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Trusts in Financial Planning: Control First, Tax Second
Trusts are not simply tax-planning tools. This guide explains how the main trust structures work, including bare, discretionary and interest in possession trusts, alongside the key inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax considerations. It also explores practical arrangements such as loan trusts, discounted gift trusts and life assurance trusts.
How Does the 14-Year Rule for Inheritance Tax Work?
A clear explanation of how the inheritance tax 14-year rule works, why older chargeable lifetime transfers can still affect later gifts, and the crucial difference between CLTs and potentially exempt transfers.
Good financial decisions aren’t about predicting the future, they’re about following a sound process today.
In investing, outcomes are noisy. Short-term performance often reflects randomness, not skill. Yet fund managers continue to pitch five-year track records as if they prove anything. They don’t.
As Ken French puts it, a five-year chart ‘tells you nothing’. The real skill lies in filtering out the noise, evaluating strategy, incentives, costs, and behavioural fit.
Don’t chase what worked recently. Stick with what works reliably.