Clarke Willmott

I was delighted to be invited to watch Bristol Rugby team play (sorry, thrash) Moseley at the Memorial Stadium in Bristol today.   Thanks to Clarke Willmott Financial Services Litigation Team for their generous hospitality, and we look forward to working with them closely in the futuref

Birds flying the NEST

NEST is the National Employment Savings Trust which has been set up by the government, specifically for auto enrolling employees after October 2012 (although a few employers have already signed up to NEST).

According to a recent survey by Punter Southall, only 5% of surveyed employers intend to use NEST.  With all of the radio advertising that the government is throwing money at, it doesn’t seem to be reaping dividends.  This could of course be down to the restrictions that NEST members have, such as not being able to transfer in or out of the scheme.  Or it could be the excessively high charges on pension contributions of 1.80% (a small scheme we set up this week had only 0.40% on pension contributions!).

Employers we speak with don’t seem to have a huge amount of trust in ploughing more money into a government scheme – they do that already through National Insurance contributions!

We’ll be running a seminar on auto enrollment in April, so if you want to find out more about auto enrollment and get some information you can use, come along.  Further details to be posted here soon.

How to source a graphic artist

If you’ve dealt with Jones Hill over the last couple of years you may have noticed our new logo a few months ago.

We sourced a designer through DesignCrowd - freelance designers bid on your project, and also put up examples of how they would design your logo. We then shared the designs with our clients, colleagues, friends and family using Facebook, email and twitter. The design you see now was chosen by everyone else through voting on DesignCrowd, not us, so we’re not to blame!

The successful designer was Chris Aldridge. Chris’s 3 designs were all in the top 8 chosen by our voters. Chris has gone on to design other items such as business cards and posters for Jones Hill.

Don’t lose out in retirement

You may be heading towards retirement, and if so you’ll probably be spending a bit of time wondering what you’re going to be spending your time doing.

A recent report from the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found that not many people give much thought to their retirement income, to the tune of £1billion in income.

If you have been saving into a pension, perhaps your own pension or your employer’s scheme, you should get an ‘offer’ in the post just before you hit your nominated retirement date.  They strongly encourage you to take your pension, with Zurich, for one example, putting in bold: Claim Now!

It looks pretty easy – just complete a few details, sign and return.  Unfortunately, according to NAPF’s report and our experience, taking the pension company’s offer could cost you dearly in settling for an income which could have been significantly improved by a different provider.

There are hundreds of different permutations of annuity and several different types.  Many of our clients choose temporary annuities, rather than being locked in to an irrevocable lifetime annuity.

The vast majority of providers will only offer what they can sell you, and won’t clearly provide all options available to you.  Get expert, independent advice on choosing your retirement vehicle – you may otherwise be paying toward some of those nice fat-cat bonuses in the city for the rest of your life!

None of the information contained within this website, or the form in which it is presented is intended to be, or should be, taken as a recommendation, either implied or expressed, to make any particular financial decision.

Auto Enrollment for Employers – Seminar

News hot off the press is that we will be speaking at a seminar on auto enrollment (date to be advised) alongside Philip McCabe of Sylvester Mackett  (also based in Trowbridge), probably to be held at Cumberwell Golf Cub in Bradford on Avon.  Designed to give employers plenty of tools and information to make sure they are ready in plenty of time.

As soon as we have confirmed the date, we will post it here.