Author: Nicola Peak
Chartered Financial Planner & Chartered Wealth Manager
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Published: June 2023
Intergenerational Wealth Management enables families to use their collective wealth to support each other during their lifetime and beyond as it challenges the traditional concept of passing wealth on after death.
With increasing life expectancy, families often need to reconsider their families’ financial strategy to either help elderly parents with care costs, help younger generations get on the property ladder, or reduce their student debts.
Having a holistic family wealth plan and involving different generations of the family can help family members achieve a wide range of goals, such as:
- reducing tax when assets are passed onto another generation
- helping members of the family accumulate wealth as early as possible to secure their own financial security
- helping older generations maintain their standard of living
But most importantly, it can allow older generations to see their family enjoy the wealth passed on during their lifetime and enables them to help guide future generations on how to manage their own wealth.
However, passing on wealth needs to be considered carefully as family structures are changing, and many older generations are concerned about wealth not staying within the family bloodline.
For example, divorce can mean family wealth is lost to ex-partners as part of the divorce settlements. For this reason, it is important to involve your family solicitor and your family chartered financial planner to ensure your long-term family objectives are achieved.
In recent years, more estates are becoming subject to inheritance tax due to rising house prices and a frozen Nil Rate Band since 2009, which is not predicted to rise until 2028. In real terms, with rising inflation, the threshold before paying Inheritance Tax is decreasing each year, and in future years more and more families will be caught with paying 40% tax on death.
How do you feel about your children losing 40% of your estate in tax to the Chancellor? This is something that can be managed with careful planning.
Talking about money can often be a taboo subject for many families. However, to build an intergeneration financial plan, all family members involved need to be open to sharing information on their financial affairs, i.e. savings, pensions, debt levels, to help you agree on your shared family goals.
A Chartered financial planner can then help your family build a financial strategy, which may look at some of the following areas:
- Making gifts and starting savings plans for younger family members
- Considering how Pensions can be passed on to help future generations
- Using Trusts to help protect assets for the family bloodline
- How Life Assurance can help cover future tax liabilities to allow more of the wealth to be passed on
- Certain investments can allow you to retain control of the assets but qualify for relief against Inheritance Tax after 2 years
These are just a few ways a chartered financial planner can help you and your family.
If you are concerned about the tax your loved ones will pay or if you want to help other generations out now, but don’t know how, please contact our financial planning team on 01223 233331 to see how we can help you and your family.
Disclaimer
Opinions constitute our judgment as of this date and are subject to change without warning. The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up, and you may not recover the amount of your original investment.
The information in this article is not intended as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities or any other investment, nor does it constitute a personal recommendation.
The Financial Conduct Authority do not regulate tax planning.
The information contained within this blog is based on our understanding of legislation, whether proposed or in force, and market practice at the time of writing. Levels, bases and reliefs from taxation may be subject to change.
