Worldwide Financial Planning

The shift in mood across the UK and Europe has been clear, but the US rate decision cleared up any lingering doubt about whether new Fed chair Kevin Warsh shares this priority.

Inheritance tax planning is one of those subjects where a simple idea can be buried under enough technical language to make you lose the will to live. Rysaffe planning is a decent example, so, bear with me.

This week US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned financial markets not to challenge his authority as he seeks to support the value of the yen and discourage the Bank of Japan from selling its huge stock of US Treasury bonds. “I am the house now,” he declared.

So, as ever, the headline is simpler than the reality. And the danger is seeing those dramatic headlines of “40 per cent inheritance tax on pensions” and doing something daft.

Inheritance tax planning is one area where life assurance can do something very useful: it can create cash exactly when a family may have a tax bill and very little appetite for selling a house, business or investment at the wrong time – a firesale.

Central banks have been talking tough on inflation, and bond markets see rate hikes coming from the Fed, Bank of England and ECB. Inflation is also rising in Japan as its central bank considers more aggressive hikes.