  Question 2 Hi Pete and Rog I only discovered the podcast fairly recently, but have been following your web-based lessons on Meaningful Money for a while (and have read the books). I am really loving the podcast - so many back episodes to listen to! Super-informative, and your dulcet tones are also very soothing! My question is to do with advice for an adult child who is likely to spend her career working outside the UK. My husband and I are both late 50s and technically have reached FIRE (years of finance-nerdery despite relatively low incomes) but I am still doing consultancy because I quite enjoy it. Our older three children are all getting established in their careers, and I've brainwashed/ educated them in the ways of financial sensibleness, so they're all set up with emergency funds/S&S ISAs/employer pensions/SIPPS. Our youngest daughter is studying at university in Poland (the kids and I all have dual Polish/UK citizenship, as my mum was Polish). This means my daughter can work anywhere in the EU, and although she will always have strong ties to the UK, it's looking as if she is more likely to work outside the UK once she graduates in summer 2026. This opens up a whole new world of options in terms of setting her on a path to financial security, and there's quite a lot of conflicting information  - I would really appreciate some input on what are likely to be the best options for someone in this situation. At the moment she's 'ordinarily resident' in the UK, on the electoral roll etc., but doesn't have any UK income. Can she make pension contributions in the UK even if she's working elsewhere? I assume she still has an ISA allowance if she's a UK citizen working abroad, but a LISA would make less sense if she's not likely to buy a UK property? I am self-employed via a limited company and she has occasionally done bits of tech support for me, so she could register as self-employed in the UK and bill me for that - would that count as UK employment? My accountant is super-scrupulous, so I'm not interested in anything that might be sailing even vaguely close to the wind in HMRC terms. I would appreciate any thoughts on this perhaps slightly non-standard situation, although I assume there must be quite a few other people out there with dual UK/EU citizenship who might be facing similar questions? Many thanks, Felicia 19:06  Question 3 Dear Pete and Roger. I listen to your podcast all the time and it keeps me right. It has really helped me navigate my financial literacy or lack thereof. I am now in a situation where I have much better understanding of what I need to be doing with my money, and have made sense of all financial decisions such as paying into my workplace pension, owning my own home, and I have a recently paid job and some side projects which earn me a little. My question is, I think, a search for a validation of my life choices! Basically, despite having a good job and owning my own home outright, I am still struggling to budget every month. This is because I have made a terrible financial decision of owning two horses. These horses are my pride and joy, but the financial strain of it does make me feel guilty in terms of the distribution of spending between me and my husband. I spent about 600 a month on the horses, give or take a bit each month. Do you have any words of wisdom about how to balance being sensible with money Vs 'investing' in my life passions? I don't think I'll ever give up the horses, so it's more about whether I continue to stress about it or not. Many thanks for your wisdom as always Josie   25:20 Question 4 Thank you for all the great content! I have a LISA question for the podcast in relation to my 25 year old son? He currently lives with me in SW London and is saving to buy his own place. I love having him stay and I am in no rush for him to move out. He/we decided not to go with a LISA because he is likely to buy a property in or around London and we are concerned about the £450K cap which I believe has remained fixed since 2017. He is very motivated, ambitious and hard working and has already had several promotions with an opportunity to work in the US next year. He has already saved £50K for a deposit and I intend helping him too. He is not in a rush to buy as it feels like the property market is no longer running away from him.  He told me he thinks it makes more sense to enter the property market on the second rung of the ladder rather than the first as it costs so much to move with stamp duty, fees etc. So perhaps a 2 bed in a nice(ish) area rather than a starter home (and renting the second bedroom to a friend). I think I agree with him, especially if he ends up working in the US for an unknown period of time.  A 2 bed in a nice(ish) area where he actually wants to live would cost more than the £450K cap which is why we are reluctant to use the LISA for saving for his first home (I understand it can also be a pension investment but he is already contributing to his workplace pension). However, I have in my head a bug that says he can put minimal contributions into a LISA each year (say £5) which he could top up retrospectively if he changes his mind and does find somewhere to buy for under £450K. Am I correct? Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Michelle 29:04 Question 5 Hi Pete and Roger Thanks so much for all the work you do, I've only found the podcast recently but already enjoying learning more and thinking about things differently. My question relates to saving for retirement and specifically the period leading up to retiring.  Nearly all of our (mine and my husband's) pensions are in SIPPs where we have been happy to be 100% equity, in global index funds. We are now maybe 7-10 years from the point where we could retire, and I've been able to research withdrawal strategies to the point where I'm confident managing that when we get there.  We have determined our target asset allocation split between equities / bond funds / individual gilts and money market funds for the start point of retirement. I haven't been able to find much information about the period of transition from 100% equity to the asset allocation we want in place for the start of retirement.  Obviously it's a balance between reducing exposure to volatility as we approach retirement and accepting a drag on the portfolio caused by the increasing allocation to cash and bonds and my instinctive (but not evidence-based!) approach would be to gradually move from one to the other over a number of years. So my question is this - is there a better approach than just a straightline shift from one to the other

From April 2027, many unused pension funds are set to be brought into the IHT net, changing how pensions work for legacy planning. Pete and Roger explain what's changing, what still remains exempt, where "double tax" can arise, and the practical steps to consider now — without rushing into knee-jerk decisions. 01:55 KNOW - Pensions no longer outside of estate 09:49 KNOW - Some important exemptions still remain 10:32 KNOW - In some cases there could be TWO taxes 14:15 KNOW - The administration will also change 16:58 KNOW Summary 17:15 DO - Rethink the old "leave the pension last" strategy 22:40 DO - Review who your beneficiaries actually are 24:56 DO - Consider using surplus pension income while you're alive 26:35 DO - Don't rush into drastic decisions 30:39 Podcast Review   Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session616 

In this Meaningful Money Q&A episode, Pete Matthew and Roger Weeks answer six listener questions on UK personal finance, pensions and investing. We cover inheritance tax (IHT) and who actually pays it, a defined benefit pension "state pension deduction" before State Pension age, and whether salary sacrifice affects higher-rate tax relief. We also discuss whether global tracker funds are too concentrated in the US, how offshore investment bonds compare to a general investment account (GIA), and how IHT taper relief works for gifts and the nil-rate band. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA44  03:40  Question 1 Hi Pete and Roger, I have been really enjoying your podcast and have learned so much about finance, tax and investments that I did not know before. I enjoyed your episode on inheritance tax. I have a question regarding inheritance tax and what happens if beneficiaries are unable to afford to pay it. My parents are wealthy with three properties (mortgages all paid off) and a large private pension, my parents also had a limited company which they used to maximise their earnings by minimising tax. However, me and my brother are average in the financial sense, where we have "normal salaried jobs", as my father would say. We earn far less than him and hence have much less assets. I own a house but have most of the mortgage left to pay because I only bought it last year. I am also single and live alone on my single income. My brother rents a flat and spends most of what he earns and has no concept of saving/future plans or investments, he does not even have a pension. I am under the assumption that the IHT has to paid first before the inherence is released, rather than IHT simply being deducted from the actual inherence itself before distribution? When I look at the total of my parents assets, me and my brother have no where near enough money to be able to pay it, due to the large gap in wealth between us and my parents. I tried to discuss this with them a few times but was fobbed off. They don't have any plan in place, all they have is life insurance to cover each other should one party die, and a simple one page will including just each other and us, no extended family. My brother and mum have no clue about money, and my dad who is in charge of the finances has multiple health problems of late. I am anxious of the day when I will be asked to pay tons of IHT which I might not be able to able to afford, especially because I am single and have my own bills and mortgage, I can't afford another loan. Is there a way to get around this or reduce the burden? If I cannot afford to pay the tax, can I simple "run away" from the situation and decline being a beneficiary, hence shoving the responsibility of IHT onto other family members? I don't really understand the process of probate, and whether my parents life insurance would pay it, but it seems to be that it pays out to the spouse should the other die, so I assume this would be added to the total assets and hence increase the tax burden should the other die? My parents don't seem to be bothered and are reluctant to discuss this so I am unsure what to do. How do "average/mediocre" kids like me and my brother usually deal with the tax from being born into a wealthy family? Sorry if this is a silly question, but I would appreciate any words of financial wisdom. Many thanks, Lava 13:08  Question 2 Hi Pete and Roger, I hope this message finds you well. As an avid listener of your podcast for the past couple of years, I want to express my gratitude for the way you break down financial and pension topics that can often seem overwhelming. Your insights have been invaluable to me. I wanted to share a personal experience and seek your views on it. After dedicating 42 years working at M&S, I am now approaching 60 and preparing to take my pension later this year. While I am proud of my long service, I've encountered an unexpected surprise in my pension arrangement. I have a Defined Benefit (DB) pension valued at around £9,000. Per year. However, upon receiving my pension quotation, I discovered that the scheme is structured to pay me this amount only until I reach 65 years of age, after which it reduces by approximately £2,200, a 24% reduction. This reduction is based on the assumption that the State Pension will compensate for the difference. However, with the State Pension age being pushed back, I will experience a reduction in my income before the State Pension begins when I turn 67. This situation feels particularly unfair, especially given that at M&S, there are a significant number of women who are lower-paid workers. The unfairness is further accentuated by the fact that the reduction is a fixed sum, irrespective of one's earnings. This fixed sum reduction impacts lower-paid and part-time workers disproportionately. I would greatly appreciate any insights or advice you might have on how to navigate this issue. Thank you once again for the fantastic work you do. Your podcast has been a tremendous help in making sense of pensions and finances. Best regards, Joan   20:06  Question 3 Hi Pete and Roger, Discovered the podcast and book a few months ago while trying to get more organised with life admin and planning for the future. Enjoying working through the back catalogue of the past seasons on the podcast and that's been very helpful - thank you. I do have a question about salary sacrifice/exchange in a workplace pension around tax brackets. As I got a promotion at work a few years ago I ended up moving into the higher 40% tax bracket so I adjusted my pension contributions - my workplace offers salary exchange for pension contributions - to bring my adjusted salary to below £50k and stay within the 20% income tax bracket and also saving on National Insurance contributions and tax relief. However, last year, another promotion led to another increase in salary and several things going on such as buying a house meant that I hadn't adjusted the pension contributions enough and my adjusted salary was above £50k and a portion of that was taxed at the 40% rate. Question I have is can I claim back the tax at the 40% rate from HMRC or does the salary exchange mean that I have already had the maximum tax relief applied? Thanks and keep up the good work, Simon 23:42 Question 4 Hi Pete and Rog, Only just discovered the pod and loving it! You advocate global trackers and I can see why, as they are cheap and simple and have the appearance of diversifying risk. But do you not worry about putting 60-70% of your money in one market (the US), which is what a global tracker does? I understand that you're letting the market determine how your capital is allocated, but what is 'the market' when so many other people are also just investing in global trackers? It seems to me there is not enough price discovery and trackers may be chasing a bubble. Would love to get your views. Cheers guys. Will https://www.timeline.co/resources/indexing-the-paradox-of-concentration-of-return  Adviser 3.0 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Y4jVxDLL4  30:09 Question 5 Dear Roger and Pete Huge fan of the show! I had a question about offshore investment bonds. I'm an additional rate taxpayer and after contributing to pension and ISA, am then looking at what could come next. I've seen offshore investment bonds as an option, however I'm struggling to see how they would deliver a better outcome (assuming the same underlying investments) than simply using a GIA, and selling down the investments once I stop work. Thanks again, Matt Investment Bonds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q5HBoXmekI  35:28  Question 6 Hi Pete, Roger and Team, Firstly, thanks to you all for the amazing podcast, I have been listening for years and it has given me the confidence to manage my finances. I spread the word to all who will listen! My question is regarding tapering with relation to gifts and IHT. The scenario is this, a person is gifted a fairly substantial sum (say £100k) but less than the £325k personal allowance. The person who gifted the sum then dies at 6 years post gift. The persons estate is say £750k. In this case does tapering occur? Even though the gift is less than the £325k the whole estate is well over the personal allowance. Would IHT be paid on the sum over £325 with tapering on the gift? For example £325k IHT free due personal allowance, £100k at 6% taper relief with the remainder at normal IHT rates? Hopefully that's a short enough question! Many thanks, Alastair

If you're a UK beginner and you're not sure where to start investing in 2026, Pete and Roger talk you through a calm, step-by-step investing order to follow. They cover when to build a buffer, tackle expensive debt and use employer pension matching, plus how to choose between a Stocks and Shares ISA and a pension. You'll also hear the key beginner mistakes to avoid so you can invest with confidence and stay the course. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA43  02:00  Question 1 Hi Pete and Roger I'm late to investing but thanks to your informative and entertaining podcasts and books - I feel on track to at least a decent retirement. I'm on a £60K salary and currently manage to contribute around £25K annually via salary sacrifice - which keeps me happily and comfortably within the 20% Income Tax bracket. However, with the Salary Sacrifice Cap coming in April 2029, I will end up in the higher-rate tax bracket. I was thinking about using my employer's Car Benefit Salary Sacrifice Scheme to help bring down my taxable income – whilst still maintaining the maximum salary sacrifice and utilising Relief at Source my AVC. I'm fully aware of the saying "don't let the tax tail wag the investment dog" but I was planning on getting a car in 2029 – when my mortgage is completed – so this might be a good alignment. My question's are: Can you confirm whether the Salary Sacrifice Cap applies to pensions only — and does using the car salary sacrifice scheme seem like a sensible idea in this context? Is there anyway that paying into my AVC via Relief at Source and claiming the higher-rate relief via Self-Assessment would result in HMRC issuing me a new tax code for the following tax year. Keep up the good work – and all the best to you and your families for the festive season. Thanks, Cris 06:43  Question 2 Hi, I recently came across your podcast and have not stopped listening to all the older episodes, and look forward to the new ones each week. Keep up the great work! I'm a 53 year old business owner looking to exit my business within the next 3 years via a sale and hope to receive around £1.5 - £1.8m from my share of the proceeds after tax. My wife is 8 yrs younger than me and will probably still be working doing some consultancy work. She has her own pension and savings in ISA's (currently a combined pot of around £250k which will hopefully grow over the next 10+ years) but we wouldn't need to access that till much later as required. My 2 questions are: 1. What would be the best way to invest the lump sum from the sale of my business to provide an income to support my retirement without having to necessarily eat into the capital or touch too much of my savings / pension early on as it will need to provide for my wife and I for quite a few years if we retire / semi retire in our mid 50's. Having looked at our living costs we would need around £60k p.a - albeit to live comfortably. Any holidays / large purchases etc could be funded through savings. 2. How would you prioritise what pot of funds you use first to make it the most tax efficient, enable growth and ensure that the pots do not run out. Given the new IHT rules on pensions is it now wise to use those first including the 25% tax free lump sum or use the ISA's / savings first leaving the pensions to continue growing in their tax wrapper. Thanks, Jeremy Meaningful Academy Retirement Planning: https://meaningfulacademy.com/retirementplanning  14:53  Question 3 Hello Peter and Roger You answered a previous question for me on the podcast so thank you for that, and I hope you don't mind me asking another one! We're in the very fortunate position of being able to pay the full £60,000 annual allowance into my pension scheme this tax year and are considering making additional contributions using unused allowance from previous years.  I understand that the total contribution we could make would still be limited by my annual salary this tax year - my question relates to how that is defined. The contributions are made using a combination of salary sacrifice into my work scheme and lump sum contributions to my SIPP which is separate from the work scheme.  So, would my "salary" that would be the limit for total contributions be the salary before salary sacrifice or after?  And is the "salary" further reduced by the contributions to the SIPP, as I believe my adjusted net income for calculating tax bands is? Perhaps some hypothetical numbers would help.  Let's say my gross salary before salary sacrifice is £125,000 and I salary sacrifice £25,000, and my employers' contribution is £5,000.  Let's say I also pay £24,000 by bank transfer into my SIPP, so I'd receive £6,000 of tax relief into the SIPP.  If I've understood it correctly, my adjusted net income for tax purposes would be £70,000 (which is £100,00 salary after salary sacrifice minus £30,000 gross contribution to SIPP).  In total, £60,000 has been paid into my pensions which is the full annual allowance for this year. If I had £120,000 of unused pension allowance from the previous three tax years, what is the maximum additional amount I could pay into my SIPP this tax year?  Is it £65,000 gross (so £52,000 net), to bring the total paid into my pensions up to £125,000, my pre-sacrifice salary?  Or £40,000 gross (so £32,000 net), to bring the total paid into my pensions up to £100,000, my post-sacrifice salary?  Or some other amount, if the salary that counts for this year is limited to the adjusted net income? Thanks so much for your help - I know it's a bit technical but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere! All the best, Fran   19:33 Question 4 Dear Pete and Roger, I've been listening to the podcast for years now, and it always makes my Wednesday commute more enjoyable. Every time I hear your names together, I think of The Who, so thanks for all you do, helping people of My Generation become Finance Wizards and make smarter decisions so we don't get Fooled Again. I'm 34, and after working in the small charity sector since university, I've accepted a role in a larger organisation which comes with a significant pay increase, taking my income over the Higher Rate threshold. As I step into this new tax band, what reliefs, allowances, or financial planning considerations should I be thinking about? In particular, I'm aware there are some reliefs (particularly for Gift Aid donations and pension contributions) that I will be able to claim through self assessment; do they 'compete' with each other in any way, or can I claim the full relief on both? Thanks for all you do, Tim   23:40  Question 5 Pete & Roger Great podcast - don't ever retire! I've just started receiving my state pension (now you know how old I am) but I was wondering how I can check that the government are paying me the correct amount. I have more than a full set of NI class 1 contributions but I've also had some years contracted out and some years working abroad in a country with a reciprocal arrangement with the UK (which I've claimed for). The government just sent me a statement telling me how much I would get paid without any detail behind it. How can I check that they have made the correct deductions for contracting out and the correct additions for my time abroad? Call me cynical but I don't always trust the government to get these calculations right. Many thanks, Glen   26:58  Question 6 Hi,  great show by the way, very informative, it has certainly helped me and I'm sure is great help to many others. My wife Michelle is planning to retire at the end of March, age 58.5.  She is self employed, a relatively low earner and finds the work tiring now. I myself am 56 soon and likely to work another 2 year (max), I am luckily enough to receive a decent salary and have above average pension provision. Michelle has the following pension savings -  £143k in bank savings (not isa), £130k S&S ISA, £118k SIPP - all combined £391k. I realise markets are high at the moment. Plan to use 4% rule and reduce when State Pension kicks in (have full NI Contributions). So assuming want £15k pa (and rise annually with inflation), my query (that many others may have) is it best to use the cash or the ISA or the SIPP first or mix it up?  Michelle is very unlikely to have to pay income tax, until State Pension triggers at 67. Any advice much appreciated, Jason  

Pete Matthew and Roger Weeks cover self-employed saving rates, inheritance tax and estate planning, and how dividends are treated inside pension drawdown (including SIPPs). They also discuss salary sacrifice and contribution limits, the pros and cons of recycling tax-free cash, and whether to overpay your mortgage or invest via a Stocks & Shares ISA. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA42  01:07  Question 1 Hi Pete and Roger, Thank you for your amazing podcast! My question is about budgeting & savings percentages: Should you aim for a % of your gross pay or your net pay when it comes to aiming for a savings percentage? e.g. Invest 20% of gross or net? I'm self employed and work contract to contract. From each contract payment I have to give 25% to agents and lawyers. Then I get paid the rest and have to put aside some of the money ready for the Tax man. When planning for how much I should save / invest from each contract payment should I be putting aside: 20% of the original contract amount? (which would be prior to the agents taking their cut and prior to the tax man taking his cut?) 20% of the amount left after the agents but prior to the tax man? Or 20% after both the agent cut and tax man cut? Thank you! Isabel 05:50  Question 2 I am a 70 year old widow with no children.  My current net worth is about £2 million. This is made of of a house (£500,000), savings and investments (£1,150,000) and a drawdown pension pot of £350,000 which I inherited from my husband.  My husband died aged 68 so the pension pot is currently tax free. I plan to leave our inheritance tax free allowances of £650,000 to family, mostly nephews and nieces and the reminder to charities.  The drawdown pension will also go to named family members until the rules change in 2027 after which this will also go to charity.   I understand that this would mean my estate wouldn't be subject to inheritance tax.  Am I right about this? Is there anything I might not have thought about or any flaws in my thinking? Thank you for your very informative podcast, Susan 08:24  Question 3 Hi Pete and Roger,  I'm still catching up on the back catalogue and am still loving the show, the listener questions are a great alternative, absolutely brilliant :) My mind has been wandering as it usually does, and this time thinking about my retirement plan and what dividends will look like at retirement. I have some queries I would love you to clarify please if possible. As it stands I have a combination of SIPP and stocks & shares ISAs all globally diversified with various stocks and ETFs etc and also a NHS DB pension.  I'm about to turn 49 and planning on a retirement at around 60. I'm trying to plan in the most tax efficient way (obviously this may change with future governments). For now though I am trying to max out my ISAs regularly for the tax free benefits and in particular focussing on a goal of using global ETF high yield dividends as income  annually at retirement. I have a Vanguard SIPP with 3 ETFs. I plan to take the 25% tax free amount from this when I retire. The rest (75%) I plan to leave as is, in the same ETFs and as they will hopefully still be paying dividends, I am a little confused as to how these will be regarded, such as for tax purposes? My assumption is the dividends will be added as cash to my now 75% remaining pot and then if I start to drawdown on this then I guess I will be taxed as normal depending on my tax status at the time only on what I drawdown as income. However when the dividends are added to my drawdown (75%) portfolio will this be part of my annual tax free (currently £500) dividend allowance OR will they not count as they are in my "pension pot" (and not classed as income) as is the case currently pre-retirement? At the present should I actually be adding the dividends that I currently receive in my pension pot to my annual tax free allowance (£500 for me)? (I assumed dividends in a SIPP don't need declaring/adding up towards your annual tax free dividend allowance). I hope that all makes sense? Thanks for all your work with the podcasts and Listener Questions too, you guys are awesome! Cheers lads, Jon 13:22 Question 4 Dear Pete and Roger, I've just turned off lifestyling on my pension thanks to your excellent podcast and videos. You may have saved me thousands so many thanks! I now have a cunning plan! I work for a university and have a hybrid pension with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). Payments for my regular defined benefit (DB) pension are made via salary sacrifice. I'm also making additional voluntary contributions to the defined contribution (DC) part of USS, also by salary sacrifice. I've increased these DC payments to a level where my reduced effective pay is just above the level of the National Living Wage. As all my USS contributions, DB and DC, are made by salary sacrifice, they count as employer contributions. As I understand it, I am also allowed to make employee pension contributions to an entirely separate SIPP up to the full level of my Relevant Earnings, which in my case is my salary alone. Is that correct? If so, am I allowed to make employee contributions up to the level of my original salary (before salary sacrifice reductions)? Or am I only allowed to make employee contributions up to the level or my reduced salary (after salary sacrifice), just above the level of the National Living Wage? Is my plan a sound one or is it a cunning plan worthy of Baldrick? I'm 54 years old and a basic rate tax payer with a salary of about £37,000 per annum. I do not expect to be promoted. Simon 17:56  Question 5 Hi Pete and Roger, Long time listener and watcher on YouTube and think it is absolutely wonderful all the free good advice you put out there. I hope you give yourselves a pat on the back for helping so many people build their wealth and no doubt have a better future in their latter years than they would have had without you. As I reach a certain age I am pondering a strategy and was wondering if you could advise if this is a flawed approach, letting the tax tail wag the dog or perfectly valid. I've never heard anyone suggest it and can't believe that I have an idea that experts haven't thought of. It involves recycling tax free lump sums from an existing DC pension. My understanding is that you have to "break" ALL the conditions to breach the recycling rules and the one I am considering not breaking is "tax free lump sum is less than £7,500 in any 12 month period". The idea is this: - Crystalise 30K. £22.5K into a drawdown pot and left untouched so as to not trigger the MPAA. £7.5K tax free cash withdrawn - Take the £7.5K tax free cash and recycle it into a new SIPP - Benefit from 40% tax relief to gain an additional £5K - Do the same a year later and repeat until actual retirement If I did this for the 10 years between first accessing my DC pension and retiring from employment at state pension age that's an extra £50K "free". The only downside I can see is that by crystalising you remove a portion of your existing DC pot from being able to have a 25% tax free slice of a bigger pie in the future. However I would have thought by putting the tax relief and tax free cash into a new SIPP, plus 25% of that total being tax free second time around when withdrawn, it would outweigh the downside, particularly if you think you're going to be a lower rate tax payer in actual retirement. Any thoughts gratefully received. Keep up the great work and fantastic content. Kind Regards, Tom 24:40  Question 6 Hi Rodge & Pete Love the energy of the show, both educational and also very funny one of my favourite financial podcasts! I recently purchased my first home solo at 35 on a 39 year mortgage term which takes me above the standard retirement age and I do hope I am not working full time by the age of 74. I went with the longer mortgage term to keep monthly costs down initially with the plan to possibly review this when my fixed term comes to end in 2030. I contribute monthly to my S&S ISA currently £200 with the plan to double this in 2026 but should I be diverting some of these funds instead to overpay the mortgage? I'm conflicted about this as I believe I will get better returns on the S&S ISA over the 39 year period vs saving interest on the mortgage. I currently contribute to my employer DC pension and also have a fully funded 3 month emergency fund so any spare cash can be put to work for my future. Thanks, Chantelle  

In this Meaningful Money Q&A, Pete Matthew and Roger Weeks answer listener questions on UK personal finance, focusing on pensions, tax, and planning ahead. Topics include SIPP vs Lifetime ISA, retirement drawdown and which accounts to spend from first, Junior SIPPs, gifting company shares (IHT and CGT), and UFPLS vs drawdown.   Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA41    01:47  Question 1 Hello Pete, Roger and team. I'd first like to say thank you for all the wonderful information you provide, it has been a great aid for increasing my financial intelligence and helping me secure my family's financial future. My question is regarding the benefits of a SIPP vs a LISA in terms of retirement. My understanding is they both benefit loosely from the same boost. 25% Boost for LISA and in effect 25% boost to a SIPP due to the 20% tax relief as a basic rate tax payer? They are both locked away for a long period and are both released early if I was to suffer from any serious ill health or death? Due to this is there any benefit I am overlooking in terms of a SIPP over a LISA invested in a world wide fund? Other than age of access? I am currently 36 and due to the increasing demands of public finances it would be logical to assume a possibility of the state pension age being raised above 70 (above 60 if taken early) or becoming restricted to who can collect (means tested) before I am to reach pension age. Whereas I would be able to claim a LISA at 60 regardless with the added benefit of it not being subject to tax? I have a generous company pension of 6% personal and 13.7% company contributions with an additional 1% matched salary sacrifice. I also put in an additional unmatched personal 3% contribution.  As well as a small military pension. so I would not be without a pension at retirement. Due to this is it worth hedging my bets by maxing my LISA contributions rather than a SIPP to cover potential future scenarios? Apologies for the long winded question and I hope it makes sense. Thank you, Adam   08:42  Question 2 Hello Pete and Roger! Thank you for your wonderful podcast, I started listening several years ago and have found your advice incredibly useful. I am here to ask a question about planning a future for a disabled child. My husband and I are in are late 30s and we have a 5 year old daughter who is autistic and has profound learning difficulties. The challenge we have is how to plan for her future care and our future careers with so much unknown.  We both work full time and are currently both basic rate taxpayers (although we are both getting close to that boundary). We receive child benefit and some DLA for our daughter. When our daughter was born we started saving small amounts regularly into a JISA for her, but as her disabilities became clear we switched and started saving money for her within our own S&S ISAs. We still put money into her JISA when she gets gifts from grandparents etc as it seems disingenuous to keep that money under our names. We have an emergency fund, workplace pensions and are saving regularly into S&S ISAs, as well as mortgage that will last until we are about 60.  Is there anything we should be thinking about or trying to plan for our daughter's future. At this stage, it is difficult to determine how much she will understand about money and investing or whether she would have the capability to work or live independently. It may be that she will be under our care for the rest of our lives. It is also possible that one of us may need to reduce working hours or stop working when she turns 18 and needs care after she leaves school. Is there anything you think we should consider or advice on how to navigate the unknown? We are in the process of putting together a will and in the event of something happening to both of us, the care of our daughter would be covered by my husband's sister, but unsure how to navigate the financials. I appreciate that there are several questions within this question but any advice or areas that we can research on ourselves would be appreciated. Thank you so much, Laura Centurion (specialist IFA for people with children with special needs) https://centurioncfp.co.uk/special-needs/  Scope https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support    16:34  Question 3 Hello First of all, thank you both for your wonderful podcast. I have learned so much. I have a question about the order in which to spend in retirement and how to hold our various investments. We have worked out a cashflow ladder using cash, short-term money markets funds, a defensive mixed asset fund, a 60:40 mixed asset fund and a 100% equity fund. But we also need to think about our various wrappers- about half of our investments are in DC pensions (mine and my husband's), a quarter in ISAs and a quarter unwrapped (which we can gradually move into ISAs). Is there a rule of thumb for how much of each investment should be in each wrapper? I'm also not sure about what we should be spending first- assuming no disasters we are hoping to give some money to our children before too long for IHT purposes. But if we take a large sum out of our pensions to do this, we'll pay 45% income tax on it which makes the IHT saving a bit pointless. So should we be making any gifts from our ISAs and using the pensions first ourselves (taking care to stay within the basic rate)? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you Elizabeth Meaningful Academy Retirement Planning - https://meaningfulacademy.com/retirementplanning    For a discount, use coupon code: PODCAST 24:03 Question 4 Hi Roger (and Pete!), Firstly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the education you provide to me and so many others. You've really helped me sharpen my financial tools. After spending the last 12 years self-employed, I didn't take my personal finances too seriously. Now that I have a steady, "grown-up" job, I've been able to get organised. I have a workplace pension, a private pension, a Stocks & Shares ISA, and a Lifetime ISA, all thanks to what I've learned from you both. My question is about Junior SIPPs. I often come across opinions suggesting that these should be the last thing you do, only after every other financial base is covered. I didn't receive a financial education growing up, and there's no pot of gold or property waiting for me down the inheritance road. That's why I'm motivated to change the course of my children's future — even if the benefit is far down the line. For a relatively modest target amount £15,000 each at age 18 (they are currently 1 and 4), I believe my children could have a very strong footing in later life due to the extensive length of compounding available, even without continuing contributions beyond that point, or perhaps with me matching their own contributions as an incentive in adulthood. I believe this will take some of the pressure off them which I currently find myself in having to aggressively play catch up on my retirement plan. They also have Junior ISAs, which I contribute to each month, to give them more flexible money when they turn 18. Their future stability would mean the world to me, even if I won't be here at that point to see them enjoy it! I'd love to hear your opinion on Junior SIPPs, as I don't think this topic is discussed enough — and it sometimes feels dismissed altogether. Thank you, Steven   29:15  Question 5 Dear Pete and Roger, You do marvellous work in educating us all. Thank you. I am a company director with 9 alphabet shares. 5 for me, 2 for my wife and one each for my adult independent children. I have substantial IHT liability so want to gift my shares to my children. The company has seven figures invested in the stock market. Can I gift the shares? How do I go about? Will that help reduce my IHT liability if I survive 7 years after gifting? Will there be a CGT liability on the gift? The company still trades but is unlikely to qualify for BADR (Business Asset Disposal Relief) as majority of assets are in investments. Thanking you, Narendra   36:35  Question 6 Hi Pete and Rog, Firstly, thanks for all that you do, your podcasts, videos and the Academy have really changed mine and my family's life for the better. A pensions drawdown question: If you plan to use all of your tax free allowance on retirement. Am I right that there are no benefits to using UFPLS over drawdown? I think there used to be a benefit with the lifetime allowance but I can't see any other benefits now. Thanks for all that you do, James

Pete is joined by Andy Hart to cut through the noise and talk about Andy's new book No Bullsh*t Money Advice, sharing straight-talking, practical personal finance insights for UK savers and investors. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session611  Book: No Bullsh*t Money Advice Ebook: No Bullsh*t Money Advice - Kindle Podcast: The Ten Financial Commandments Website: TRAP - The Real Adviser Podcast

In this episode we answer listener questions covering emergency funds for higher and additional rate taxpayers, and inheritance tax considerations around beneficiary SIPPs. We also discuss whether couples should rebalance pension contributions, the key steps to take before retiring abroad, and what to know about DB pension transfers. Finally, we look at cross-border pension taxation using the UK–Denmark double taxation treaty as an example. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA40    01:20  Question 1 Hi Pete & Roger, Thanks for all your helpful and easy to understand information. I have only been on my financial wellbeing journey for a year.  I work in the NHS and am in a higher tax bracket. I am fully enrolled in the NHS pension, more out of previous disinterest than any actual action on my part. I am single and currently saving up for a down payment on a house in about 4/5yrs. I maxed out my ISA last year and expect to do the same this year; this includes money for the down payment. I also took out a SIPP which I only recalled last year; I took it out 20+ years ago. However I am still waiting for a statement from the pension office before my accountant can work out how much more I can add to the SIPP.  In the interim I have my emergency fund in a premium bond (20k) but am worried it's being eroded by inflation. I expect to be an additional tax payer in the next few years. Where should I keep my excess cash? More in premium bonds with no tax but erosion by inflation; or open GIA or more in high interest savings account and pay the tax? Or is there another option you would recommend? Btw I have £600 in crypto (Coinbase and Etherium) but don't plan to put more than £400 more in then plan to forget about it. It's a tiny fraction of what I put in my ISA. Thanks, Joy   04:46  Question 2 Dear Pete and Roger. Love the podcast. I think it is essential listening for those wanting to elevate their knowledge of the incredibly important subject of financial planning and it also highlights the value add that financial professionals can provide. My mother is 79 and has a comfortable guaranteed inflation linked income via state and civil service pension, which is supplemented by savings (maxed premium bonds & healthy cash savings) and investments held in ISAs and a beneficiary SIPP from my late father who passed before 75yrs old (therefore the assets are income and CGT free). My mother is keen to minimise the IHT on the estate both her and my father worked so hard to create. Despite her comfortable situation, I still have to encourage her to spend and use your very helpful '40% off sticker' analogy on a regular basis. It is my understanding that SIPPs will be subject to IHT and income tax from 2027. As my sister and I are both additional rate taxpayers, we will potentially be subject to 67% tax on any assets remaining in the SIPP if the estate is above £1m IHT threshold. While the '67% off sticker' analogy is even more helpful to encourage her spending, it has triggered some planning. We are drawing down the beneficiary SIPP to fund ISA each year for my mum – keeping the income and CGT tax benefits for my mum while removing it from the double income and IHT tax on death. As part of the IHT planning we are now considering regular gifts from surplus income. When combined with her guaranteed income, the assets in the beneficiary SIPP are more than sufficient so sustain her lifestyle until her age would be well into three figures. Based on my reading, it appears any drawdown from SIPPs are considered 'income' for gifting purposes, regardless of if they come from capital or income. Therefore she could start to draw more 'income' from the SIPP and gift this surplus which could be considered IHT free. Are there any limits to how much or how quickly she could reasonably drawdown from a SIPP so that it would no longer be considered 'income' by HMRC for IHT purposes? i.e could she empty the SIPP over a 5 yr period, gift that as excess income, then reduce the gifts to reflect a different income and or expenditure? While all the drawdown from SIPPs is considered 'income' for IHT purposes, the treatment of withdrawals from ISAs or other investments are distinguished between whether they are actually capital or income. Therefore, we have the added complication of needing to balance the 'income' drawdown from the beneficiary SIPP to make sure she doesn't eat into 'capital' of the ISAs and savings which would then mean the gifts from regular surplus income would then be considered part of the estate again. Our circumstances mean my mum feels slightly trapped between keeping the SIPP (so it is considered income for gifts from regular income but gets IHT taxed at 67%), continuing to use the beneficiary SIPP to fund ISAs (reduce IHT liability but lose flexibility to gift it as income), maybe change the investment engine of the ISAs from a lower yielding balanced solution to something with a higher natural yield, or do something else altogether (lump sum gifts and hope to survive 3yrs for taper or 7yrs). Any thoughts or suggestion would be appreciated. While there are some relatively niche circumstances, I think it covers two more broadly applicable IHT planning considerations SIPPs v ISAs under the new rules and regular gifts from surplus income. Thanks in advance Stephen   17:06  Question 3 Hi Pete and Roger Thank you both for your continued help in navigating the financial maze and I am enjoying the listener questions. My wife works part time and is a basic rate tax payer. She pays into her workplace pension and contributes an additional 15%. Her pension provider receives 20% tax relief on these contributions. I am a higher rate tax payer and I make contributions to a SIPP. My pension provider receives 20% tax relief and I claim an additional 20% directly from HMRC. As a couple, we could stop making the additional contributions to my wife's pension and instead make them into my SIPP. This would give us an additional 40%, rather than 20%. Mathematically this makes sense. We haven't done this so far, as I like the idea that we are equally contributing to both of our pensions, for the future. It also helps keep things simple. I am mindful that one day, we may kick ourselves for not making this simple switch which may leave us with a significantly bigger pot, when we need it. What options would you consider in this decision of splitting pension contributions. Many thanks, Rob 20:17 Question 4 Dear Pete & Rog, I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for your podcast and the incredibly valuable information you share. Your conversations are not only insightful but also reassuring as I start to think more seriously about my own retirement planning! One of the things I'm considering is retiring abroad (somewhere sunny!) Spain most likely, and I wondered if you might explain the process you go through with such clients. Specifically, do you have a checklist, or a list of key questions, that you typically ask clients to work through before moving overseas? For example, I've learned that ISAs are not recognised in many EU countries (so it may be better to sell before leaving), and I imagine there are similar considerations around SIPPs/UK DC pensions and other investments. Do you also tend to liaise with financial planners or accountants based in the EU when helping clients prepare for such a move? I would be very grateful for any wisdom you could share. Thanks again for all the work you put into the podcast, it really does make a difference. Warm regards, Chloe 24:55  Question 5 Hi Pete, Love the podcast.  Very informative and user friendly. I have a question, once popular but maybe not so much now and one that will make advisers sweat again! I'm a sophisticated investor (so to speak!), I manage my own SIPP etc and I'm an accountant so I guess I have a head start over most people.  I have a net worth excluding my house of circa £2.5m spread across a SIPP, ISA, FIC and GIA. I also have an old DB pension.  I'm 59.  It pays out circa £6,500 from the age of 65.  My dad died aged 63.  Given my circumstances I want to transfer the DB scheme into my SIPP.  I have two children so would like them to get it rather than die with me so to speak.  The last transfer value I got was pre covid at circa £100k which I know isn't a brilliant multiple but I'm happy with that.  I'm fit and healthy but I'm not relying on the guaranteed pension given my other pension provisions. So, firstly is it likely the transfer value would have gone up or down given the increase in interest rates and secondly do you think I could get a positive recommendation from an adviser? Thanks, Oscar 31:35  Question 6 Dear Pete and Roger, Love the podcast. I'm a bit more of an adventurous investor than you usually caution, but you provide a certain "passive-tracker-Yin" to my "property-investment-Yang". Given your backlog I'm going to ask you a pension question that I probably don't have to think about for 20 years, so you have time to get to it. I worked in Denmark for several years and paid into a pension scheme while I was there. I believe it is structured similarly to a UK DB pension scheme. There is an initial lump sum plus an income for life.  This pension fund is not covered by QROPS, so there is no transferring my way out of this complexity. The Danish pension fund thinks I'll be paying Danish income tax (presently 37-38%), Chat GPT is adamant that I'll be paying UK Tax. Who's right? If taxed in the UK I can imagine getting the tax free cash allowance right might be complicated. Is there anything else I should be considering? Best Wishes, James

Pete and Roger reveal how to spot a good financial adviser from a bad one. Learn the red and green flags—from transparent fees to pressure tactics—and the key questions to ask before committing. Essential listening for anyone considering financial advice.   Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session609    Everything You Need To Know 04:00 - life vs product 05:18 - listens vs talks 06:40 - behaviour vs numbers 08:25 - clear vs vague 09:38 - plain English vs jargon 11:21 - transparent fees vs evasive costs 13:12 - probabilities vs certainties 14:48 - evidence based vs secret 'sauce' 16:15 - calm vs urgent 17:46 - facts first vs opinions first 19:50 - "I don't know" vs blagging 20:44 - written rationale vs 'trust me' 21:41 - respects advisers vs criticises advisers 23:40 - growth & protections vs chasing returns 25:31 - professional vs sloppy   Cheatsheet: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/adviser-checklist    Everything You Need To Do 29:18 - ignore unsolicited approaches 31:58 - verify they're legit 33:48 - get fees and scope in writing before committing 36:36 - first meeting questions 43:40 - pressure test  

Pete and Roger answer six listener questions covering Coast FIRE strategies with GIAs, US 401(k) tax implications in the UK, record keeping for IHT-exempt gifts, Australian pension taxation for UK residents, pension contributions to avoid the £100k tax trap, and managing a £2M portfolio as Power of Attorney. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA39    01:17  Question 1 Hi Pete and Roger, I'm 29 and working towards Coast FIRE within the next 2–3 years so I can begin a digital nomad lifestyle — working remotely while knowing my long-term retirement is taken care of. Right now, I've got: - £45k in a Stocks & Shares ISA - £25k in a workplace pension (via salary sacrifice) - A Lifetime ISA for a future house deposit (or later retirement) - A fully funded emergency fund I've already maxed out my ISA for this tax year and plan to continue doing that every year. But I have more money to invest now, and I know that to reach Coast FIRE on my timeline, I need to start using a General Investment Account (GIA). Here's where I'm stuck: I want to keep things simple and tax-efficient, but I feel a bit nervous about GIAs. I keep hearing about the "bed and ISA" strategy but don't really understand how it works in practice or how to implement it over time. Could you explain: - How best to use a GIA alongside an ISA when working towards FIRE? - How to manage capital gains and dividend tax efficiently? - And how the bed and ISA approach actually works — especially for someone trying to keep things simple? Thank you both so much — your podcast has been an incredible resource and a big part of why I've been able to take control of my finances. Warmly, Pauline 12:22  Question 2 Hello Pete & Roger I am very late convert to the podcast but have been ploughing through the Q&A for a few days now. I think I only have another 592 episodes to get through so should be up to date by the end of the week !! I am not sure whether this has been covered or not. I have a 401K plan that has been hibernating in the USA for 20 years. I have only recently started looking at it and now need to understand the tax implications. I have tried to read HMRC guidelines on tax treaties etc but get even more confused than before. My current belief is that the provider will pay this money out by means of US issued cheque (not a problem) but withhold 30% tax (a problem). How will HMRC treat this? The usual sources http://unbiased.co.uk for one run for the hills on finding information about this, is this an area you can provide guidance, but obviously not advice as I know you cannot through the podcast. Regards, Stephen 16:10  Question 3 Hi Pete & Roger, Like so many people I am really impressed, not just with your knowledge and great communication skills, but that you put out such life changing content. You're providing us with the means to help ourselves in this financial world as well as letting us know when to seek professional help. On to my question: we're (wife and I) retired (late-60s) and are lucky enough to have more than enough to comfortably live on, thanks to DB & state pensions, house price inflation etc. Not really through any financial planning but just having been born at the right time! So we do now have an IHT liability. We have a joint second death Whole Of Life policy (in trust) in place for potential IHT and have given help with house deposits for our children. We also are gifting to the kids out of our excess income and would like your thoughts on the type of record keeping needed for this. We have letters stating the intention to give the gifts, recording who to etc. We keep completed IHT403 forms which we update annually. We also have a monthly/annual spreadsheet of income/expenses which demonstrates our surplus and keep track of expenses with the MeMo transaction tracker (thanks for that). These are all in our 'WID' file (again thanks to you for that). What we're not sure about is any documentation that might be needed to evidence the figures. Income is straightforward with P60s, statements of interest/dividends. However, what is required for expenses? Can't really keep all supermarket receipts etc and even bank/credit card statements would be quite bulky over several years. Not sure if we're overthinking but don't want to leave a difficult task for our kids when we're gone. Thank you both again for all the good you are doing Simon 20:33 Question 4 Brian (in Australia) Thank you for all your podcasts and videos but I think I may have to sign up to the academy to fully get my head around all the UK rules. We are looking to move to the UK from Australia - we have no UK govt pension entitlements but are retired with personal Australian private superannuation account pensions. The pension income payments and withdrawals are all tax free in Australia but will the UK government apply a tax on these pension payments once we are UK residents?   Thanks again for all your useful information. Regards, Brian 22:55  Question 5 Hi Roger (and Pete), I had a question which is boiling my brain far more than it should and I was hoping you could include it in one of your Q&A episodes. I'm in the fortunate position of being caught by the £100k 'tax trap' due to being paid a bonus for the first time in a number of years. This particular first-world problem is being made all the worse because my daughter will start nursery next year so in addition to the 60% tax charge on my bonus, we would also lose the 30 free hours of childcare we currently have access to. I currently salary sacrifice roughly £5,000 of salary into my pension (which my employer matches) and this holds my income at £99,000. However there is no option for me to do any kind of 'bonus sacrifice'. My only choice is to receive the bonus payment net of tax & NI through PAYE and then make a payment into my personal pension (a Vanguard, low cost multi-asset fund, just like you taught us!). I think I'm right in saying my pension provider will claim back the basic rate tax automatically for me, and I can then claim back the other 20% via my tax return with HMRC paying this extra 20% back to me directly. So far so easy, but what I can't work out is just how much I have to pay in to my pension in order to take all of the bonus payment out of my taxable income. Presumably its not the net amount extra that gets paid into my bank account on the month my bonus is paid because this will also be net of NI, meaning I wouldn't have paid enough in to avoid the £100k trap. Assuming my bonus payment was £10,000 (I don't know the exact figure yet but its likely to be around this amount), could you talk through how to calculate the net payment I need to make into a personal pension to achieve the desired result? As a follow up to this, if HMRC send me a cheque (very 1990's) for say £2000 of refunded higher rate tax, do I need to pay this into my pension in the next tax year to avoid having it counted towards my taxable income in that financial year? Please keep up the great work that you both do, you've really helped me get my financial life in order after an extremely difficult period in my life. Thank you both! Jimmy 27:29  Question 6 Hi Pete and Rog, Firstly, a huge thank you for all the insight and support you continue to offer. The impact of the Meaningful Money Podcast is immense—I've personally benefited so much from your free content over the years. I'll keep this as brief as I can: My great aunt (now 84) has built a substantial portfolio over decades—about £2 million across ~60 individual company shares, with approx. £1.3 million in a GIA and the rest in S&S ISAs. She also holds £400k in fixed-term bonds, savings accounts, and premium bonds. Sadly, she was diagnosed last year with dementia and Alzheimer's and now resides in a care home. I am her Power of Attorney and want to act in her best interests—simplifying her affairs and ensuring tax efficiency, especially regarding her legacy. She has no spouse or children but wishes to leave money to nieces, nephews, and charities. Here's my working plan: - Offset gains in the GIA by selling loss-making investments (totalling £30k–£40k) alongside some of the profit making investments to reduce market exposure without incurring CGT costs.     - Liquidate all shares in her S&S ISAs and transfer funds into cash ISAs with decent interest rates - Leave most of the GIA portfolio untouched to benefit from the CGT uplift on death Am I broadly on the right track for tax efficiency and sensible financial planning? Should I seek formal advice to ensure I'm doing the best by her? Thanks again for all you do—it really matters. Best regards, Josh  

This week we finish off our two-parter on how to become a financial adviser. In this session, we cover the 'softer' part of the job, the human side which is arguably MUCH more important than the hard numbers… Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session607   02:18 - Why Financial Planning Is Not About Money 05:30 - Planning vs Product  14:38 - The Core Human Skills of Great Advisers 25:50 - Behavioural Coaching (The Real Job) 33:15 - Judgement, Responsibility, and Pressure 38:31 - Ethics and Integrity in the Real World 47:57 - Who Thrives on the SOFT Side 50:05 - Bringing the Hard and Soft Together

This week, Roger and I discuss the answer to a frequently-asked question - how does one become a financial adviser? Clearly Roger and I make it look like a sexy profession, but as you can imagine, we have lots to say on the subject… Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session606  01:47 - What People Think Financial Advisers Do (and Why That's Incomplete) 07:25 - The Structure of a Modern Advice Firm 17:29 - Career Progression 22:31 - Qualifications and Regulation (The Reality, Not the Myth)  29:14 - Routes Into the Profession 37:20 - The Economics of Advice (High-Level) 46:39 - Who the HARD Side Will Appeal To 

It's another Meaningful Money Q&A, taking in the £100k tax trap, splitting pensions on divorce, safely switching investment platforms and much more! Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA38    01:59  Question 1 Hi Roger and Pete, Long time listener, first time questioner. My wife and I have both earned in excess of £100k for a few years now, meaning I am acquiring a peculiar set of skills on the various ways to use pension contributions, rollover allowances, gift aids, etc to keep us both below the (entirely bananas) £100k cliff-edge each year. My question is on the £60k pension annual allowance. Does it only apply to the amount of pension savings in a given year which can be made without paying a tax charge, or does it also count as the maximum amount of pension deduction which can be taken to calculate net adjusted income as part of completing our tax returns? The (slightly over-simplified) situation in my mind is that if I earned £160,500 in a given year, I would prefer to pay £61k into a pension, thereby reducing my net adjusted income to £99,500 to stay below the cliff-edge, even if I had to pay 40% tax on the extra £1000 above the pension annual allowance. As a fun aside, I asked this to my preferred AI - and I leave a link to see if you agree with it's answer or not  - https://g.co/gemini/share/8c23e91cb658 Stephen 07:58  Question 2 Hello Pete & Roger Listen and enjoy all your podcasts regularly but every now and again you get one that addresses specific points to the individual listener. For me it was Podcast QA18. A really great podcast. 1. The 2015 changes to pensions made  significant differences to pensions and most financial experts have rightly advised using your pension as one of the best places to put savings. It does seem unfair that you plan your savings and pensions well in advance for retirement based on government rules. and then you you find you are likely to have a sizeable IHT bill. At 78 it is difficult to turn the ship around quickly. Many more people will be affected by this over the next decade. The main reason however for my question relates to ways to reducing the effects of this IHT change. The general allowances and the 7 year rule are all clear. However the main exemption that could help is the little used Gifts form Excess Income. I have read up as much as I can and the whole system seems rather vague and many things open to interpretation, even by financial experts. There is no clear and precise set of rules whereby you can be certain something is capital or income. Your executor will have to understand all this and have all the back up documentation to convince HMRC that the gifts are justified.  I do have excess income and spent significant time over the past weeks analysing all our expenditure and income sources ending up totally confused and with a severe migraine. Any advice on how best to handle this can of worms would be appreciated. 2) So many of us these days have children living in different countries with their families. All with different citizenship and residency situations in different countries. There seems to be very little information about  IHT and general tax issues in relation to gifts and inheritance of money and pensions for children and grandchildren in this situation.  Best regards, Peter   16:52  Question 3 Hello Roger and Pete, Thanks for a great series of podcasts. Some of them confirm what I already know and some give me insights, ideas and an understanding I didn't have. You provide a great service. My wife and I are 54 and 55. We are getting divorced. The divorce is amicable and we want to share everything evenly. I take home £5k/month and she takes home £2.3k. We will split this evenly as long as we both work. Our pension funds are not of equal value. I have DCs and SIPPs worth £800k and ISAs worth £100k. I also have a small DB pension that will pay out about £3k/year in today's money at age 67. My wife has a DC pension worth £210k and ISAs worth £220k. She has a DC pension that will pay about £2.5k/year in today's money at age 67. As you can see, the majority is in my name. This makes sense as I have worked whereas she has taken time off to raise our children. We have equal claim to the money in my mind. I think the ISAs are straight forward. We can balance the value by selling some of hers and investing more in my name. The DC pensions are more difficult. By right I should give her £295k to make them of equal value but how do we do this? We want to avoid expensive solicitors and accountants but are not sure if we can DIY this. Please share any advice you can give. Regards, Jay   25:43  Question 4 Hi Pete and Roger, Thanks so much for what you do with the podcast. It's completely changed my approach to my finances, especially over the last year which has felt even more important after the birth of my son. I have a question about investment platforms. I currently have about £70,000 invested in passive world index trackers via a platform. I estimate my total annual fees including fund and platform fees to be about 0.66% pa. I don't think this is terrible but I think it could be less. I'm considering transferring my investments (which is a mixture of stocks and shares ISA, LISA and (very small) SIPP) to a cheaper platform. Do you have an advice on the transfer process, especially in whether to transfer all the funds in one go or is there a strategy you'd recommend to avoid falling foul of market fluctuations? Thanks, Jack 30:47  Question 5 Hi Pete and Roger, You guys are the best. You've given me my only financial education. Never underestimate what a difference you are making to ordinary people's lives. THANK YOU. I am 42 years old saving into my workplace DC pension. I have a bit of a gap because I started late and then freelanced for a few years, so playing catch up, but thanks to you both, seeing the positives in this, rather than beating myself up. I am basing the 'gap' on not quite having 3x salary saved by age 42 - is that a decent rule of thumb? As you both say, arming people with knowledge can be a good thing and a bad thing, because armed with this new knowledge we can go off and overcomplicate things. I decided to pull my pension from the default fund and pick 6 funds. What's the best route for working out if I am paying too much in fees, if I have got too much crossover across funds, and if the more pricey ones are worth it?  Do I need to get financial advice or could I do this myself (being a complete layman obvs)?  Do you have any tips on the process of comparing, finding inefficiencies and consolidating? What's a reasonable number of funds would you say? 3? 1?  BTW I've done the same thing with my ISAs since they let us have more than one. How do you just pick one and stick with it, and not get distracted by the new shiny providers? It seems like newer, better products and platforms come out all the time. Or am I worrying unnecessarily and might it be ok to have fingers in many pies? Thanks again for all you do. Hayley 37:47  Question 6 Thanks for all the content, I listen to every episode and often share the pod with others to share the good word! My partner will soon be able to get her NHS pension. While we were looking at the numbers, I began to wonder whether there is any benefit in taking the maximum lump sum and investing it outside of the pension. My thinking was that she would probably be able to generate the same amount of income from investing it in the stock market, but that when she dies she will be able to pass the capital on, whereas her pension will just stop paying out. I think the maximum she can take is about £70k. Presumably she could put this in a GIA and feed it into an ISA over a few years, accepting that any gains in the GIA would be subject to tax. I just wondered if there were any other tax implications that I hadn't considered? If not, then presumably it's just a case of comparing the drop in the annual pension payment against the expected returns (after tax) from investing outside the pension? Would love to know your thoughts on this. Thanks again, and keep up the good work. Tim

This is an important episode. Here, Roger and Pete dive deep into one of the most important subjects for anyone looking to improve their finances to understand - RISK. It's misunderstood and it's misrepresented, but risk can be your friend if you treat it right. Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/session604  Get the PDF emailed to you - Risk Lens Guide: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/risklens    02:18 Everything you need to KNOW 04:17 - Market & investment risks (the ones everyone worries about) 08:37 - Inflation & purchasing power risk (the silent wealth killer) 13:35 - Behavioural risk (where most damage is actually done) 18:31 - Planning risks – when the structure is wrong 23:31 - Life risks that derail even the best plans 26:06 - The risk nobody talks about: building the wrong life 29:35 Everything you need to DO 29:42 - Get clear what the money is for 32:28 - Match risk to time, not emotion 33:43 - Build shock absorbers before chasing returns 35:56 - Diversify like you mean it 38:03 - Design for behaviour, not brilliance 40:27 - Protect the foundations 42:32 - Review — don't react 44:49 - Spend intentionally — now and later 47:25 The Meaningful Money Risk Lens 51:15 Summary 52:42 This week's reviews