Dear All,

I thought this little slice of information maybe of interest to you:

Coventry Building Society, the UK’s 3rd largest building society, has confirmed today that it has completed its merger with Stroud & Swindon Building Society.

The expanded society will be called Coventry Building Society and will be based in Coventry. Total membership will increase from over 1.2 million to around 1.5 million, and the overall asset size will increase from £18.4 billion to £21.1 billion.

Coventry Building Society, which announced excellent half year results in August, is one of the strongest building societies in the UK. Since the onset of the credit crunch, it has continued to report substantial profits and its strong funding and capital position has enabled it to grow throughout the economic downturn.

Coventry’s financial strength will deliver an immediate benefit for many Stroud & Swindon members, who voted overwhelmingly in favour of the merger in June.

It is expected that approximately two thirds of a total of around 250,000 savings accounts will see interest rates improved on completion of the merger to match equivalent products offered by Coventry.

In addition, those borrowing members currently paying or linked to Stroud & Swindon’s residential Standard Variable Rate (SVR) of 5.99% will benefit from a substantial reduction in their mortgage payments as they move onto Coventry’s lower SVR of 4.74%. This is one of the lowest SVRs currently being offered by any UK building society.

Mortgage Exclusives

I have a list of new mortgage exclusive deals available, if anyone is interested in considering a remortgage, Buy to Let or simply a new house purchase please do not hesitate to contact us on :

info@lhfinancial.co.uk

0845 3299024

I welcome your comments regarding this information, is it relevant, what if anything would you like to be informed of?

Kind regards

Lewis

Rising rents and house prices offered landlords bumper annual returns at the start of the year which resulted in the surge in confidence. This has fallen slightly due to the slowdown in house prices and the capital gains tax hike.

Landlords remain committed to buy-to-let.  Attractive rents and increasing yields underpin their confidence in property investment.

Growing tenant demand is helping to cushion slowing capital gains. 37% of landlords have witnessed an increase in tenant demand, with one in ten landlords reporting a substantial growth. Just 7% of respondents saw a decline. 63% of landlords expect this increase in demand to continue in the next two years, compared to the one in twenty landlords who anticipate demand will fall away.

The Buy to Let finance market has improvement in the past quarter.

According to the latest CML statistics, the number of buy-to-let loans increased 13% in the last quarter, compared to Q1. However, the number of loans is still 72% lower than in the same quarter in 2007.

The economic outlook is improving and this can only be a good thing for the housing market.

When you reach retirement any pension funds you have accrued will be subject (typically) to the purchase of an Annuity.

An Annuity is typically a life long income in exchange for a lump (normally derived from your pension fund/s) – the need to purchase a compulsory annuity may well change in due course due to the coalition government who have already raised the maximum age at which an Annuity must be purchased from 75 yrs to 77 yrs.

Purchasing an Annuity is one of the most crucial decisions you may ever have to make, once you have made your choice their is no going back so get it wrong and you could be financially disadvantaged.

Many people are not aware they can take the OPEN MARKET OPTION from their pension plan/fund provider, instead they feel the pension on offer from their current provider is their only choice.  People should exercise caution and review the market prior to making any firm decisions, like buying a car, your Annuity can take many different forms and include a vast aray of bells and whistles such as:

Spouses Pension

Indexation

Guarantee Periods

Impaird Annuities

At LH Financial we are currently offering a free review of your pension/retirement plans.

So, whether your looking to retire over the next few months or setting your long term retirement goals, we can help assess and advise on the best solutions.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at: info@lhfinancial.co.uk

On Thursday 24 June the government announced a comprehensive review of auto-enrolment.

A team of three independent experts have been selected to carry out the review.

“The plans of the previous government need to be reviewed in light of the current, strained fiscal circumstances. It is imperative that the outcome of this review offers fair and good value to consumers, businesses and the Exchequer.

The Independent Experts are due to report back to the government in the Autumn.

If you need a quick reminder of auto-enrolment obligations as they currently stand, you can find a useful summary at The Pensions Advisory Service website.



The simple answer is YES, we all know the state pension is overwhelmed by claimants, it is set to get worse with the baby boomers reaching retirement over the next few years.

Put simply, If you dream of a relaxed retirement THAT IS NOT just above the poverty line then you need to take action, the good old days of the state pension scheme providing adequate retirement income is as stated in the past ‘The Old Days’

It is estimated over 10 million people have inadequate or zero pension provision.

The UK economy has an increasing deficit due to the recent crisis which has not been seem before, to further add to this burden the costs of the NHS and Welfare State System seems to be increasing.

Another problem is the good health of the nation. People are living for longer. This is something that really came home to roost in 2007, when the number of people of state pension age was more than those under 16 for the first time ever. By 2050 Britain is expected to have over a quarter of a million people that are more than 100 years old, versus just 12,000 today.

The UK state sector needs to be reviewed not only public sector employee pensions, but also the state pension. In particular the State Pension Age, the earliest age you can draw your State Pension, needs to be reviewed. It is not really a question of whether it will be revised upwards, but by how much. Whilst the traditional ages for the State Pension Age were 60 for women and 65 for men. The currently projected changes are as below:

• Between 2010 and 2020 women’s retirement ages are increasing to 65
• Between 2024 and 2026, retirement ages for men and women are increasing to 66
• Between 2034 and 2036, retirement ages for men and women are increasing to 67
• Between 2044 and 2046, retirement ages for men and women are increasing to 68

So Whats the answer, the government (all parties agree) that something needs to be done to take control, the initial idea was the introduction of Stakeholder Pensions, the theory behind this was to provide a clear simple to understand retirement plan, although in existence for several years now it has become clear the take up of such provision has not been as expected. People do not plan in their early years, they feel retirement is something they should do but as it appears to be so long away they put it off time and again.

So here we are, things must change and they are going to on a drastic scale never seen before in the UK, that is the introduction of ‘The Personal Accounts’ now rebranded and known as NEST (National Employers Savings Trust), this is the new brain child of the government, it is scheduled to be rolled out from 2012 through to 2015/16, the principal details are:

Every employer with 1 or more employees will have to either offer an approved pension scheme or face their employees being automatically enrolled into the NEST pension.

The contributions will made up by

1. 4% from the Employee
2. 3% from the Employer
3. 1% in the form of Tax Relief

Anyone earning £ 15,000 – £ 30,000 who is not in an approved pension plan with the relevant level of contributions will be automatically enrolled into NEST.

For all your Financial Planning Needs, contact Lewis Harmer Financial Planning Services

We are Independent Financial Advisers, and pride ourselves in offering unbiased advice from the marketplace as a whole.

Our goal is to build long term relationships with our clients and be on call to help them with their Life Planning needs, this canbe in many forms from mortgages to retirement planning,  school fees through to protection.

Whatever your needs, we can help and do so in a friendly easy to understand manner.