No change at Tower Hill Associates and remaining independent!

The Retail Distribution Review comes into force on 31 December 2012 requiring all advisors to set out their fees and the service they will be providing in advance of a client signing up. In other words, no more commission and financial advisors charging like any other profession! In addition all advisors need to be better qualified with a new Level 4 minimum being enforced.

Tower Hill Associates Limited has been working on a transparent fee for service basis since the business was set up in 2006, and the principal John Lang has been working in a fee based environment for over 20 years. In addition all financial advisors within the firm have to be either a Chartered or Certified Financial Planner, which are advanced Level 6 qualifications.

Furthermore, all advisors now need a Statement of Professional Standing, which I received earlier this year from the Institute of Financial Planning.

For more information on the changes, please download the Client Guide from the IFA Centre the new trade body exclusively for independent financial advisors.

VouchedFor

See our 14 independently authenticated reviews on the new VouchedFor financial advisor rating site.

Make sure your money doesn’t run out in retirement

Never before has it seemed so difficult to plan for your retirement. It is increasingly clear that the State cannot provide generously for the UK's ageing population and that everyone must take responsibility for their own pension and investment plans.

However, it is difficult to feel confident that you have put enough aside when you factor in low stock market returns, interest rates at 0.5% for the foreseeable future and inflation eating away, year after year, at your purchasing power.

Specially commissioned research

Once again, we felt it was time to crunch some numbers on behalf of our clients. Given the current economic climate, we wanted to establish just how much you really need to save to avoid running out of money during your retirement. Based on life expectancies of 10, 20 and 30 years, and annual withdrawals from the portfolio of either 4% or 10%, we looked at three portfolios with different risk profiles to calculate the chance of you running out of savings during your lifetime. Read More

My thanks to Steve Williams at Cormorant Capital Strategies who produced the calculations on our behalf.

Should you wish to discuss any of the issues raised in this newsletter, please do get in touch on 020 8891 6375.

Best Wishes,

John Lang

Director