Make Money Fast Blog: Listener Questions

Questions Asked

I am a higher rate tax payer and my husband is self employed and I make the voluntary NIC payments for state pension entitlement [for him]. Hopefully, that is enough to set the scene- I have a work based defined contribution pension which I am shovelling as much into as I can (now that I am post 40 and worry about these things!). I also pay the max contribution I can into a Sipp for my husband (3600 pa including tax relief). With the SIPP limit the two balances are getting uneven. Is there anyway I can gift my husband some of my pension, now or in the future? I am aware of pension sharing but only through a court order – which seems a bit extreme, especially when we are still very happy together after 25 years.

For further information, my husband rarely earns more than the 3600 (gross) from his self employment (sole trader) income. Our single property rental profits are counted under his income on his annual tax return but I’m aware they don’t count as relevant earnings so I keep to the 3600 limit for his pension contributions.
My concern is coming from the fact that we are creating a very unequal pension distribution between the two us, as I am now able to max out the 60k limit.
Is there anyway to address this?
We are married and so the courts would be able to redress the balance if that was ever needed but hopefully not. I was wondering if there was any way we could balance this ourselves, considering that we are staying together as a couple!
Thanks for any information on this and keep up the good work.
Vic G.
Morning guys, I've been totally binge listening to your podcasts while on a sun lounger and feel like I've learnt so much.
I have quite a niche question and I don't know if it impacts many people about pensions.
My workplace pension is a D.B scheme (lucky me) and I've been maxing my matched contributions for many years plus paying in a AVC scheme to reduce my tax liability.

My question is about my D.B scheme, it offers a stepped pension option for early retirement that boosts your early retirement years so when your state pension kicks in you don't get an uplift in income. Instead my DB scheme will reduce.
Many of my colleagues take this option due to having a bigger income in your earlier years.
When I've been reading the details of this it talks about how this works with your pension Annual Allowance. And it would seem to me that this could end up with a hefty tax bill.
Have you ever come across these types of retirement options before?
Many thanks
Andrew
This may well be a very silly question, but here goes… your podcast about the beginners guide to investing got me thinking about something that has always puzzled me. As you referenced, the internet & trading apps has meant it's easier to invest and to buy shares than ever before but, using good old M&S as an example, if I went on to a trading app now I could buy 100 shares in M&S instantly, the same if I wanted to sell shares. But what if nobody else wants to sell their shares or buy my shares at that point in time? How come there is never a “sorry, no buyers at present” response. I suppose, when I buy shares who am I actually buying them from?

What of the mysteries of the trading world that confuses me, and potentially others, and may put people off investing as it can be hard to get your head round.
Hopefully not too silly a question!
Thanks as ever for the podcast, every week contains a little gem.
Helen
I'm a big fan of the podcast. Thank you for all the work you do to get this information out to us all! It's my favourite personal finance podcast out of the many I listen to.

My question:
If you want to combine finances after getting married, how do you apply that to investment accounts?
I'm confused about all the options: We could just start brand new investment accounts but then that would seem to not utilise all the magic of compounding that has been happening in the previous years prior to marriage.

Do you add your spouse's name to your pre-existing accounts? Or is it ok to keep the separate investment accounts and just make the mental shift?

It seems confusing if we think of both incomes as ‘our money', but then how do you decide whose investment accounts get funded if we keep the separate pre-existing accounts?
Rosa
Hello Gents,
How do you suggest one divests money e.g. to liquidate your holdings to buy a property?

I know you shouldn't be in the stock market if you aren't in it for the long haul, so do you need to sell all your funds when you're about 5 years away and move the money into a cash ISA (if held in a Stocks and Shares ISA)? Sell the equity funds and move it into a bond fund? Move GIA holdings into a high-yield savings account/Premium Bonds?

Is it best to do this all at once or gradually?
Should the strategy change if the reason to liquidate is different e.g. buying a car, buying annuity, or drawing down from a pension?

Thanks in advance,
David
I have started listening to your podcast after buying your book, as you seem to provide very down to earth suggestions, and explain financial concepts very clearly, and thank you for offering the services that you do.

My question for you is:
What needs to be considered with regards to tax, when investing in an ETF, when the ETF in question trades on a stock market distinct from the one in which the investor is based?

If I have understood this correctly, I am assuming that this is distinct from the London Stock Exchange, but maybe I am making this all more complicated than it is.

I appreciate that the example ETF listed above also trades in Euros, but it was the first that I found on MorningStar and well I was not sure on what ETFs trade in GBP on non-UK exchanges. So please feel free to ignore this detail.

To explain my situation, I am a UK citizen. However, I am currently a tax resident of Spain.

Wishing you a wonderful day.
Kind regards, jj

Send Us Your Listener Question

We’re going to spin out the listener questions into a separate Q&A show which we’ll drop into the feed every 2-3 weeks or so. These will be in addition to the main feed, most likely, but they’re easier for us to produce because they require less writing! Send your questions to hello@meaningfulmoney.tv Subject line: Podcast Question