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A personal finance wish list for the incoming UK Government, regulation and consumer concerns are among the hot topics discussed in the first Scotsman Money podcast, in association with Calton.

In the podcast, Tom Ham, group CEO at Calton, and Alison Gay, senior public affairs consultant at The Lang Cat, debate the personal finance issues of the day.

In response to what he would like to see from whoever is in power at Westminster, Ham says consistency is key. “Primarily we’re financial planners at Calton, and it’s often retirement, succession or Inheritance Tax planning that we’re discussing. That’s really long-term, multi-generational stuff.

“So, actually, what I’d like is a bit of consistency instead of what we tend to get from new governments who come in and tear things up to show that they’re different to their predecessors,” he explains.

Ham would also like to see something being done to help more people access financial advice, referring to figures that show only about 10 per cent of adults do so. 

Gay points out – without making any assumptions about which party will win the General Election – that Labour is already planning for two terms, not just one.

Alison Gay | Supplied

“This would give them the time to step back and look at things,” she suggests. “One of the things that they’re planning on doing is a fairly broad review of retirement and savings. I think they could be even broader than they have suggested in their proposals that and take in things like equity release and property. This is where we might actually see some quite interesting and innovative thinking.”

Looking at the area of taxation, Ham says: “It’s up to the government of the day to give us a regime and we will help our clients work as competently and as effectively as they can within that. So, making sure they are staying on the right side of the line, contributing to wider society, but, equally, not paying any more tax than they reasonably need to.”

In general, Ham would like to see more simplification of financial services and products, from pensions to ISAs. “Let’s make things more straightforward. For example, we have several different types of ISAs,” he says.

On the idea of a British ISA, unveiled in the Budget earlier this year by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Ham describes it as “tinkering around the edges”. And Gay says: “I think the British ISA will just die quietly in a corner.”

Turning to the Scottish Government, which now has control over income tax north of the Border, Ham refers to the disparity in rates between Scotland and England as “not helpful”.

He adds: “Anecdotally, we’re seeing some clients who are fortunate enough to be mobile and have a house in England saying they will domicile down there and spend less time in Scotland,” he says.

In terms of what could be on the cards when it comes to regulation, Gay says: “There are a couple of things I think will stay the same regardless of who is in power. One is Consumer Duty. This is the big initiative from the Financial Conduct Authority [FCA]. It requires firms to actually produce good outcomes for their customers. It underpins everything that the FCA does and, in effect, gives them the tools to deal with firms that are not meeting the rules.

“The other thing is the Advice Guidance Boundary Review. There are people who are prepared to pay for full-fat holistic advice. There are others who just want a bit of help and, at the moment, it’s very difficult for them to access that. Both Labour and the Conservatives have acknowledged that something needs to be done here.

“The FCA has done a lot of work on this and come up with proposals, one of which is to clarify exactly where the boundary is between regulated advice and non-regulated advice.”

Moving on to what consumers are concerned about, Ham says: “I think people are quite fatigued in terms of the things that have gone on that have affected them personally, and their wealth. This includes the likes of Covid–19, market volatility, the war in Ukraine, and so on.

“We’ve had situations where a lot of people in supposedly cautious portfolios have been badly affected by the double hit of interest and inflation.

“We’ve also had a few conversations with clients about school fees recently, with people saying we’re not far away from double digit increases in school fees. And we have Labour telling us they’re going to put VAT on fees. Some are saying they are going to take their kids out of private school.”

In conclusion, Ham says that clients’ main concerns haven’t changed much over the years and the perennial question is, “Will I have enough?”, when it comes to savings and being able to pass something onto the next generation.

“I always say, you don’t have a money problem, you’ve got a trust problem. You need to find someone to trust, who you can trust to work with.” he says.

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