Tim Leonard

Tim Leonard

Covering your mortgage, paying for your funeral, and ensuring your loved ones can live comfortably are important benefits that life insurance can provide. What tends to join them all is peace of mind that those you care about will be looked after financially once you’re gone.

Tim Leonard

A life insurance premium is the sum of money you’ll need to pay an insurer in return for providing you with life cover. The life insurance premium you’re asked to pay will depend on many factors relating to you and the policy you choose.

Tim Leonard

Setting yourself some new year financial resolutions is a great way to take control of your finances and make your money work harder for you. Saving, shopping around and setting a budget are just some of our tips for helping you towards a money-savvy 2022.

Joel Kempson & Tim Leonard

Green mortgages offer incentives, such as lower interest rates and cashback, to borrowers who purchase an energy-efficient home, or adapt their current home to meet certain environmental standards. This means you can save money while doing your bit for the environment.

Tim Leonard

If you work for yourself, setting up your own private self-employed pension can help you plan for your retirement. Even though you won’t typically be able to benefit from matched employer contributions, the tax relief you receive is the same as if you were employed.

Tim Leonard & Richard Eagling

The pension triple lock has been suspended over concerns that it would cost the Treasury a potential 8% rise in state pension payments to retirees. While a smaller increase is still assured, the decision could have wider implications for the triple lock – and pensioners – going forward.

Tim Leonard

The chance to retire early will appeal to most, but early retirement is not to be entered into lightly. Having a guaranteed income and enough funds in reserve are the obvious foundations for retiring early, but there is much more to think about before you give up work.

Tim Leonard

Our NerdWallet survey of 2000 homeowners looks at the mortgage mistakes people have made and how clued up they were about mortgages. The study includes their thoughts on mortgages, mortgage lenders and the process of applying for a mortgage loan and buying a property.

Tim Leonard

Saving for a first home can be challenging but what if stamp duty could be scrubbed off your list of costs? Well, qualify for first-time buyer stamp duty relief and this tax on buying a new home can be avoided altogether, or at least reduced.

Tim Leonard & Brean Horne

Both renting and buying a home have pros and cons. The right option for you will depend on your circumstances and financial goals, so read on to find out more.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

Finding an old pension can give your retirement income a welcome boost. What you need to do to trace it will depend on how much you remember about your lost pension. But your old pension provider, previous employer and the Pension Tracing Service might all be able to help.

Hannah Harper & Tim Leonard

Set up a child’s pension and with tax relief payable on a £2,880 yearly allowance your kids will have a head start towards a better retirement. Here, we explain how to open a child’s pension, the pros and cons of children’s pensions, and the rules around passing on a pension to a child.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

Cashing in a pension usually only becomes possible at age 55. At this point some or all of your pension funds can be used to buy an annuity, set up a drawdown arrangement, accessed as cash, or you can opt for a combination of these options.

Hannah Smith & Tim Leonard

A pension provides a way to save during your working life that can then deliver an income when it’s time for you to retire. There are tax efficiencies and requirements on employers to pay into a pension, which can make saving into a pension hugely attractive.

Caroline Ramsey & Tim Leonard

It’s not essential to have a credit card but, when used responsibly, they can be a useful way to borrow money. Read on to find out when you may want to get a credit card and when it may not be a good idea.

Jim Kersey & Tim Leonard

With an interest only mortgage, you only pay off the mortgage interest each month, and none of the original loan – that must be paid back at the end. This can make a mortgage on an interest only basis worth considering if you need to keep your monthly mortgage repayments low.

Tim Leonard

Taking out life insurance to cover funeral costs could help make life a little easier for loved ones at a difficult time. By making sure your beneficiaries receive a life insurance payout when you die, they shouldn’t have to pay for your funeral themselves.

Tim Leonard

Choosing to include a waiver of premium rider or benefit when taking out life insurance or critical illness cover might allow you to avoid paying premiums out of your own pocket if you can’t work due to serious illness or injury, but still see your cover continue.

Tim Leonard

Taking out life insurance can reassure you that your loved ones will be looked after financially if you die during the policy term. Payouts might cover your mortgage or make sure your family has money to live on, but if you’re single and have no dependents it might not be worth taking out.

Tim Leonard

Working for an employer offering death in service means your loved ones should receive a payout if you were to die while in its employment. It can offer valuable protection similar to life insurance, although how death in service benefit works means it might still be worth considering life cover.

Tim Leonard

Providing security for a loan means you put forward an asset, such as your home, as collateral against the finance that you need. As lenders feel they are taking on less risk with loan security in place, secured loans often have lower interest rates than loans with no security attached.

Tim Leonard & Connor Campbell

Start up funding can be crucial in getting small businesses up and running. From start up business loans to lines of credit, grants, crowdfunding and angel investors, here are the various options for securing the start up business funding you need.

Tim Leonard

An Islamic or halal mortgage offers Muslims and others a sharia-compliant way of raising finance to buy a property. This is because Islamic mortgages, such as Ijara, Diminishing Musharaka and Murabaha, avoid charging interest, providing an alternative to a traditional mortgage.

Tim Leonard

A personal guarantee can allow smaller business owners to secure credit for their company that might otherwise be out of reach. But the risk for a business loan guarantor who signs up to a personal guarantee is that lenders can call on their personal wealth if the business can’t settle its debts.

Tim Leonard

A qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme – or QROPS – is a pension scheme based in another country that might prove a suitable destination if you wanted to transfer your UK pension scheme abroad. You should definitely consider getting advice before making a QROPS transfer.

Tim Leonard

Equity release can be considered safe because you must take professional advice, and providers and advisers are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Most equity release providers are members of the Equity Release Council, meaning their plans must offer certain protections to customers.

Tim Leonard

You might have a guaranteed minimum pension if you were a member of a contracted out final salary scheme before April 1997. A GMP pension should pay a level of income that is at least comparable with how much you would have received if you had been contracted into SERPS.

Tim Leonard

A non-standard construction mortgage might be needed if the home you’re buying or already own is built differently from the norm. Prefabricated concrete houses, steel or timber-framed homes, listed properties and flats might all require you to find a non-standard mortgage lender.

Tim Leonard

A drawdown mortgage is a form of equity release that allows you to unlock the equity in your home as and when you require. As you only pay interest on the funds that you actually withdraw, a drawdown lifetime mortgage means you may spend less on interest over the term of a plan.

Tim Leonard

If you contributed towards a SERPS pension between 1978 and 2002, you might be due a top up to your state pension. Alternatively you may have contracted out of SERPS, and seen your National Insurance contributions paid into a workplace or private pension instead.

Rachel Lacey & Tim Leonard

A professional mortgage may offer enhanced terms to those within certain professional occupations. Flexibility on affordability, loan amounts and deposits are all potential benefits of mortgages for professionals.

Tim Leonard

A land mortgage can help you secure the plot of land you want, whether it’s for a self-build project, commercial development, or an agricultural mortgage for farmland. Find out more about how these mortgages work and what you can do to improve the chances of your application being approved.

Tim Leonard

Getting a mortgage as a contractor may require you to jump through a few more hoops than if you’re employed, but don’t let this put you off. Contractor mortgages might be available if you have a certain level of stable earnings and proof that your services are in demand.

Rachel Lacey & Tim Leonard

Getting a mortgage as a student – often called a buy-for-uni mortgage –could be an option iIf you are at university and would prefer not to rent. However, the criteria for a student mortgage is quite strict and you will usually need financial backing from your family to get one.

Tim Leonard

The pension lifetime allowance is the maximum you are allowed to build up in pension benefits before a lifetime allowance charge is applied. Keeping track of your pensions and using pension lifetime allowance protection can help you avoid the lifetime allowance charge.

Tim Leonard

A small self-administered scheme, or SSAS pension, can be set up by senior company executives who want to take full pension investment responsibility for themselves. The tax advantages of using a SSAS to buy and then rent back business premises is often very appealing.

Tim Leonard

Stakeholder pensions are flexible pension schemes designed to provide a way for anyone to save for their retirement. All stakeholder pension schemes must have certain features, including low minimum contribution amounts and capped fees.

Tim Leonard

An AVC pension scheme could prove useful if you want to supplement payments you make into a workplace pension. AVC pensions allow flexibility when it comes to managing contributions and can help boost your future retirement benefits.

Tim Leonard

Property investment funds are a simple way to gain exposure to bricks and mortar, but rental properties and property development could be alternatives if your finances allow. Read on to learn how you could invest in property, and which option might be right for you.

John Fitzsimons & Tim Leonard

Mortgage interest can be charged in two ways: through a fixed rate, where the interest rate remains the same for a certain period of time, or a variable rate, where the interest rate can change, and move both up or down at your lender’s discretion or in line with the Bank of England base rate.

Tim Leonard

Buying a home is rarely easy, but with a shared ownership mortgage getting a home loan might be more affordable. You’ll only own a share of the home at the start, and will need to pay some rent at the same time, but you will have the chance to ‘staircase’ your way to full ownership if you wish.

Tim Leonard & Brean Horne

The First Homes scheme was introduced to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder in their local area. The price you’ll pay for a First Homes property, which needs to be a newly built home, will be at least 30% lower than the market value but there are a number of boxes to tick to qualify.

Hannah Harper & Tim Leonard

The government’s Rent to Buy scheme provides would-be homeowners with a way to bridge the gap between renting a property and owning one. Read on for more information about the Rent to Buy scheme, and to find out whether it could help you.

Rachel Lacey & Tim Leonard

You must receive equity release advice from an adviser with a specialist qualification before you’re allowed to take out any equity release plan. Finding a good equity release adviser, and knowing what to ask, is a must.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

The triple lock protects the income that retirees receive through the state pension from inflation. Usually payments increase in line with the highest of either earnings, Consumer Prices Index inflation, or 2.5%. But for the next rise in April 2022, the earnings measure won’t be considered.

Anthony Beachey & Tim Leonard

A lifetime mortgage is an equity release scheme that allows you to access some of the wealth you have tied up in your home. With a lifetime mortgage you can receive a lump sum or regular cash payments, and carry on living in your home until you die or move into residential care.

Tim Leonard

A gifted deposit is when parents or a close relative give you money towards a mortgage deposit with no strings attached. Lenders usually require a gifted deposit letter from the gifter to confirm you don’t need to pay the money back.

John Fitzsimons & Tim Leonard

A let-to-buy mortgage allows you to buy a new home and let out your existing property to bring in extra income. It can be useful if you can’t or don’t want to sell your current home, but can be a difficult process to negotiate. Consent to let is an alternative to let to buy you might consider.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

If you are not ready to retire, want to build more retirement savings, or simply don’t need to claim your pension yet, you may want to defer taking your pension. Your state pension can also be deferred in return for increased payments in the future.

Ruth Jackson-Kirby & Tim Leonard

A final salary pension, or defined benefit pension scheme, is a type of workplace pension that will pay you a retirement income for life. The amount you will receive in retirement is calculated using your salary when you retire or your average salary.