A Carbon Christmas Carol: the Ghost of Financial Yet to Come

On the final day of our series of encounters with Christmas financial ghosts – Past, Present and Yet to Come – we steel ourselves once more to focus, perhaps, on the most terrifying spectre of all: the Ghost of Financial Yet to Come.

The Ghost of Financial Yet to Come

We are now at the darkest part of the tale; our youthful indiscretions have made way for our middle-aged apathy and we have the ghost of our financial future staring back at us.

As with Scrooge’s bleak future, being the richest man in the cemetery does not interest us and brings us to the first ghost of our financial yet to come – not enjoying the wealth that we have worked so hard to accumulate.

A number of Carbon financial planners can recount stories in which clients, after going through the detailed construction of a financial plan, have gone out and bought that sports car they always dreamed of but never thought they could afford; or, gone on that once-in-a-lifetime trip round the world.

The enjoyment of spending your money, as opposed to leaving a sizable inheritance tax liability upon death, should not be underestimated.

Alongside this is the desire to offer financial assistance to future generations and have our loved ones avoid their own ghosts of financial past. However, it brings us to the next ghost of our financial future – not putting in a succession of wealth plan early enough.

A study done in 2015 gave a statistic that 2.2% of all UK homeowners are ‘property millionaires’ and with house prices expected to rise following Philip Hammond’s budget pledge to scrap stamp duty for first time buyers, more and more of our nil-rate bands will be used up by the family home. With no adequate Will or Power of Attorney in place, your beneficiaries could be faced with the daunting prospect of having to pay an inheritance tax bill before the assets of your estate can be released.

Perhaps the most daunting ‘ghost of financial yet to come’ is the thought of leaving an (avoidable) financial burden on our loved ones upon death. Being able to track the affordability and ability to distribute wealth without ‘running out of money’ well ahead of our expected mortality is the best way to avoid this ghost of our financial future.

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Bleary-eyed, we awake from our phantasmal financial journey with the realisation that by putting in place a Financial Plan, and regularly reviewing it, we can avoid this bleak Dickensian future. We run to the window and shout to the nearest passing child to hurry along to the Carbon offices and arrange a meeting for us with one of their financial planners.

Or… you can contact Carbon via the Contact Us page here or send an email to enquiries@carbonfinancial.co.uk.

Seasons Greetings from all of us at the Carbon offices.

Jonathan Young is a paraplanner at Carbon. You can view Jonathan’s profile by clicking on his name, or contact him via email on jonathan.young@carbonfinancial.co.uk.