Oh hello everyone, hope your weeks are going well. I’m writing this late on Tuesday night, not far off Wednesday morning as I’ve got a busy day ahead and I’ve just got in from seeing Oasis at Murrayfield. I’ve done a fair few gigs in my many years, but never one quite like that. My ears are ringing but I don’t think it was the music; I think it was the crowd. 80,000 folk belting out every word of every tune of the greatest hits. Even if you’re not into the music it was a proper moment and one to remember. Which is sad news for the absolute casualty just in front of me who was looking extremely glassy by the end, having invested at least £64 by my estimation in amber nectar. I suspect his memory will be very hazy, and I hope it doesn’t include how often he missed his mouth with his chips. 

So a belter, then, and the only thing that could have made it better would be if folk would stop throwing pints. What is actually with that? I have lived too long, clearly. 

Does this have anything to do with work, or am I just warming up and subjecting you to random nonsense? I guess we’ll never know for sure, but regular readers may well have a decent idea. 

So, we should do something proper as the night moves on, and it’s pension season out there – we’re expecting something from the FCA on Friday in terms of a pension transfer review. But even without that it’s pension season, and more specifically pension open season as we have it confirmed that anyone lucky enough to have one but unlucky enough to cark it before pension age will be brought into the IHT regime.  

Now, we need more tax money and dead people don’t vote, so in one sense this is probably one to file under ‘hey ho’. Plus, as several below-the-line correspondents have pointed out, apparently ‘almost no-one’ dies before age 57, which presumably means those that do deserve everything they get. Bad dying people! Do better! 

I might also point out that the usual grumbling about the ‘reputation’ of pensions and people being put off saving or investing for their retirement isn’t a big deal here. If you’re not wealthy enough to be getting into proper funding then any Venn diagram which has you also falling into the IHT world has a very small overlap. 

I’m more interested in adviser reactions than client reactions to this. Advised clients – even those a bit further down the age spectrum are much more likely to have enough of an asset base to worry about IHT, and it isn’t moonbeams to say that clients in their 40s or 50s walking in to an IFA office with half a million in their pensions are far from unheard of. That’s what happens when individuals live under the DC regime from the start of their working lives. 

It’s also not moonbeams to say that lots of those clients might not otherwise yet have enough other assets to trouble the IHT threshold – so lots of potential new customers will be – depending on your metaphysical view – looking backwards from the Pearly Gates or from the horse of whichever Valkyrie has scooped them up and shaking their heads as a good whack of their pension is scarfed up. 

So all the usual things apply when we look at tax treatment changes – financial planners of course don’t panic; you just work with what you’re given and if you need to make changes then that’s fine. Maybe this will be yet another fillip for bonds; maybe we’ll see more interesting trust work taking place. For sure this must mean that protection comes higher up the agenda? Dead people don’t vote, but the alive version of them most likely doesn’t want to leave a PITA behind. There could be some interesting planning to do. 

We’ve heard forever that it’s clients in the GYMBOA* rather than accumulation stage who need all the help. I rather think that might be about to change.  

*Get Your Money Back Out Again. I should be put in charge of all branding, everywhere. 

And your music choice – no, it’s not Oasis as that would be far too obvious – although we are sticking with Manchester. Instead, I am inspired by the new consolidator mentioned above, and particularly the name of its holding company. From that we get to the mighty Black Grape and It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah. Please do enjoy In The Name Of The Father as much as I am. Apparently Bez was in Leith the other day. Thought you’d like to know.