al strategies and vehicles to avoid paying excessive taxes on your investments. A good tax advisor or accountant can help you with your plan.

In the UK, the greatest tax avoidance vehicle is the Individual Savings Account (ISA). With an ISA, you can save and/or invest up to ?7,000 each tax year, and not pay any tax whatsoever on the income and gains you receive from your ISA.

Everyone should have an ISA, every year, before other investments.

Visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm for further information.

The main advantag

It is all well and good to start a plan for a solid financial future. We have all heard the sound advice. Buy shares, buy properties, land, precious metals, businesses, so long as you buy something worthwhile, your future financial stability is assured. But is it?

There are three factors that can significantly threaten your net worth, and wealth. These are easily identified by the acronym PIT:

1. Procrastination
2. Inflation and
3. Taxes

The first phase of any financial plan is accumulation. But how many of us put this off until the last minute? Procrastination is an interesting psychological behaviour that we all employ to varying degrees. We often know what we should be doing even though we may not have done it yet. Being aware of procrastination can become the beginning of doing something about it.

Truth be told, until you save, you cannot accumulate. The earlier you start planning, the sooner you will save, and the faster your assets will grow. Remember, it is not about getting it right, it is more about getting going.

When most successful people were asked what they would have done differently, their unanimous answer was, ‘I wish I’d started sooner.’ Do not be afraid of making ‘mistakes’. Think of them as part of learning.

Find yourself a good wealth coach and start taking small steps. Save to invest a minimum of a tenth of your income, regardless. You do not need hundreds, or even thousands to start investing. I know many investments that you can start with as little as ?50 per month. Learn as you go and build your understanding and confidence gradually.

The next biggest threat to your financial future is inflation. Inflation is the fall in the market value of your money and is closely linked to the cost of living. Ten years from now, you will still have to purchase goods and services that will cost much more than they do today. Invariably, your pension plan (if you are lucky enough to have one then) that seems like so much today will most likely be a pittance then. You only have to look at how much our parents bought their homes for to realise what impact inflation can have.

The last, but by no means least threat to your financial future is the taxman. Learn to manage your relationship with him for he plans on becoming your financial partner for many years. What inflation does not wipe out, the taxman patiently will. In trying to avoid the taxman, be careful not to evade him. There is a marked difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

There are legal strategies and vehicles to avoid paying excessive taxes on your investments. A good tax advisor or accountant can help you with your plan.

In the UK, the greatest tax avoidance vehicle is the Individual Savings Account (ISA). With an ISA, you can save and/or invest up to ?7,000 each tax year, and not pay any tax whatsoever on the income and gains you receive from your ISA.

Everyone should have an ISA, every year, before other investments.

Visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm for further information.

The main advantag

ychological behaviour that we all employ to varying degrees. We often know what we should be doing even though we may not have done it yet. Being aware of procrastination can become the beginning of doing something about it.

Truth be told, until you save, you cannot accumulate. The earlier you start planning, the sooner you will save, and the faster your assets will grow. Remember, it is not about getting it right, it is more about getting going.

When most successful people were asked what they would have done differently, their unanimous answer was, ‘I wish I’d started sooner.’ Do not be afraid of making ‘mistakes’. Think of them as part of learning.

Find yourself a good wealth coach and start taking small steps. Save to invest a minimum of a tenth of your income, regardless. You do not need hundreds, or even thousands to start investing. I know many investments that you can start with as little as ?50 per month. Learn as you go and build your understanding and confidence gradually.

The next biggest threat to your financial future is inflation. Inflation is the fall in the market value of your money and is closely linked to the cost of living. Ten years from now, you will still have to purchase goods and services that will cost much more than they do today. Invariably, your pension plan (if you are lucky enough to have one then) that seems like so much today will most likely be a pittance then. You only have to look at how much our parents bought their homes for to realise what impact inflation can have.

The last, but by no means least threat to your financial future is the taxman. Learn to manage your relationship with him for he plans on becoming your financial partner for many years. What inflation does not wipe out, the taxman patiently will. In trying to avoid the taxman, be careful not to evade him. There is a marked difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

There are legal strategies and vehicles to avoid paying excessive taxes on your investments. A good tax advisor or accountant can help you with your plan.

In the UK, the greatest tax avoidance vehicle is the Individual Savings Account (ISA). With an ISA, you can save and/or invest up to ?7,000 each tax year, and not pay any tax whatsoever on the income and gains you receive from your ISA.

Everyone should have an ISA, every year, before other investments.

Visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm for further information.

The main advantag

part of learning.

Find yourself a good wealth coach and start taking small steps. Save to invest a minimum of a tenth of your income, regardless. You do not need hundreds, or even thousands to start investing. I know many investments that you can start with as little as ?50 per month. Learn as you go and build your understanding and confidence gradually.

The next biggest threat to your financial future is inflation. Inflation is the fall in the market value of your money and is closely linked to the cost of living. Ten years from now, you will still have to purchase goods and services that will cost much more than they do today. Invariably, your pension plan (if you are lucky enough to have one then) that seems like so much today will most likely be a pittance then. You only have to look at how much our parents bought their homes for to realise what impact inflation can have.

The last, but by no means least threat to your financial future is the taxman. Learn to manage your relationship with him for he plans on becoming your financial partner for many years. What inflation does not wipe out, the taxman patiently will. In trying to avoid the taxman, be careful not to evade him. There is a marked difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

There are legal strategies and vehicles to avoid paying excessive taxes on your investments. A good tax advisor or accountant can help you with your plan.

In the UK, the greatest tax avoidance vehicle is the Individual Savings Account (ISA). With an ISA, you can save and/or invest up to ?7,000 each tax year, and not pay any tax whatsoever on the income and gains you receive from your ISA.

Everyone should have an ISA, every year, before other investments.

Visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm for further information.

The main advantag

. Invariably, your pension plan (if you are lucky enough to have one then) that seems like so much today will most likely be a pittance then. You only have to look at how much our parents bought their homes for to realise what impact inflation can have.

The last, but by no means least threat to your financial future is the taxman. Learn to manage your relationship with him for he plans on becoming your financial partner for many years. What inflation does not wipe out, the taxman patiently will. In trying to avoid the taxman, be careful not to evade him. There is a marked difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

There are legal strategies and vehicles to avoid paying excessive taxes on your investments. A good tax advisor or accountant can help you with your plan.

In the UK, the greatest tax avoidance vehicle is the Individual Savings Account (ISA). With an ISA, you can save and/or invest up to ?7,000 each tax year, and not pay any tax whatsoever on the income and gains you receive from your ISA.

Everyone should have an ISA, every year, before other investments.

Visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm for further information.

The main advantag

al strategies and vehicles to avoid paying excessive taxes on your investments. A good tax advisor or accountant can help you with your plan.

In the UK, the greatest tax avoidance vehicle is the Individual Savings Account (ISA). With an ISA, you can save and/or invest up to ?7,000 each tax year, and not pay any tax whatsoever on the income and gains you receive from your ISA.

Everyone should have an ISA, every year, before other investments.

Visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm for further information.

The main advantages of ISAs are:

• You do not have to pay tax on the income you receive from your ISA savings and investments.
• You do not have to pay tax on the capital gains arising from your investment
• You have access to your money at any time (except rare limitations imposed by managers of some ISA products)
• You do not even have to include details of the income and capital gains you receive from your ISA savings and investments on your tax returns.

It is really not much use to go for a cash-ISA that you intend to dip into at any time. If your purpose is to accrue wealth, then part of any good strategy should include developing the discipline to allow your investments time to grow.

You can also get self-select ISAs, which are brilliant because they allow you to individually select different investments under one umbrella. These offer immediate diversification in that you do not have all your eggs in one basket.

Tax laws change from time to time, which often directly affects your investments. A good tax advisor should advice you about any changes in the law and how these affect your investments.

Aim to have your net returns exceed your purchasing power. That way, you can still have the same goods and services in the future as you enjoy today. That is good financial planning.