Unividual Limited

💥VouchedFor Top Advisers💥In an era where the financial landscape is unpredictable, with flat stock markets, escalating costs, relentless interest rate hikes, the value of financial advice has never been more critical. Amidst these tumultuous times, it’s heartening to shine a spotlight on two individuals who not only navigate these challenges professionally but do so with the compassion and understanding born of being dedicated family men.

Simon Hicks and Simon Jones both fathers, understand the importance of security and foresight in planning for the future. It is with immense pride we announce their recognition as Top Rated Financial Advisers in the UK by VouchedFor as featured in The Times recently, an accolade underpinned by an impeccable track record of 150 reviews between them on VouchedFor, each earning a 5-star rating.

Their commitment to excellence and the personal touch they bring to their advice has not only earned them this esteemed recognition but has also significantly impacted the lives of those they advise. At Unividual, we are beyond proud to have these two Simons as part of our team, demonstrating daily what it means to navigate the complexities of finance with empathy, expertise, and a personal commitment to securing the best outcomes for their clients.

Thank you, Simon and Simon, for everything you do for our clients and the business.

Congratulations to our Marketing Director, Cherie-Anne Baxter-Blyth, for running the Bath Half Marathon this weekend to raise money for the . In total with all the support from clients, friends and family she raised just shy of £1,500 with donations still coming in. The weather was perfect and there was a huge turn out of support from all the locals.

Happy International Women's Day! Today, we reflect on the strides we have made this past year towards a more inclusive, supportive, and empowering workplace for all, especially for women. In celebration of International Women's Day, we're excited to share some of the milestones we've achieved:

🔹 Diversity Ambassador Group: We launched a dedicated group to champion diversity within our team, ensuring a workplace where everyone feels valued and heard. Thank you to Cherise Tsang DipPFS Mary Jani Queenie Maglaqui Lauren Green Tracy Knight FCIPD and Andy Lei who spear head this programme which includes wellbeing, D&I and civic/charity responsibility.
🔹 Confidence-Building Workshops: Recognising the importance of self-assurance in professional growth, we introduced workshops for all staff aimed at boosting confidence and fostering a supportive environment for personal development. Delivered by incredible local women Yvonne Bignall and Jo Emmerson.
🔹 Enhanced Family-Friendly Policies: We've taken significant steps to support our staff and their families, including enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption, and even grandparent's leave. It's our way of saying, 'We support every kind of family'.
🔹 Increased Holiday Allowance: Understanding the balance between work and caregiving responsibilities, we've increased the amount of holiday staff can take. This initiative is aimed at supporting those who care for others, ensuring they have the time they need for their loved ones.
🔹 Extended Sickness Holiday: To further our commitment to our staff's well-being, we've increased sickness leave. We believe in providing our team the time they need to recover, ensuring they can return to work feeling their best.

These initiatives are just a part of our ongoing journey towards a workplace where diversity is celebrated, inclusion is the norm, and everyone has the opportunity to thrive. To all the women at Unividual and beyond, your strength, intelligence, and compassion inspire us every day. Here's to continuing to support and uplift one another, not just today, but every day.

We couldn't have done any of this without the amazing knowledge and support of our Head of HR & Diversity Tracy Knight FCIPD and without the engagement of our entire workforce who constantly help us shape and improve the business.

🙉 It's out now...all you need to know about The Spring Budget! Unveiled today there are some significant changes on the horizon potentially impacting both personal and business finances. As we navigate through these updates, here are the crucial points you need to know about...if anything takes your fancy you can find out more in our latest article on Unividual's website.

✂ National Insurance Contributions Cut: A welcome relief, with a 2p reduction aiming to boost disposable income and stimulate economic activity.

🔑 Capital Gains Tax Surprise: A notable change in capital gains tax on residential property marks a significant policy shift, likely to impact property investment strategies.

💼 Overhaul of "Non-Dom" Status: A significant reform replaces the non-dom tax status with a new scheme, aligning more closely with residency-based taxation principles.

🚸 Child Benefit Adjustment: The salary threshold for child benefit eligibility has been increased, offering greater support to working families.

🚬 New V**e Tax & To***co Duty Hike: In a bid to encourage healthier choices, a new tax on vapes and an increased to***co duty have been introduced.

⛽ Continued Freeze on Fuel Duty and Alcohol: A relief for many, the freeze on fuel duty and alcohol tax aims to ease cost-of-living pressures.

🏡 Tax Relief for Holiday Lets Scrapped: Aligning with housing market fairness, tax relief for holiday lets has been abolished.

👩‍⚕️ Boost for NHS Technology and AI: An extra £2.5 billion is allocated to the NHS this year to enhance efficiencies through technology and AI.

🔍 Looking to understand how these updates affect you or your business? Explore how the budget could impact on your financial strategies in our latest article.



https://unividual.co.uk/news/our-guide-to-the-2024-spring-budget/

😱Spring Budget!! “Don’t understand” we hear you say…But here’s why you should be keeping a close eye on the Spring Budget this time around.

The countdown begins! Delivered by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on the 6th of March, it’s pivotal that businesses and people tune in to learn about the government’s plans for taxes and public spending, more than ever because it is an election year (with a keen beady eye 👁️ on potential tax cuts)!

📈 The Budget isn’t just about numbers, it’s about our future. From potential changes in income tax that could leave more in our pockets, to 99% mortgages aimed at making homeownership more accessible for first-time buyers, every decision impacts us.

🏡 With the UK having faced a shallow recession recently, there’s a collective breath being held on how these measures will steer the economy towards growth, despite the challenges many are still facing with rising living costs🙀.

💼 For professionals and businesses, the implications are vast. From the potential for more disposable income through tax cuts, to reforms in childcare and the housing market, these decisions could significantly influence consumer behaviour and market confidence.

How do you think the upcoming Budget will impact your industry and personal finances would be great to hear from you in the comments! Stay tuned over the weeks as we try to make sense of it all for the everyday person who, like most of us, just can’t get their head around it all!


Image created by Dall.E

We had such a fantastic day with Her Majesty The Queen at the St John’s Foundation 850th Birthday in Bath Abbey. Thank you to Louise Harvey David Hobdey and Ali Woodhead for inviting us. A huge Happy Birthday to what is the beating heart of Bath.

St John's Foundation is the 11th oldest charity and it was inspiring to hear about the breadth of impactful work they support across the region. The presence of Her Majesty The Queen made the event feel all the more the special.

How do you build an organisation for 850 years?

Tomorrow we have the absolute privilege of attending St John’s Foundation’s birthday celebrations. Thank you so much for inviting us. For nearly eight and a half centuries, St John’s Foundation has been working to support the community of Bath and the surrounding area. Beginning in 1174, Bishop Reginald Fitzjocelyn established a medieval refuge to provide food and shelter for the poor and vulnerable in his parish. The charity has stayed true to its founding purpose and continues to offer accommodation and support. The level of leadership and skill required to navigate an organisation around this time frame is just unfathable and one of Bath’s greatest achievements. The leadership team today are dynamic, commercial, caring and inspirational. So from all of us at Unividual Happy Birthday St. John’s to each and every person who contributed to decades of success. We salute you!

Happy Christmas to everyone. As the end of the year is near we wanted to share that our Unividual Elves are in need of a well-earned rest and we will be closing our London, Bath and Edinburgh offices from 22nd December 2023 through to the new year. We will be open again from 2nd January 2024. Thank you to all our clients, staff and the business community for all your support this year. 2023 will always go down as a smash hit year for Unividual but amongst all our achievements the most important is supporting our clients through such a difficult year. Here's to 2024 and it all brings.

Check out these easy to digest key updates from today's Autumn budget delivered by Jeremy Hunt. We have pulled out some things we believe will impact the most on people's financial plans.

✂ Cut national insurance by 2% to 10% from 6th January. People earning £35,000 or more will save more than £450 a year.
☝ Raised the National Living Wage to £11.44 an hour.
💰 The state pension will be increased by 8.5%. It will reach £221 a week from April.
🤞 Vowed to increase in-work benefits by 6.7 per cent.
❄ Freeze on alcohol duty.
👍 Make "Full Expensing" permanent, allowing businesses to offset investment in things like IT equipment and machinery against tax.
🤸‍♂️ Reform of self-employed taxes, abolishing “class 2” national insurance contributions, which count towards state pension entitlements. This will cut taxes for 2 million people. “Class 4” contributions will be cut by one percentage point. Together these will be worth £350 a year.
🛒 Business rates discount for many small firms including, pubs and other hospitality, retail and leisure businesses.
🚬 To***co duty has been put up by 10%.

So what do you think? The NI cut will leave more in your pocket but the ongoing freeze in income tax thresholds drags many people in to paying more tax anyway. The rate of rising prices is lower than it has been, but anyone who has recently had to remortgage is feeling the pain of higher interest rates. AND WHAT ABOUT INHERITANCE TAX? Pressure has been placed on Jeremy Hunt to confirm whether a widely briefed inheritance tax cut has been delayed or abandoned. It was reported that the chancellor was considering halving the rate but that an announcement has now been delayed until the spring Budget.

Around a third of parents and carers talk to their children about money if they find themselves in difficulty. If you are keen to help young people prepare for later life check out this new tool which helps parents and carers teach children about money. The Money and Pensions Service have launched ‘Talk Learn Do’, to help people build skills and confidence, with fun activities and bite-sized information around pocket money, saving and shopping trips. Using these resources families can talk openly about finance and build healthy financial habits for later in life, Unividual hold money management and financial wellbeing workshops in schools, universities and organisations. If you are interested in upskilling yourself get in touch at www.unividual.co.uk/hello.

Link to Talk Learn Do: www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/family-and-care/talk-money/talk-learn-do

In a civil partnership or married ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤? DID YOU KNOW....

If you are married or in a civil partnership have you checked if you can claim Marriage Allowance? This could boost your finances by up to £252 a year.

HMRC have a Marriage Allowance calculator so you can find out instantly if you are eligible.

What on earth 😕 is Marriage Allowance?

If eligible for marriage allowance, this saves couples money by allowing the lower or non-earner to reduce the amount of tax their partner pays. Most people have a Personal Allowance, normally £12,570 – the amount of income they do not have to pay tax on. Marriage Allowance lets the lower earner transfer £1,260 (10% of the Personal Allowance, rounded up) of their Personal Allowance to their partner. This can reduce their tax by up to £252 annually. If eligible, couples can also backdate their claim for the previous 4 tax years and receive a lump-sum payment worth more than £1,000!

Who can benefit 🤭?

To benefit from the tax relief, one partner must generally have income less than £12,570 (or income could be above this but the person is still a non-taxpayer due to use of other tax free bands or allowances such as the Personal Savings Allowance, Dividend Allowance or Starting Rate Band for Savings) and the higher earning partner’s income must be between £12,571 and £50,270 (£43,662 in Scotland).

Many people in their sixties who are married or in a Civil Partnership, don't realise they can claim Marriage Allowance if they have retired and their partner is still working.

Check today and claim right away. It’s a quick and easy process that’s worth up to £252 a year.

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/marriage-allowance-application/benefit-calculator

On Friday Unividual picked up a Bath Property Award for the best finance business 2023. For a second year in a row we have won this and a Bath Life Award and we couldn't be more chuffed at the recognition and support we have had from everyone in Bath. The property sector in this city has become one of support, collaboration and community. Thank you to and for bringing us all together to celebrate. Congratulations to a number of our clients who also picked up awards and to all the nominees. Big thanks to the judges this year. We are so humbled and grateful for the recognition. Thank you so much to Adam Clutterbuck for Cherie-Anne Baxter-Blyth's photo...stunning shot.

Talk Money Week - LESS TALK MORE ACTION 🦾
This week is Talk Money Week and we are fed up 🥺. We don't often like starting things off on a negative 👎 but we are fed up of the lack of financial education children are not getting in schools - despite the pressure being applied to government. Some shocking and surprising facts

1. FROM AS EARLY AS 7: Cambridge University and the Money Advice Service did some work in 2013 in which they established that most money habits are embedded by the age of seven child👦🏽🧒🏿👧🏼👦🏻. They found that it was difficult to reverse those early-learned approaches later in life.

2. In 2021, GoHenry, Censuswide and Development Economics demonstrated a correlation between the financial education someone receives as a child and their later earning capability 🧕🏼👷🏻👮🏿‍♀️👩🏻‍🌾🧑🏻‍🍳👩🏽‍⚕️. 46% of those earning less than £15,000 had received financial education compared to those earning between £55,000 and £65,000 a year, where 77% had received financial education.

3. PEOPLE NEEDED HELP, LIKE, YESTERDAY: Santander surveyed a large sample of adults in the UK, and 70% reported better financial education would have improved their ability to manage their finances during the cost of living crisis. 68% of adults think that financial education should be part of the primary school 🚌✏️📖 curriculum. So we are not alone in our purpose!

4. On average, people who receive financial education as a child save 44% more each month into their pension than those who did not. Of those who received financial education, more than 50% had saved more than £5,000 for a rainy day; of those with no financial education, only a third had saved that much.

So tomorrow we will be launching our force for good, a strategy to achieve our purpose, of ensuring everyone and anyone can feel they have the right to access financial advice no matter their age, gender, sexual identity, race or religion.

SCOTLAND WE ARE OPEN
What about this 💥 for a Monday! “Our very own Andy Lei has opened an office in Edinburgh! Just wow. Andy has worked for our business for over 5 years and grew up in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He trained in our Bath office to become a Financial Adviser and relocated back to Scotland a few years ago. Andy has already been advising clients throughout Scotland and the North of England and also has a lot of clients in the South West still. But his passion for offering a diverse offering of advice in Scotland was very close to his heart. Andy has a really interesting back story and you can find out more about him on our website but for now we want to congratulate him. Andy has a lot of sincerity, a can do attitude, a genuine care for others, he is a highly emotionally and technically intelligent adviser and so he epitomises all of the values that make up "The Unividual Way". Thank you Andy for being on this journey with us, we are so proud of you and thankful for all of your commitment and hard work.” Cherie-Anne Baxter-Blyth, Marketing Director

When it comes to making financial decisions you know you SHOULD use your 🧠 rather than your 💙 but sometimes our emotions drive our choices. It’s important not to squash our emotions but instead listen to what is worrying us and get the facts we need to make the right decisions to maximize our chances of success. It is natural for stock markets to go up and down and almost all investors experience fluctuations along the way. By coaching you through these ups and downs you can remain focused on your long term plan rather than emotional discomfort.
📈When markets are rising:
We feel positive 😀 optimistic 🤞and more likely to invest. But we should avoid 🛑 buying when markets are high or over inflated.
📉When markets are falling:
We feel pessimistic 🥺, concerned 🤯 and more reluctant to invest. We should avoid selling our investments when they are temporarily low priced.
Investment involves risk, the value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back any of the amount originally invested. This emotional rollercoaster is hard to navigate and is the main reason people choose to work with a financial adviser alongside their journey every step of the way.

We keep getting asked whether it is better to hold money in cash right now...SUCH A GOOD QUESTION...

Banks are slowly increasing the interest rates available on their savings accounts. On the face of it YAY 👏 , these can look like a good way of contributing to your financial goals BUT holding too much of your savings in cash can have a very negative impact on your overall return 😱. Why? Not many people realise that holding cash will erode the value of your savings... 😕. As our clients know a key part of any well made financial plan is to consider how you can protect your hard-earned savings from the "ravages" of inflation. With the Bank of England (BoE) raising interest rates to 5% in July 2023, savers SHOULD be seeing greater returns from their cash. This isn't happening because the banks, while quick to raise mortgage rates, are yet to increase their interest rates on savings products like cash ISAs😡. Combine this fact with inflation remaining stubbornly high and savers are actually realising a loss of MORE THAN 5% due to the gap between saving rates and inflation.

Having balance within your savings strategy is key and it isn't as simple as just sticking your money in your current account or ISA.

So the alternative? History shows us that after 18-24 months, interest rates will usually dampen inflation. As both start to drop, if history repeats itself, stocks and shares typically begin to rise. If you invest now markets can turn quickly and you will be invested on “the best days", which can significantly increase your overall returns. Ofcourse if you are already invested, remaining so, if you can, will maximise your chance of benefiting from this potential future increase. But you could also look to top up your existing investments or look to see if there are better alternatives out there.

Interesting stuff right? Finance doesn't have to be boring, at least with us we make it fun...that is The Unividual WAY!

Source: Cash ISA rate Bank of England Database, 30 June 2023 and UK CPI, ONS, 19 July 2023.

Great to see Unividual shortlisted for THREE awards this year at the first ever South West Business Masters Awards.
😎 Best Small Business
👨‍👩‍👦 Best Family Business
💻 Professional Services
Along with this we are shortlisted for three awards at Entreconf and one award at the Women in Financial Advice Awards. What a great way to celebrate the end of a very busy and challenging year. Looking forward to the winter awards season. Congratulations to all our friends who were also shortlisted Discover Your Bounce and Bath Office Company Looking forward to seeing you both there - let's bring it home Bathonians 🏆 🥂 🎆
Thebusinessdesk.com West Midlands

What are you working towards? Financial Wellbeing? Becoming A Millionaire? Saving for school fees? Preparing for retirement?

These are just some of the aspirations people have when they first contact us and one that is very common is "How do I become a millionaire?" Many people don't know that there is a proven way to get there and one of our advisers Alex Caswell shares with you how to achieve millionaire status. It is never too late, you are never too young and there are ways you can start saving even if you feel you don't have enough money.

At Unividual we don't tell you what to do with your money, we share with you all our tips and ideas and coach you through the difficult times. If you want to find out more about financial advice, but think "I don't need one as I am not a millionaire" just remember most millionaires started somewhere but they also used a financial adviser to build and preserve their wealth. Check out this article to find out how you could become a millionaire and if you want to find out more about building your nest egg get in touch with us.

How to become a millionaire and stay one “Who wants to be a millionaire?” probably quite a few of us actually! Many people don't know that there is a proven way to get there over the long-term. You do need patience on your side though and "no" it doesn’t involve "phoning a friend" to get their idea on what the answer is. The truth to...

Our Director Greg Harris will be atop the bus this year giving everyone a big smile and wave 👋 we can’t wait till Bath Carnival that and Bath Festivals is our fav fixtures of the year

😲 ONE WEEK UNTIL BATH CARNIVAL 2023!

On SATURDAY 8 JULY we have an INCREDIBLE Carnival procession lined up for you, set to be our most inclusive ever. As well the street performances we have an insane lineup of FREE entertainment at Sydney Gardens including:

Biggles' Sound | The Beatles Dub Club | Bloco B | ESKIMO NEBULA | Sam Redmore | SuperPirates | Da Fuchaman | Laimu | Matuki | Latin Spin - plus much more +++

And after 10pm the party moves indoors to Komedia Bath where our friends Jamma de Samba have prepared a very special stage show with live Rio style dancers. Guest DJs including The Sly Players (Latin House Set) take our 10 year anniversary celebrations into the early hours.

This is honestly set to be our most ambitious and diverse Carnival ever - see you there!!

🎉 Remaining tickets for the official after party available here:

https://www.komedia.co.uk/bath/club/bath-carnival-10th-year-anniversary/

Today our London and Bath office collided to take by storm. We teamed up with to promote their “LOOSE THE LABELS” campaign. Great to spend time with one of the best days in the calendar year! Question is can we take the concept to London and Edinburgh for our other offices! Thank you to the team and all of the Bath Boules volunteers for putting on an amazing weekend of fun