Silver Splitters - Divorce in Later Life

Silver Splitters: How to Navigate Divorce at a Later Stage in Life

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Today I am pleased to bring you an expert guest post on a subject that unfortunately affects growing numbers of middle-aged and older people.

Separation and divorce can have a massive impact on your finances, so it’s important to be prepared and take advice as appropriate. Senior divorce lawyer Natalie Lester explains…

 

It’s always sad to see a marriage come to an end but it is particularly so when a couple have been together for 30 or 40 years. Unfortunately, divorce rates for those of retirement age are on the rise and our family law and divorce team have found a significant increase in the instructions received from those aged 55 and over.

There are several likely reasons for the increase, some of which include:

  • Life expectancy. People are living longer and many couples find they have grown apart by the time they get to their sixties and their children have left home. People often have many years ahead of them after they retire, and this can cause them to re-evaluate their life.
  • Reduced stigma. Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, there was a negative attitude and stigma towards divorce and divorcees. Today, we see a far more accepting attitude towards divorce in a more liberal society.
  • Female equality. In contrast to a few decades ago when women were far more likely to become housewives rather than pursue their own career ambitions, married women today often earn as much or even more than their husbands. Greater financial equality provides a greater sense of freedom so women of all ages are now more confident to end a marriage that has broken down.
  • Meeting new partners. This has become easier thanks to online dating websites and because retirees are more active in retirement., there is less fear that getting divorced will result in spending the rest of one’s life single and alone.
  • Menopause. This can be a particularly challenging time for couples and both partners can feel confused and concerned as they navigate the respective changes. Inevitably, it can highlight existing struggles, further damaging the connection between couples.

Divorcing and remarrying later in life typically involves added legal complexities. To address some of these, we have set out some top tips below:

Dividing assets on divorce after a long marriage

While it is always important that divorce settlements are divided fairly and in a mutually satisfactory manner, this issue is more crucial for older couples because after a long marriage, there is often a large matrimonial pot at stake. In addition, and in contrast to their younger counterparts, silver-splitters may be reliant on their pensions with no chance of acquiring new wealth through work. After a long marriage, assets are usually split 50/50.

The family home is often one of the most valuable assets in the matrimonial pot. There are various ways in which the court may decide to deal with this asset and it is important that you obtain legal advice to consider the options available. This will usually include selling the home and dividing the proceeds, transferring the property and buying the other spouse out or if there are multiple properties, one spouse retaining the home and the other spouse retaining another property. Court proceedings are a last resort and divorcing couples should take a constructive approach and consider all alternative dispute resolutions options to reach an agreement.

Like the family home, a couple’s pension is another key asset which needs to be divided up and the courts have extensive powers to deal with pensions upon divorce. One option (and the most common) is a pension sharing order. The order will state what percentage of your spouse’s pension pot you will receive. This share will be removed from the pension and placed into a pension in your sole name (some providers allow for internal pension transfers so that you can keep your pot within the same scheme). Pensions are a difficult area and you may need a pension expert to determine the real value of a pension pot and to advise on the various options. A good divorce lawyer will be able to advise on whether this is necessary.

Preparing for unforeseen circumstances

Loss of capacity. If one of you lacks capacity, then a litigation friend may be required. A litigation friend is someone who helps a “protected person” with their legal issues. This can be a parent, guardian, a family member or friend. If that is not possible, they will need to be represented by the Official Solicitor. The Official Solicitor acts for people who, because they lack mental capacity and cannot properly manage their own affairs, are unable to represent themselves and no other suitable person or agency is able or willing to act. It is important to consider who should step in as your litigation friend should you lose capacity to provide instructions to your lawyers. Your divorce cannot proceed until you have someone (other than your lawyer) acting on your behalf.

Wills. It is important to get a holding Will whilst you are going through the divorce process. If you were to die without a Will, the intestacy rules will kick-in. This would mean that your spouse would automatically inherit some or all of your estate. This is irrespective of the fact that you may be separated. A new Will should be drawn up once the divorce is finalised.

Protecting your wealth in new relationships including re-marriage

If a new relationship is on the horizon, it is important to think about getting a living together agreement drafted which will help protect your property should the new  relationship fail.

Likewise, If remarriage is on the cards, a prenuptial agreement should be considered because a future marriage breakdown could significantly impact your financial position and any commitments you may have to children from a previous marriage. A lawyer specialising in succession planning will also be able to advise you on how to ringfence assets you may wish to pass to your children.

It is always wise to pay extra attention to tax planning after a long marriage. We encourage our clients to speak to an accountant, who can help with tax planning early on in the process.

While there is a lot to think about when getting divorced at a later stage in life, readers should remember that with the right advice, the process can be straightforward. Where possible, we always advise our clients to keep lines of communication open with their estranged spouse and to aim for a “good” divorce. By being open about your plans and finances, you are more likely to stay on amicable terms with your spouse which will benefit your wider family including any children, no matter how grown up they are! This will also help you to move the process along, not only saving time and money on legal fees, but also enabling you both to start what can be an exciting new chapter in your lives.

Natalie Lester is senior lawyer in the family law and divorce team at Debenhams Ottaway and can be reached at nl@debenhamsottaway.co.uk

 

Thank you to Natalie Lester (pictured below) for a clear and informative article about this emotive topic.

Natali

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How well do British people understand home insurance?

How Well Do British People Understand Home Insurance?

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Today I have a collaborative post with my friends at HSBC Life for you. It’s about home insurance and how well people really understand it.

Let’s start with the most basic question, though…

What Is Home Insurance?

Home insurance provides financial protection in the event of something happening to your property (i.e. home) or your possessions. There are two main types of home insurance, contents and buildings.

Contents insurance covers your belongings for loss or damage caused by fire, theft, flood and other disasters. Buildings insurance covers the structure of the building itself, including the walls, floors, ceilings, roof, etc.

While contents insurance is generally optional (though highly recommended), buildings insurance is likely to be compulsory if buying your home with a mortgage. People who are renting will not normally require buildings insurance as this is the landlord’s responsibility, but they may still wish to take out contents insurance.

You can have separate buildings and contents insurance, but if you need both it will usually work out cheaper to get a combined policy. This may also make life simpler when the time comes to make a claim.

Home insurance clearly isn’t the most exciting of subjects, with most people regarding it as a necessary evil. But of course, if the worst happens, having the appropriate insurance cover may stop a misfortune turning into a catastrophe.

HSBC recently commissioned a study from market research company YouGov about people’s attitudes to home insurance. They polled 2,000 people in the survey, the fieldwork for which took place in May 2022.

Survey Results

The main questions asked in the HSBC survey are set out below, along with the results.

What are the main reasons people do or don’t have home insurance?

  • 30% say it is expensive
  • 18% say it is comforting
  • 41% say it gives them peace of mind
  • 49% say it is necessary
  • 31% say it is reassuring

How much time does the average person spends researching their home insurance?

  • 47% up to 1 hour
  • 17% 1-2 hours
  • 7% 1 day to 1 week

Where they do their research, if at all?

  • 60% use price comparison websites
  • 16% recommendations
  • 12% customer reviews

What consideration is most important to them if they do select an insurer?

  • 69% say price
  • 71% say quality of cover
  • 38% say reputation

Even for those who have purchased, do they understand what they’re buying?

  • 72% say they understand what they have purchased
  • 10% say they do not understand

Finally, what proportion have made a claim on their home insurance before?

  • 39% of respondents have made a claim before
  • 61% of respondents have not made a claim before

My Thoughts

One thing the HSBC survey results suggest is that many people don’t fully understand home insurance or give it the careful consideration it merits. In these times of rapidly rising living costs, that could be a serious mistake.

I would offer two main pieces of advice. First, think carefully about what home insurance you require. Do you need both buildings and contents insurance, or just one or the other? Think also how much cover you need, based on the value of your belongings (for contents insurance) and of your property (for buildings insurance). In the latter case, you should insure for total rebuilding costs rather than just market value, as this is what you would have to pay if your house was destroyed by fire, flood or some other disaster.

And second, shop around for your home insurance, as prices vary widely. Using a price comparison service such as GoCompare can be a smart strategy, though bear in mind that not all insurers appear on these platforms (Aviva, Zurich and Direct Line are three that don’t).

I also recommend using cashback sites like Top Cashback, as these frequently offer cashback to people taking out home insurance from companies listed with them. They may also offer cashback to anyone purchasing via a price comparison service listed on the cashback site, giving you the best of both worlds.

  • I’d also highly recommend reading my blog post How I Saved £511.08 on my Annual Home Insurance. And yes, I really did save that much. Though as you’ll see I had clearly been paying over the odds for my home insurance for some time. I had separate buildings and contents insurance which, as mentioned above, typically works out more expensive. What’s more, I had lazily allowed both policies to keep rolling over year after year without checking whether better deals were available. Don’t make the same mistakes I did!

Many thanks again to my friends at HSBC Life for sharing their survey results with me and allowing me to reproduce them.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

This is a collaborative post.

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Ways to Prevent Scams from Reducing Your Savings

Ways to Prevent Scams From Reducing Your Savings

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Sadly scams of all kinds are on the rise at the moment, with older people especially vulnerable to them. Read on for some top tips on how to spot attempted scams and keep your money safe.

Scams

Scams are a growing problem in the UK, with millions of people being taken advantage of each year.

From fake investment schemes to phishing e-mails, scammers are constantly finding new ways to trick unsuspecting individuals into giving away their money or personal information. The financial impact of scams can be devastating, leaving victims with empty bank accounts and a damaged credit rating.

Over 12% of UK consumers have fallen victim to payment fraud over the past four years, with an estimated £1.2 billion lost to scams in 2021 alone. With so many people having their savings impacted by fraud, it’s crucial to know how to protect yourself.

This article will set out four practical ways to prevent scams from reducing your savings.

Be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, e-mails and text messages

Scammers often use the promise of quick and easy money to lure people into their schemes. They do this through unsolicited phone calls, e-mails and text messages. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to these monetary scams as they may not have the same level of technological literacy to spot one. However, anyone can easily fall into this trap as scamming methods grow increasingly sophisticated.

To protect your savings, you must not disclose your personal or financial information if you receive suspicious communication. You can also report dubious messages to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which has the power to take enforcement action against those involved in the scam.

Use strong passwords and security features

The government’s Cyber Aware campaign was launched in 2021 in response to growing scam and cybercrime incidents in the UK. One central piece of advice from the  campaign is to use strong passwords and security features to prevent scammers from gaining access to your bank accounts.

For example, you can use a combination of  letters, numbers and symbols on passwords to make them difficult to crack. Two-factor authentication provides another layer of protection by requiring a second form of verification in addition to your password. These two measures can significantly reduce your risk of falling victim to a scam that can empty your savings accounts.

Familiarise yourself with the technology used by merchants

As technology continues to evolve in the UK, so do the methods scammers use to steal your hard-earned savings. One way to protect yourself is to understand the methods used by merchants for their transactions.

Case in point, mobile card machines are commonly used by restaurants, cafés and pubs to process payments on the go. These devices are held to compliance standards like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI-DSS, which ensures that the machine follows protocols to protect cardholder data. Similarly, online merchants use virtual payment terminals to process payments online. Because shopping fraud schemes are on the rise in the UK, familiarising yourself with the technology merchants use can ensure you only interact with trusted businesses to keep your savings safe.

Choose banks with comprehensive fraud protection

In the UK, many banks offer fraud protection services as a standard feature. However, it’s still important to do your research and check that the bank holding your savings has the necessary fraud protection measures.

The Financial Ombudsman Service website offers resources regarding local banks’ anti-fraud policies. Additionally, you can check for your bank’s participation in the ‘Confirmation of Payee’ scheme. This initiative aims to protect customers from Authorised Push Payment scams, a type of fraud that tricks consumers into making a payment to a scammer. Banks participating in this scheme can check the recipient’s name against the account details provided by the customer and ensure the money is being sent to the correct person.

Scams can have a devastating impact on your savings—the fruit of your hard work. By taking the preventative measures outlined in this article, you can be vigilant and reduce your risk of being conned by one.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, please do leave them below.

This is a collaborative post.

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What is an eToro Money Account?

What is an eToro Money Account and How Can it Save You Money?

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Regular readers will know that I joined the online trading and investment platform eToro earlier this year and have become a fan of it.

You can purchase a wide range of investment products on eToro, including individual company shares, ETFs, commodities, cryptocurrencies, thematic portfolios, and so on. You can also avail yourself of their popular copy trading facility, where you sign up to automatically copy the trades of an experienced (and hopefully successful!) eToro investor.

My own investments on eToro now comprise a thematic portfolio, a copy-trading portfolio, and a few shares in Tesla (basically because I had a spare $20 burning a hole in my account!). I will write more about thematic portfolios in a future post. Today, though, I want to talk about eToro Money.

What is eToro Money?

eToro Money is a recently-launched e-money account for eToro investors. It can be managed via a mobile phone app. It is free to set up and there are no ongoing charges.

The key attraction of eToro Money is that it allows you to deposit to your eToro investment account without paying the usual currency conversion fee. This can save you up to £5 per £1,000 compared with depositing directly to eToro using a bank debit card.

Essentially what happens is that you deposit to your eToro Money account with your bank debit card using the account details provided. This money then appears instantly in your eToro Money account and you can use it to invest on anything on eToro when you are ready.

When I tried this myself, I was impressed by how straightforward the process was, and in particular the speed with which the money showed up in my account (it really did seem to appear instantly). Using it to invest on the eToro platform was then straightforward. Of course, eToro operates in US Dollars, so I worked out in advance roughly how much I would need to deposit in GB pounds to get the $500 I was aiming to invest (I transferred £430 in total to be on the safe side). The money was then converted at a fair rate with no fees or charges. You can see these transactions listed in the screen capture of the app on my phone below. I have redacted my account name for security reasons.

eToro Money app

You can also use eToro Money to withdraw funds from your eToro account. I haven’t tried this yet, but again eToro promise that the process is instant and I have no reason to doubt that. There are modest fees for withdrawing from eToro and you will still have to pay them, but having an eToro Money account keeps costs as low as possible. As I noted in my original review, eToro’s fees are very reasonable and they don’t generally impose any transaction charges.

Other Features

As well as managing your main (‘fiat’) currency in eToro Money, you can also securely store, send and receive most popular cryptocurrencies. eToro Money incorporates the functionality of the previous eToro Wallet app for cryptocurrencies, while offering additional features as well.

You can also use your eToro Money account to send money to and receive money from friends and family, set up direct debits, manage your household expenses, and so forth.

The eToro Money Debit Card

This is a further benefit of eToro Money some may wish to take advantage of. It is a debit card linked to your eToro Money account which you can use in the same way as a bank debit card to fund purchases, exchange currencies, and so on. They claim to offer market leading exchange rates across the globe.

To qualify for an eToro Money debit card, you must be a member of the eToro Club. Anyone with over $5,000 in realised equity on eToro is eligible for this. Realised equity in this context means the combined value of the available funds in your eToro account plus the original amount invested in all your holdings. So if you have $1,000 in cash in your account and have invested $4,000 in shares and other investments on the platform, you will have $5,000 in realised equity and qualify for a free eToro Money debit card if you want one.

Closing Thoughts

For most users the primary benefit of an eToro Money account will be to eliminate the currency conversion fee when depositing on eToro. It also speeds up the process of depositing to the platform and withdrawing from it.

While eToro Money is not a fully-fledged online banking service, you can also use it to send payments and/or set up direct debits. In that respect, it is a bit like PayPal. Though you will need to know the sort code and account number of the person or business you want to pay. An email address alone (as with PayPal) won’t cut it!

As mentioned above, if you have $5,000 or more in realised equity on eToro you are also entitled to an Etoro Money debit card if you wish. You can read more about this on the eToro Money website.

Overall, I think anyone who plans to invest via eToro should seriously consider opening an eToro Money account to reduce costs and speed up depositing and withdrawing. They will obviously then have the opportunity to take advantage of the other benefits too.

To set up an eToro Money account, the best option is to download the eToro Money app from Google Play (Android) or the App Store (Apple) and follow the instructions in the app. Obviously you should have an account on eToro already in order to use eToro Money.

If you have any questions or comments about this post, as always, please do leave them below.

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Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Note also that posts on Pounds and Sense may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered.

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Investments January 2023

My Investments Update – January 2023

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Happy New Year! Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my December 2022 Investments Update here if you like

I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension), from which I recently started withdrawing again.

As the screenshot below of performance over the last year shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £19,898. Last month it stood at £20,391 so that is a fall of £493.

Nutmeg main portfolio Jan 2023

Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,023 compared with £3,114 a month ago, a decrease of £91.

Here is a screen capture showing performance over the last year. As you can see from the ochre line, I topped up this account in February 2022.

Nutmeg Smart Alpha Jan 2023

That is a net month-on-month decrease of £584. That is obviously disappointing, but needs to be set against an increase of £785 the month before.

As the charts above clearly illustrate, 2022 was a volatile year for stock market investments generally. The outlook is still uncertain, but according to this article in the Financial Times the majority view is that stock markets overall will remain flat or see a very modest recovery in 2023. But obviously a lot depends on world events. If the war in Ukraine ends and/or China makes a reasonably smooth recovery from the pandemic, things could improve faster. Probably the best strategy, as this article from Forbes puts it, is to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst!

Overall, my Nutmeg investments are down £2,191 or about 8.7% since the start of 2022. To put this in context, though, in 2021 they rose in value by £3,552. And I am still more than £5,600 ahead since I started investing with Nutmeg in 2016. For my main portfolio that represents a return on capital of 39.01% or 57.13% time-weighted. My Smart Alpha portfolio hasn’t been going as long, but it is at least showing a small profit on the total I have put into it 🙂

Of course, the main lesson from all this is that investing is (or should be) a long-term endeavour. Over a period of years stock market investments such as those used by Nutmeg typically produce better returns than cash accounts, often by substantial margins. But there are never any guarantees, and in in the short to medium term at least, losses are always possible.

You can read my full Nutmeg review here (including a special offer at the end for PAS readers). If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last six years, they are certainly worth considering.

Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to generate good returns. Regular readers will know that this is a P2P property investment platform focusing on lower-risk properties (e.g. sheltered housing). I put an initial £100 into this in mid-February 2021 and another £400 in April. In June 2021 I added another £500, bringing my total investment up to £1,000.

Since I opened my account, my AE portfolio has generated a very respectable £91.61 in revenue from rental income. Capital growth has stalled, though, in line with what is happening in housing markets more generally. While some of ‘my’ properties are still showing gains, others are showing losses on capital. Overall my portfolio is currently showing a small net decrease in value of £7.88.

The latter is obviously a little disappointing, although of course capital values are largely academic unless and until you want to sell. The rental income is still coming in steadily without any issues or dramas. As I’ve said before, £91.61 is a decent rate of return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio when equity markets are volatile. And it doesn’t hurt that with Assetz Exchange most projects are socially beneficial as well.

  • To control risk with all my property crowdfunding investments nowadays, I invest relatively modest amounts in individual projects. This is a particular attraction of AE as far as i am concerned. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.

My investment on Assetz Exchange is in the form of an IFISA so there won’t be any tax to pay on profits, dividends or capital gains. I’ve been impressed by my experiences with Assetz Exchange and the returns generated so far, and intend to continue investing with them. You can read my full review of Assetz Exchange here. You can also sign up for an account on Assetz Exchange directly via this link [affiliate].

Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,400 invested with them in 18 different projects (I withdrew £200 in December to help pay for Christmas). To date I have never lost any money with Kuflink, though some loan terms have been extended once or twice. On the plus side, when this happens additional interest is paid for the period in question.

My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now!

  • Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question

Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.

You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.

Last year I set up an account with investment and trading platform eToro, using their popular ‘copy trader’ facility. I chose to invest $500 (then about £412) copying an experienced eToro trader called Aukie2008 (real name Mike Moest). My investment has been up and down in the last few months, but it is currently $33 (about £27) in profit. In these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.

In any event, I’m looking on this as a long-term investment so won’t be judging it yet. I am also considering a further investment with eToro, probably in one of their themed portfolios. You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my recent more in-depth look at eToro copy trading.

  • You might also like to know that eToro recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself recently and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my more in-depth article about eToro Money here.

I had two more articles published in December on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. One addressed the question of whether you can Save Money by Cancelling Your TV Licence. I looked at what this entails and what TV you are still permitted to watch without a licence. I also set out some ways you may be able to save money on your TV licence if cancelling altogether is a bridge too far for you.

My other piece was Why We All Need to Be a Bit More Branson! The title is obviously tongue-in-cheek. But the article sets out my strongly held view that – in these challenging times especially – we can all benefit from being a bit more entrepreneurial. I really enjoyed writing this one, I must admit!

Last month I updated my post about the Warm Home Discount, which this year is being increased from £140 to £150. The eligibility rules are changing somewhat, and I shall probably be one of the people who misses out, which is clearly disappointing. But on the plus side, most people won’t now have to apply for this benefit – if you are eligible, the grant should be applied automatically to your bill by your energy company.

  • The government’s Help for Households website has a helpful summary of all the financial assistance currently available and is regularly updated.

My other posts from December included What Are The Best Video Calling Tools for Older People? and an expert guest post on the subject Why a Passion Investment Could be the Way Forward in Times of Economic Uncertainty. I found the latter quite an eye-opener, as it includes important info about Capital Gains Tax (CGT) I wasn’t previously aware of. The article also sets out some reasons to consider ‘passion investments’ such as fine wines or vintage cars, due to the tax advantages they can confer.

Finally, I published My Top 20 Posts of 2022, which I hope you will check out as well!

That’s all for today. I hope you and your family are coping in these undoubtedly challenging times, and wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023.

As always, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers 🙂

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Note also that posts may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered, but it does help support me in publishing PAS and paying my bills. Thank you!

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