Paraplanners' Assembly Paraplanners' Assembly

Canaccord Genuity’s chief investment officer, Tom Becket, joins Richard Allum for a primer on fixed interest investments that is ideal for paraplanners wherever you are in your career.
During a 20-minute conversation, Tom explains the basics of bonds and gilts, how interest rates affect their values, and how the recent spikes in interest rates have affected returns and revived annuities – putting an end to years of fixed interest investments’ appearing to be ‘uninvestable’.
The likelihood of lower inflation combined with potential interest rate cuts is positive for fixed interest markets.
But Tom is keen to stress that all bonds aren’t created equal and he offers his thoughts on where – depending on the risk appetite of your clients – opportunities might lie across a spectrum of fixed interest investments, from government debt to high-yield credit.
For paraplanners looking to get a handle on this significant but possibly misunderstood asset class, this bite-sized Assembly offers valuable insights to help navigate the fixed interest landscape.

Useful linksDownload the slides referred to in this case study investigation. Just listen out for the bell to follow along.

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In a special bite-sized Assembly, Transact’s Stuart Fleat explains how model portfolio services offered by discretionary investment managers are able to be accessed on platforms like Transact.
In less than six minutes, Stuart explains how platforms and MPS providers are able to handle access to client accounts and data securely and confidentially, how portfolio rebalancing works in practice, practical considerations around capital gains tax, and how clients are invested into the model portfolios.

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Once upon a time, we were scouring our library of previous online Assemblies and realised something: we had never covered the topic of inheritance tax (IHT) planning using the alternative investment market (AIM)!
So we thought it was high time to fix that with a whistle-stop tour to discover why investing in AIM is right up there as a strategy for IHT planning.
Whether you’re new to paraplanning and in search of a primer, or you’ve been paraplanning for absolutely ages and want to make sure you really know what you’re talking about, tuning into this Assembly will be well worth your while.
To help us navigate the topic we were joined by the ideal tour guide: Canaccord Genuity’s senior investment director and head of IHT investments, Paul Parker. During our lunch-hour gathering we explored:
why AIM is so appealing for IHT planningbusiness relief and how it workswhy AIM has a reputation for riskier investmentshow clients can invest in AIM – investment managers and DFMsresearching the suitability of AIM portfolios and their managersthings to consider when designing an IHT strategy using AIMAs ever, the chat was open for paraplanners to pose questions, or share ideas and observations – and the quality of contributions was great!

Useful linksHere are some useful links that cropped up during this Assembly – including the slides that Paul referred to and a link to MICAP, an alternative investment research tool mentioned by a number of contributors in the Chat.
Watch the Replay on Crowdcast
Paul's slides: AIM for IHT for Paraplanners' Assembly
Canaccord Genuity's IHT portfolio service
Canaccord Genuity's IHT portfolio documents for clients
MICAP's alternative investment research tool

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Parmenion's head of strategic partnerships, Patrick Ingram, joined host Richard Allum for a lunch-hour Assembly to explore how paraplanners can approach the art of cashflow forecasting these days.
Why? Because two years ago, the Bank of England had raised interest rates to break a 1% ceiling that had been in place since February 2009.
Ten more rate rises followed. Inflation peaked at 11.1% in October 2022. The result for many investors, savers, borrowers, and anyone who bought anything, quite frankly, was a cost of living shock.
Moreover, the already unfamiliar effect of rising living and housing costs was compounded by a fiscal drag that was set to squeeze the spending power of many taxpayers: any gains in pay evaporated as personal allowances remained stubbornly static.
So the chances were that we were all living in a 'new normal' – and many would have said we were experiencing a reversion to pre-2008 financial crash 'normal'.
Cashflow forecasting in the 'new normal'What did all that mean? Well, after 15 years of low rates and barely perceptible cost of living rises, predicting the future with any confidence suddenly felt a lot more…unpredictable.
Once ultra-reliable features of a paraplanner's toolkit didn't seem half as straightforward as they once did. And that included one of the foundational elements of any financial plan: cashflow forecasting.
So in a world that continued to be beset by economic, political, and environmental uncertainty, what did a paraplanner need to know to produce a cashflow forecast that wouldn't dissolve on contact with reality?
Takeaways from this lunch-hour AssemblyPatrick explored ways of thinking about cashflow and forecasting which relied less on predicting the future and more on preparing for it. We covered concepts including:
causes and effects of fiscal dragcapacity for losscash budgetingwealth ratioscashflows and the consumer dutyIt was a 60-minute session that offered a stack of insights and practical ideas that could be applied to client cases right away – plus a discussion that underlined just how vital conversations about cashflow with clients could be.

Useful linksHere are some links we thought you’d like. To watch the replay on Crowdcast, follow the link and tap ‘Save my spot’ to view the recording.
Patrick's slides: Patrick Ingram: cashflow modelling visuals
Bank of England daily estimated yield curves
Want a record of your attendance today for your CPD? Follow the link, add your details and we’ll email you a personalised certificate: Get your CPD
Watch the replay on Crowdcast (includes Chat)

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It’s no secret that top slicing relief offers a powerful method of reducing tax liability by spreading bond gains across each year of the lifetime of the bond. 
But no matter how experienced a paraplanner you may be, working out the best way to make use of the relief, and getting the top slicing calculations right, can be tricky.
That’s why we think this case study investigation (CSI) on top slicing will be right up your street.
In this 45-minute special on top slicing, Utmost International’s technical sales manager, Steve Sayer, joins The Paraplanners’ Richard Allum, to pick his way through a case study featuring fictional client, David. 
Designed to give you the chance to consider the financial planning opportunities from all sorts of angles, this CSI will help you:
understand how top slicing relief works and when it can be applied;calculate top slicing relief as accurately and tax efficiently as you can;work out strategies to assign bond segments to spouses or beneficiaries to reduce tax liabilities;understand how pension contributions can be used to save tax and maximise relief; andnavigate how bond gains, personal allowances, and other sources of income work togetherWhether you’re new to top slicing relief or are a seasoned pro, it never hurts to top up your knowledge and know how – especially when it can make such a big difference to a client’s financial plan.

Useful linksDownload the slides referred to in this case study investigation. Just listen out for the bell to follow along.
Slides: Case Study Investigation - more top slicing relief (opens PDF)
CPD: take the quiz and receive a certificate by email
Utmost x Paraplanners' Assembly: all our previous deep dives
Utmost Technical Academy webinar series

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A bit of extra time with Les Cameron following his online Assembly on the post-LTA allowances regime. 
We ran out of time for Les to deal with a large number of questions in the chat at the main Assembly session, so Richard and Les met up later to address the questions instead.
To watch the online Assembly session visit https://www.crowdcast.io/c/beeglny38q63
You can listen to the podcast episode featuring Les's guide to the new allowances landscape here

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