💬 Anna's two pence worth (#8): Secure a healthy financial future

Anna Bowes is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Money Box, Breakfast and News programs, as well as the national press, providing expert analysis and commentary on the UK savings market. Anna has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years and for most of that time has been helping people to make the most of their savings.

As the dust settles, more details have emerged about those things not mentioned in the Budget speech last week but are within the Budget report, for those brave enough to work through the finer details. As always, the devil is in the detail and there are some interesting points to pick through.

Not least is that some of the giveaways in the Budget speech now look slightly less rewarding. One thing seems to be for sure, there is no let up on Inheritance Tax right now and it doesn’t look likely for the near future either as, to put it bluntly, the Government is raking in money from receipts and this looks set to soar over the coming years.

The Budget document projects that receipts are to increase to £5.5bn for the 2018/19 tax year, from £5.2bn in the last tax year. And they expect them to increase by up to 6% for at least the next five years, bringing in up to £6.9bn by the 2023/24 tax year. Learn how you can mitigate against these taxes now.

And it doesn’t stop there for grieving families, from next year the cost of probate will go up for those with estate values of more of £50,000, meaning families will have more costs to worry about. You can learn more about this rise in fees and how it might affect you in our article:

🔖 Read: Probate fees for some to rise by more than 2500% next year

Mark Carney last week warned of what might happen to interest rates next year, should we not reach a Brexit deal. Against possible expectations to cut rates if there is a no deal Brexit, the Governor of the Bank of England has said that rates could in fact move upwards. So once again, there’s not a clear steer!

Perhaps as a result of this uncertainty, the short-term fixed rate market has been pretty buoyant lately – much more so than amongst the longer terms. So, we’ve taken a look at some of the best accounts currently available and remind you that just because you’ve not heard of them, it doesn’t mean you should ignore lesser-known providers. You could be missing out.

🔖 Read: Competition rife amongst short-term fixed rates

As Nottingham Building Society’s market leading easy access account was pulled after just 48 hours, it just goes to show how quickly some of the very best rates can disappear. In ‘Now you see it, now you don’t’, we ponder why some accounts last longer than others.

🔖 Read: Now you see it, now you don't!

There was an excellent article in the Telegraph over the weekend in which Ian Cowie wrote about the importance of compound interest and the cost that a delay to saving into your pension can cause.

We’ve calculated our own cost of delay for savers. It’s simply one of the best bits of financial advice that most of us probably never listened to our parents about - but wished we had. Pass it on to your children and grandchildren.

As Albert Einstein is fabled to have said "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world" – we think he might have known a thing or two!

🔖 Read: The cost of delay

Finally, our regular feature, the Rates Rundown looks at this week’s best rates to hit the savings market.

Remember, it's just 45 days till Christmas!

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