Money for grandparents podcast with James Daley, money editor of Which?

I would like to buy Premium Bonds on a regular basis for my grandchildren. But I gather that I can't do this because I don't live in the UK. Something to do with money laundering safeguards?

so what happens to the child trust fund now then? we paid into it for our grandson (we are his legal guardians). WIll he still get it?

I would like to know please the best way to sell our shares which we have accumulated over many years and also the tax implications. Some of the shares were free from Aviva and Lloyds Bank and some are from company share schemes so do we pay CGT on the whole amount (after our allowances)? Some are held in America so would they be sold in a different way? What is the best way to get the money transfered from America?

Sorry to ask so many questions but they are all related to the same thing!

Many thanks

Alison

We are planning on making new wills and I have been interested in reading about Discretionary Trust Wills, Letters of Wishes and becoming Tenants in Common.

My main concern is that should one of us need to go into a care home, the Local Authority would use the sale of our home at some point to cover the costs.

I have read lots of conflicting information about the Discretionary Trust Will and now feel very confused whether we should make them, whether we would need to use a professional as a Trustee and Executor, and the cost of preparing everything.

Jana has put forward questions on a topic of interest to me so I look forward to hearing what James has to say.

Can you earn any money without paying tax? I do the occasional film and tv extra work barely amounting to £3,000 pa?

I have funds from my share of my parents' estate in Canada that I've left invested there for 16 years, paying non-resident's tax in Canada on interest. Although it won't be a lot, soon I would like to draw a regular amount from the Canadian money to supplement my meagre retirement income.

My question is: it feels 'safe' to leave the money invested in Canada but for tax purposes in the UK plus the cost of transferring money, I'm not sure if it's better to do so or to have all the capital invested in income producing funds in the UK (I have dual Canadian/British citizenship and will continue living in England, paying taxes here but, on my accountant's advice, am a non-dom).

A second question - sorry! My grandson was born in April 2011 and so missed out on the Child Trust Fund. What is the best (but safe) way to invest for him to build up a hopefully sizeable nest egg by the time he's 18 (with an initial £1000 + around £500 a year)? Are there any advantages to Child ISAs when the interest won't be above the tax threshold? Is it best for me to open an account only in mine and my husband's names or can it include his parents too so that any of us can pay into it?

Help! I will be 60 this year and have been told i will not get my state pension until 2015. I also have a very small private pension which I can take out in 2017. How do I find a reputable financial advisor who wont cost me an arm and a leg. I am hopeless when it comes to money matters so I do need good advice.Thank you

I would like to establish savings accounts for my three grandsons. My problem is that all the ones I have looked at require passports for id. Two of my grandsons live in Italy and my other one is in Scotland and his mother will not allow either my or my son to have his passport. Please can you advise ?
Thank you.

I looked at thread title and wished that I had some to sell, not sure how much they would be worth, though.

My grandchildren all have child trust funds, that I periodically contribute to: can they now transfer their savings to junior ISA's? The children were all born between 2006 and 2009.

Hummingbird The CTFs will continue but they cannot be transferred to the child ISA although there is pressure on the government to change this. I am not sure these are the best rates anyway. I looked at a child monthly savings plan at the Halifax and could get 6% for a monthly contribution of minimum £10 which would not be liable for tax if the money came from anyone other than the parents (Assuming the child does not have an income above the normal tax allowance!). This would need to be reviewed after a year but is worth that when you see that it is almost twice the interest of the ISAs. 6% is greater than inflation but most ISA rates are not. Hope this helps.

I would like to buy Premium Bonds for my grandchildren on a regular basis. Direct debit purchase is possible for myself but not for my grandchildren. How can we get NS&I to change this policy?

Thank you, AlisonMA, that sounds better, I'll look into it.

I am 60 and have recently inherited £50,000.I have no private pension but will be eligible for state pension next September.I am unsure where to put the money,it would be good if it were safe and paying a high interest please!At present I have the full premium bond allowance and the rest in my bank.
Help please....

Please tell me how I can find a reliable independent financial advisor ? I live in North Yorkshire. Thank you

There's something to be said for having no money to speak of - don't have to concern myself with all these problems!

I have always kept things simple for us - when we downsized and could pay off the mortgage we did , even thought everyone said we should keep a mortgage for tax purposes - we love knowing our home is our own.

We were left a bit of money and it sits happily in a high-earning online saver account - we close it and reopen it each year to take advantage of the first year bonus -and that is it! (scarlet - you might like to consider this - buy a Sunday paper and look at the money section - they will tell you the best online saver).

We worked out that the hassle of having to take out individual ISAs each year and having a pile of bits of paper to go through for the tax man was simply not worth it - for the very few quid we would gain financially, we would have lost days fiddling around with it all and worrying about whether we had declared it all.

I have recently been widowed and am looking to 'concentrate' my investments. Most are in a well known Investment company and are dealt with by a nice, but not-IFA; A stockbroker tells me what or what not to do with shares; an accountant looks after tax returns but is loathe to give me any advice apart from saying 'well, if I were you I'd... .....but don't quote me on that'; the Bank tries its best to get me to do everything with them but I don't trust them an inch and another not-IFA guides me on some other 'stuff'. How can I down-size all this advice? I really want someone to sit down and give me the advice I need which is going to, hopefully, see me through into my dotage - (possibly at least another 20 years or more), not the advice that they think I want (in other words - anything that's to their advantage and perhaps not mine!) My solicitor thinks I should go to a totally independent advisor who will charge me a fee for his services. What should I do Mr. Daley? Advice please!

If you buy a Premium Bond for a Grandchild am I right that it is in a specific Grandchild's name. If so I think there could be some problems if one GC wins and the others have nothing. This is the reason I would not buy PB.

lujaha Here is the FSA website to help you find an accredited IFA: www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/register/index.shtml Gally you might find this helps you too.

mishap If you are a taxpayer you are losing out by not using your ISA allowances. Many ISAs can be done online so you wouldn't have loads of paper and if you take them out for a fixed term you wouldn't have to change them very often although it is a simple process when you do move from one provider to another. You do not need to tell the taxman about your ISAs as they are not taxable and HMRC is not interested in them.

Thanks for that advice AlisonMA - we need our money to be accessible for various reasons (well so we can top up our current account when things get tough) so cannot go for anything that is fixed term.

Mishap you can also get instant access ISAs, the AA does a good one.

Thanks for that - the problem seems to be that each of you can only put a certain amount in every year and that this would need to be moved every year, as they all have a huge 12 month bonus and the rate plummets after that. Given that we would need to move the money for both of us; at the same time buying the next year's ISA allowance; and the year after there would then be 4 ISAs that needed to be moved, as well as buying the new allowance.....help....my brain hurts!!!

This is why we keep it in the online saver and we then just have one thing to move every year - it is not a huge amount of money, so the tax saving would be small anyway.

I'm dissappointed that he didn't answer my question!

I think it would have been helpful if, when talking about how much one can earn before paying tax, to have pointed out that one's pension is included in 'earnings'.