This podcast isn’t personal advice. If you’re not sure what’s right for you, seek advice. Tax rules can change and benefits depend on personal circumstances.
Investments rise and fall in value, so investors could make a loss.
Full podcast episode transcript
[0.08] Susannah Streeter: Hello and welcome to Switch Your Money On from Hargreaves Lansdown, with me, Susannah Streeter – Head of Money and Markets.
[0:14] Sarah Coles: And me, Sarah Coles – Head of Personal Finance.
[0:16] Susannah Streeter: So, we are fresh from the Easter break – aren’t we, Sarah? I’m sure you, like me, have eaten our fair share of those Easter eggs – although, for me, it’s crisps that are always my downfall – and I’ve just come back from France and it’s truffle crisps, which are so delicious and tempting that I just couldn’t stop.
[0:34] Sarah Coles: It’s the excuse to have a roast with every meal – that’s my problem!
[0:37] Susannah Streeter: [Laughs]
[0:38] Sarah Coles: One of the things that’s nice is to sit down with your family and have a chat about stuff in general – and I guess, a lot of the things that come up, when you sit down with your family – I mean, apart from the, ‘Have you done your homework?’ – and, ‘Why are you leaning on the table?’ – but those difficult conversations. So, those across-the-generation conversations – things like death, bereavement, and planning for later life.
[0:56] Susannah Streeter: Yeah, I’m sure that’s been on the mind of quite a few people as well this Easter – particularly, given the topic of life and death that Easter brings up – and these are very difficult questions. And, actually, we’re going to be looking at some of those in the podcast today. We’re going to be looking at inheritance tax made simple, particularly – but lots of other issues around inheritance tax, and also what changes could be coming down the line; what people are worried about and what they can do in certain situations.
So, I’m pleased to say, to help us find our way through this maze – it can be, can’t it? – ...
[1:34] Helen Morrissey: Absolutely.
[1:34] Susannah Streeter: ...Helen Morrissey is here – Head of Retirement Analysis.
[1:37] Helen Morrissey: Yeah, happy – happy to be here to talk all things inheritance.
[1:40] Susannah Streeter: Thank you. And also, we’ve got Bradley Clark – who’s a Financial
Advisor with HL – with us. Bradley, I’m sure these are questions that you get asked so many times?
[1:50] Bradley Clark: Yeah – certainly since October and the Budget changes, it’s something I’ve talked about an awful lot.
[1:54] Susannah Streeter: And you can tell us more about it coming up. But, of course, we have had a lot of other things going on, not least on the financial markets.
How can you have missed what’s been happening? I mean, I’ve been absolutely flat out – we all have, haven’t we? – particularly in the run up to Easter, with all of the tariff turbulence. And then, of course, it calmed down a little bit, when we had President Trump rolling back from some of those most onerous tariffs – and imposing another pause – a 90-day pause – but not on China, but on pretty much the rest of the world – but, still, there’s been a huge amount of volatility around, hasn’t there? – and that has implications for pensions as well – doesn’t it, Helen?
[2:37] Helen Morrissey: Absolutely. We’ve seen people getting quite concerned – they’ve looked at their pensions – they’ve seen that maybe they’ve dropped in recent weeks – and they’re worried about what it is that they might need to do about that. What we’ve been saying to people is, ‘Pensions are a long-term gain – try not to make any knee-jerk reactions – keep calm – carry on.’
[2:55] Susannah Streeter: ‘Keep calm – carry on’ – and you’ve been a voice of reassurance as well – haven’t you, Sarah?
[2:58] Sarah Coles: Well, yes – I mean, one of the interesting things is... I think, for people who look maybe at things like bonds as being a slightly less volatile investment than their shares – and people are looking at things like gold. So, there’s been changes to everything – and, some of them, not what we were expecting.
I know you’ve been looking into loads of those. Can you just tell us a little bit about some of those weird things?
[3:16] Susannah Streeter: Yes. So, of course, gold is often seen as a safe haven in times of high market volatility – and, although there were expectations that it would continue to rise – because of all of the uncertainty – actually, straight after ‘Liberation Day,’ gold actually fell back in price, but we’ve since seen it achieve fresh record highs.
There has been a lot of volatility – and it’s certainly shown up in gold prices – but also in the bond markets. And there is an argument to say that, actually, it was the bond-market reaction that caused Trump to reverse course – and impose that 90- day pause. Because what you saw were treasury yields – that’s US Government debt. Effectively, the interest payable on US Government debt really shooting up because of all the uncertainty that this is causing to the US economy. And, of course, if the interest the US Government has to pay to borrow goes up, that will make its financial situation more precarious – and that is thought to be one of the triggers that caused Trump to reverse course and impose this pause.
Now, we don’t yet know what is going to happen – and when this 90 days comes up. At the moment, financial markets are still volatile – they’ve been particularly volatile again because it seems as though President Trump has turned his attention on the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, and the way it makes policy. He wants the US central bank to cut interest rates more quickly – but, actually, the Chair – Jerome Powell – is saying, ‘Hold on, I’m not ready for that – I’m in ‘Wait-and-see’ mode, mainly’ – and that’s caused some consternation from the US administration. And that’s, again, upset financial markets.
[5:02] Sarah Coles: It’s one of those weird things. You think you’ve reached an age where somebody calling somebody else a ‘Loser’ – which is what Trump called Jerome Powell – would have no effect on your life anymore. But it turns out, still has a massive effect on your life! [Laughs]
[5:13] Susannah Streeter: Yeah, it does – because it then affects, of course... if you’ve got all of this uncertainty in financial markets, it can affect the value of your investments. But, as we keep drumming in, you’ve got to have a long-term horizon when you are investing. You shouldn’t really be investing in the stock market if your investment horizon is five years or less. You’ve got to have a longer-term horizon to help you ride out this volatility – and I think you’ve just gotta keep your eye on the long-term.
[5:40] Sarah Coles: Absolutely – and I imagine, Bradley, that it must be something that you’re talking to people about a lot as well at the moment?
[5:45] Bradley Clark: It is. Whenever you get a period of increased volatility, you get a lot of calls from clients. One of the good things of working with clients in an advisory capacity is we can prepare them for these sort of situations. So, when I am working with a client at the get-go, we can do things like test out market crashes. So, we can do stress tests – and say, ‘If this happened, what impact might it have on your lifestyle?’
So, actually, when these things do happen, a lot of the clients I’ve worked with in the past are absolutely fine. So, we do get some context. Actually, had an email from a client recently, saying, ‘I know I shouldn’t worry – I know you’ve told me, ‘Don’t panic and stay’ – but, please, just email me back and say I’m right – that I shouldn’t panic.’
[6:22] Sarah Coles: [Laughs]
[6:22] Bradley Clark: Just that reassurance piece. But, yes – you do get increased contact –
but, if you’ve had those proper conversations with clients – then, usually, it’s all okay.
[6:31] Sarah Coles: It’s good to know that it’s not a life-and-death thing for people when these markets change. Which is, of course, an absolute handbrake-turn into me saying, ‘We should talk about life and death.’ So, we should talk about inheritance tax – which has been on – as you say, Bradley – a lot of people’s minds ever since the Government announced a few changes.
So, we’ll go into those later – but I know, when it comes to inheritance tax, it’s quite a complicated subject – and people immediately switch off and don’t like to think about it. So, it is worth running through some of those basics about inheritance tax.
So, the first thing to say is that most people don’t have to worry about inheritance tax – so you have a couple of what’s known as nil-rate bands – which is basically what counts most people out from having to pay any of those tax. So, the first £325,000 that you give away to your family... then that’s free of inheritance tax. Plus, if you give away your main home to what’s known as your ‘Issue’ – which is a very weird inheritance tax way of saying, ‘Your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren.’ Then, you can give £175,000-worth of that property value to them – and that’s free of tax as well.
And so, for a lot of people, that £500,000 is enough. It’s also worth saying that, if you give everything to your spouse – so anything that you pass to your spouse... that’s free of inheritance tax – and, if you give everything to your spouse, you’re also going to be passing over your nil-rate band to them. Which, although it sounds very complicated – the way I’ve randomly put all of it together – it means that its second person in a couple to die will be able to give £1m away to their family without paying inheritance tax – which, for a lot of people will definitely cover a huge amount of their assets, so it’s not necessarily something people need to be overly worried about.
If it doesn’t cover your assets, then there are still a number of other things you can do. It’s a horrible way of putting it, but one of the things that advisers say is that, ‘It’s better to give with a warm hand than with a cold hand’ – which is basically, ‘It’s better to give money away while you’re still alive.’
So, there are a few allowances. Now, it’s worth saying these allowances haven’t changed for a long time, so they’re not massively generous. So, you can give away £3,000 a year – and you can give that away every year. If you haven’t given away £3,000 last year, you can carry it forward so that, this year, you’ve got £6,000 to give away.
In addition to that annual allowance, there’s a bunch of other different bits and pieces. So, for example, you can give wedding gifts – which is nice. Weird little quirk, but you can give wedding gifts to your family. Plus, in addition to that, there are a couple of other little rules. One of them is a lesser-known rule – that’s really handy – which is known as a ‘Giving gifts out of surplus income.’ Sounds complicated!
[8:59] Susannah Streeter: How d’you define surplus income? – and I think that’s the crux, isn’t it, Helen?
[9:02] Helen Morrissey: Absolutely, yeah – I mean, how would you define that?
[9:06] Sarah Coles: Well, obviously, it includes income – so it includes what your earnings are – but it also includes other things, like pensions – income from things like investments. So, there is a variety of different ways that you can make that income. Basically, it means you’re not dipping into things like savings – and into investments, themselves, in order to give money away.
You also have to follow the rule... it’s gotta be surplus income – which is basically money that you don’t need in order to maintain your current standard of living. So, it’s money that’s on top – the ‘Nice-to-have’ that you can then be giving away.
In addition to that, you have to have a regular pattern of giving these gifts away. So, some people will do... they might pay something towards a mortgage for a family member – or towards things like school fess – because they can show that they’ve established a regular pattern of giving these gifts. So, it’s a really handy way of doing it.
You’ve got to keep specific records – and HMRC... they’ve got stuff on their website which tells you exactly how to keep those records, so you don’t fall foul of that one.
[9:57] Susannah Streeter: Are there any other gifts that you can pull out of the bag, Sarah?
[10:00] Sarah Coles: [Laughs] There is one thing. So, it’s when you give gifts outside of those amounts – and they become what’s known as ‘Potentially exempt transfers.’ Now, it’s worth knowing, with inheritance tax, you always drip into the jargon super-fast – but you don’t have to worry what they’re called. Basically, what it means is... as soon as you’ve given a gift away – if you live for seven years after that, then it drops straight out of your estate for inheritance tax purposes, and it counts as completely been given away.
One of the things people will do is... if they’ve got children in the family, they might use that to give away gifts within a Junior ISA – because, that way, you’re giving it away now – it counts as though you’re starting that clock ticking – but also, the kids won’t get their hands on it until they’re 18 – so there’s a pause, in order to make sure that they’re adults before they make decisions about what to do with the money.
[10:41] Susannah Streeter: What happens if that seven-year rule isn’t met and the giver dies before the seven years?
[10:49] Sarah Coles: This is an area that people don’t like to think about, but it can happen. Remember me talking about those nil-rate bands – so that £325,000 that you’ve got to give away? If your gifts fall underneath that, then all that happens is it comes back into your estate, and then it’s counted as being within that first nil-rate band. So, it’s almost undone the effect of giving the gift, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll pay tax because you’ve still got that nil-rate band.
One of the issues that can come up is if you give away more than that. So, if you’re in the lucky position of being able to give away more than £325,000, then you add up all those gifts that you’ve given during your lifetime. And it’s really important you add them up in the order that you gave them – so chronological order. The point at which you go over that £325,000, then there’s gonna be inheritance tax to pay. And the real kicker is that it’s paid by the person who got the gift – and that might have happened five years earlier.
It is worth saying there is a taper that kicks in when you’re in that position – so the longer it is since you gave the gift, the lower the tax rate. So, you won’t be paying 40% on all it if you gave it six-and-a-half years ago.
[11:51] Susannah Streeter: Does that even include if you’ve given a gift in a Junior ISA – and a child receives that gift?
[11:58] Sarah Coles: It includes any gifts that you give away within that seven years. It’s worth knowing about. One of the issues that you get is that somebody might get a gift – and then, go off and having spent that money themselves, and then they’ve gotta find the money to cover the tax. So, it’s worth everybody knowing – at the point at which they get a gift – actually, you’ve gone over that £325,000 – this could be something that you need to think about.
[12:18] Susannah Streeter: So, Sarah, this is all highly complex, isn’t it? – and, of course, each individual does have to think about their own circumstances – and they’re really not sure... it’s really worth seeking advice, isn’t it? And, of course, there can be changes coming on in legislation at any time. We’ve seen this already, haven’t we? For example, during the Budget, there were changes in terms of investments in AIM listed companies as well.
[12:41] Sarah Coles: Yes – so those changes that have been announced for the future – and what the rules are currently is, if you invest in those AIM stocks that specifically qualify for this – then, after you’ve held them for two years, at the moment, they’re free of inheritance tax.
That relief is getting cut in half – so, basically, you hold them for two years – if you
have to pay inheritance tax, it’ll be 20%. So, that change is coming down the track – and it does affect people who’ve maybe thought about AIM investments as part of their portfolio – and it’s definitely worth thinking about.
But the really huge change has been around pensions. So, we should definitely talk to Helen – because I know you’ve been looking at this in a lot of detail.
[13:15] Helen Morrissey: Oh, yes – very big changes. So, the big news from last year’s Budget – you remember – is that, from April 2027, pensions are expected to be brought into scope for inheritance tax purposes. So, this has thrown a lot of people’s plans into disarray because they were keeping their pensions to pass onto their family.
So, the current position is that pensions are not usually in scope for inheritance tax purposes. Now – added to this – if a death occurs before the age of 75, those assets can be passed on free of income tax as well. If it’s after the age of 75, income tax is payable – but it is, nonetheless, a very tax-efficient way of passing on assets.
Now, this led to people deciding to leave their pensions untouched as much as possible – spend down other assets, so they could pass on those assets to their family in a very tax-efficient way – and this is all due to change.
Now, what is important to say is that these rules are not set in stone. They could still change, but it is prompting people to revisit their plans – and I know that Bradley will tell us a little bit more about that. And I think, because people are expecting that they might have an inheritance tax liability... I think what will happen is we will see more people looking to gift to their family now, while they’re alive, rather than passing it down in their will. So, it goes to what you were saying earlier, Sarah, about giving with a warm hand rather than a cold one.
And I think that this is actually quite beneficial – because you get to see your loved ones enjoying those gifts now – and, of course, help them, potentially, sit on the housing ladder – to go to university. But also, what I think is good as well is that it allows you to see how they deal with that gift – and that could change your own gifting behaviour.
[15:06] Sarah Coles: And, presumably, will also come into play when people are thinking about how to take their pension – as to whether they’re gonna go into something like drawdown – which gives them the opportunity to leave money to their family. Or something like annuities – which, no abilities leave money behind, but different inheritance tax treatment.
[15:22] Helen Morrissey: Yeah, absolutely. So, I do think the whole inheritance tax treatment of pensions has been a key factor – in terms of people deciding whether to go down that income drawdown versus annuity route. And I do think it will very much be the case that, for some people – if they think that their pension now could have this inheritance tax liability attached to it... that might make them decide to go down the annuity route, rather than income drawdown. So, I do think we will see a change of behaviour there as well.
We don’t know how long we’re gonna live – and the most important thing... if you’re looking at gifting away assets, is making sure that you don’t give away too much too early. You don’t wanna be leaving yourself struggling later on – and I think, at this point, I’m gonna bring in our colleague, Bradley, to talk about some of the issues that he’s dealing with on a day-to-day.
So, Bradley – welcome, first and foremost.
[16:11] Bradley Clark: Thank you.
[16:13] Helen Morrissey: Now, I know that you can’t give specific advice here – you’re only able to talk very generally about people’s circumstances – and situations that you’ve come across – ‘cause everything depends on people’s specific circumstances. But, very generally, what have people been worried about?
[16:29] Bradley Clark: I think the first thing... I’ve had so many conversations with clients since the changes in October – and I think something which really comes across is... because it’s been pensions that are in the headlines – and the change from inheritance tax on pensions – a lot of people then assume that it’s the pension that you have to do something with. But, in lots of circumstances, that’s not the case. It’s important to note that the changes don’t come in for at least two years. We’re recording this in April 2025 – the changes aren’t gonna be coming in until April 2027. So, there is a risk that, if you think, ‘I need to do something with my pension now’ – such as taking the tax-free cash out – that, if you do that within the next couple of years, you’re actually moving money from somewhere which is free from inheritance tax at the moment into somewhere which isn’t. So, if you were to pass away in the next two years, that could cause you a problem that wasn’t there in the first place.
But what I think it does do is it perhaps brings the inheritance-tax conversation forward. Whereas, only a very small number of estates pay... I think it’s about 4%, currently – with pensions coming in, that will probably go up. So, it could be time to start looking at what you can do with other assets that you might have outside your pension, rather than the pension itself.
[17:35] Sarah Coles: And do people think that they need to something really big and dramatic in order to deal with inheritance tax? Presumably, there are big things you can do, but also other things you can do?
[17:43] Bradley Clark: Yeah – it’s a really good question – and you’re absolutely right. Most people come to the table to talk about inheritance tax – and they’d say, ‘I wanna put my house in trust’ – or, ‘I want to give away a load of money.’ That’s not necessarily the case – and, actually, with inheritance tax... when I’m talking about the sort of things that you could do, I tend to put them into two different categories. You have some things which are relatively easy to do, but will have quite a low impact on inheritance tax – and then, there’s a category which are much harder to do, but they’re gonna have a bigger impact.
We’ve already talked about some of the easier things you could do – such as using your gifting allowances. One which I always say to clients at the get-go is, ‘Spend more.’ If you’ve...
[18:20] Sarah Coles: [Laughs]
[18:20] Bradley Clarke: ...got money, which is...
[18:21] Susannah Streeter: ‘Enjoy yourself!’
[18:22] Bradley Clark: ‘Enjoy yourselves’ – yeah! And, if you are gonna be paying an inheritance tax bill of 40% - you know, 40p on the pound... well, every pound that you spend, you’re getting a 40p saving.
[18:32] Helen Morrissey: It’s something I tell my parents all the time – although they just love camping, and they refuse to spend the money going to a really nice hotel! [Laughs] They still want to camp – but I think that’s a lifestyle thing, rather than them not wanting to spend money – but I do think there’s a bit of a tipping point, sometimes – particularly now they’re in their mid-80s!
[18:49] Bradley Clark: Yeah!
[18:49] Helen Morrissey: They could get a bigger tent!
[18:50] Susannah Streeter: Yeah, they could!
[18:51] Sarah Coles: And go glamping, or something.
[18:52] Susannah Streeter: Yeah, glamping – not really hardcore camping! [Laughs]
[18:55] Sarah Coles: Do people find it difficult to think about spending more? Is that a barrier to people ‘cause they’re worried about what’s going to happen?
[19:01] Bradley Clark: It absolutely is. It’s way more common than you might think. When you’re younger, you always think, ‘Oh, I wish I had more money to spend’ – but, actually, a lot of the clients that I work with have got 40-years-plus of savings habits built into their mindset. So, shifting from a saving mindset to a spending mindset can be quite difficult. But spending is certainly something if you can do it – and it’s something which is in your remit – then, absolutely, you can do that.
Pension contributions – pensions will be inside of the estate from April ’27, but you’ve still got an opportunity to put some money into a pension. If you’re not earning, the maximum you can do is £3,600 gross – but, if you’re married, then that’s money you can get, over the next couple of tax years, out of your estate, into a pension – although, of course, they will come back into your estate in a couple of years’ time. And then, the small gifts as well that we’ve mentioned.
So, those are some of the easier things you can do. They’re gonna have a relatively small impact – but, if you do them on a regular basis – and form a habit of doing those things – it can help over time. And then, you have the bigger things – much harder to do. This is like giving away large lump sums of money – perhaps taking a Whole of Life Insurance contract – maybe buying an annuity – something along those lines – or using something like a trust. Much harder to do in reality – because, of course, it involves giving something up.
[20:19] Sarah Coles: Yes – always hard to give things away, I find! [Laughs]
[20:22] Susannah Streeter: That whole spending... if you spend with your family, it can make it enjoyable for everybody – you’re not just spending on yourself. I think that’s another good idea.
[20:33] Sarah Coles: I used to try and persuade my dad. I used to say, ‘Take us all way on holiday together’ – and he’d go, ‘I have to go on holiday with you?’
[20:37] Helen Morrissey: [Laughs]
[20:39] Sarah Coles: So, I know, on a podcast like this, you can’t offer advice – because you’d need to tailor it to people’s specific circumstances – but can you tell us about some of the things that people have been considering?
[20:49] Bradley Clark: Yeah, of course. I think this was touched on earlier on – the gifts out of surplus income rule. And you may have a situation where your income is absolutely fine – so you’ve got State Pension coming in – you’ve got maybe final salary pension – or an annuity. So, your income is actually fine for your needs – and you don’t have any surplus income – but you might have investments – and you might have a portfolio in a stocks and shares ISA, for example, that’s currently invested for growth – and it’s there as a back-up fund for the future.
What you could consider doing is investing that ISA in such a way that it generates an income. That income would be generated regularly – so it would satisfy the regular approach to money coming in – and, if that money is coming in – it’s surplus to your requirements – you can then gift that income away from the ISA, using the gifts out of surplus income rule – or you can go a step further – and you can use that income perhaps to buy a Whole of Life Insurance contract – which would insure you against the liability from tax.
[21:49] Sarah Coles: So, I’ve talked about how it can be difficult to force yourself to give money away. Presumably, for somebody in that position – who’s not sure whether they’ll need the money later – there are options on the table they can consider?
[22:00] Bradley Clark: There are – yes. You’re absolutely right – that it’s a major consideration... that, before you give a large sum of money away, that you know – and you can be certain – that you’re gonna be comfortable in your own life – particularly if something such as care costs were to arise later in life.
So, there are certain things you can use. For example, you might be able to gift money into a trust – and that trust would give you some sort of access to the capital, so that you could get that money back if you needed it later in life.
It is a pretty complex area – and this is where advice really is recommended – but there are things you can consider.
[22:34] Susannah Streeter: But, as Helen was saying a bit earlier... it’s also really important that you don’t sell yourself short – as in, spend too much gifting, and then leave yourself short later on. So, there is a tricky balance to be struck, isn’t there?
[22:48] Helen Morrissey: Absolutely. We don’t know how long we’re gonna live, at the end of the day – and we need to enjoy the time that we have with our families.
[22:54] Susannah Streeter: Yeah – enjoy the time with the family, but also remember to have those difficult conversations – because you do need to keep talking – and there’s plenty of detail to get stuck into – as we’ve proven during this podcast. So, if you keep talking – and you give so much advice – so helpful analysis to all of your clients, don’t you, Bradley?
But it is a short podcast this time around – but, hopefully, it’s really been useful for anybody trying to navigate that maze of inheritance tax.
[23:26] Sarah Coles: So, we’re nearly finished – but there is time for a very quick fact of the week. And so, for this one, I’ve been looking through unusual wills. So, I’ve found a very weird on – it’s by Heinrich Heine, who was a German Author in the 19th century – and he gave everything to his wife, Mathilde – but there was one stipulation.
So, all three of you – I’d like you to guess... Was it that he wanted her to look after his dogs? Did he want her to remarry? Or did he want her to stop talking to her brother?
[23:52] Susannah Streeter: [Laughs]
[23:52] Sarah Coles: What d’you reckon?
[23:51] Bradley Clark: [Laughs]
[23:53] Susannah Streeter: Oh, gosh – what trauma was there...
[23:56] Sarah Coles: [Laughs]
[23:56] Susannah Streeter: ...in that household!
[23:59] Helen Morrissey: I’m gonna go, ‘Look after his dogs.’
[24:02] Sarah Coles: That’s a nice one, isn’t it?
[24:03] Helen Morrissey: Yes!
[24:03] Sarah Coles: Yeah, the nice one.
[24:04] Susannah Streeter: I actually just think it’s gonna be, ‘Stop talking to her brother.’ I think...
[24:09] Sarah Coles: You think they had beef?! [Laughs]
[24:10] Susannah Streeter: ...they fell out, big-style, with Mathilde’s brother – and there was something fishy going on.
[24:15] Sarah Coles: What d’you think, Bradley?
[24:16] Bradley Clark: I’m very much a dog-person, so I can relate to that. Yeah – it’ll be the dogs.
[24:21] Sarah Coles: Well, I’m delighted to say you’re all wrong.
[Laughter]
[24:24] Sarah Coles: So, he was determined that she would marry, because he wanted one other man to be unhappy about his death – so he thought the new husband would be equally unhappy.
[Laughter]
[24:33] Sarah Coles: Charming man, I’m sure! [Laughs]
[24:34] Susannah Streeter: Oh, no wonder he probably fell out with her brotheras well!
[24:38] Sarah Coles: [Laughs]
[24:39] Susannah Streeter: Not surprising!
Anyway, that’s all for this week – and, as usual, Sarah’s fact of the week never fails to disappoint. But, before we go, we should say that this was recorded on April 22nd 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
[24:54] Sarah Coles: Nothing in this podcast is personal advice – and you should seek advice if you’re not sure what’s right for you. Investments and any income they produce can rise and fall in value, so you could get back less than you invest – and past performance is not a guide to the future. Tax rules can change and benefits depend on individual circumstances.
[25:09] Helen Morrissey: We should also remember that pensions can’t be accessed until at least the age of 55, soon rising to age 57. For those who are in the need for extra information about their options at retirement – as well as financial advice – there is also an impartial guidance service called Pension Wise.
[25:27] Susannah Streeter: So, all that’s left is for us to thank our guests. Helen – thank you! Bradley – thank you! And also, a big thank you to our Producer, Elizabeth Hotson.
Thank you all for listening – we’ll be back again soon. Goodbye!
[25:38] Bradley Clark: Bye-bye!
[25:39] Sarah Coles: Goodbye!
[25:39] Helen Morrissey: Bye!