Do you want flexibility, access to and control of your assets whilst inheritance tax planning? We take a look at generational wealth planning
One of the downsides of some inheritance tax planning is that you lose access to and control of your capital. The ‘Lifestyle Trust’ is a new and flexible way to achieve a balance between access to your capital, inheritance tax planning and control over the distribution of your assets. It’s being called the ‘have your cake and eat it’ Trust.
Inheritance tax planning used to only be a concern for the very wealthy, but these days many more of us need to consider how to deal with it.
There are several ways you can plan your finances to help reduce your inheritance tax liabilities. Typically they involve removing the money from your “estate” (the total value of your assets) at least seven years before you die. One way to help mitigate inheritance tax is to put an investment into a trust.
A trust allows you to entrust your assets to your appointed “trustees”. The trustees then become the legal owners of the trust fund and it is their responsibility to control, manage and ultimately distribute the trust fund to the “beneficiaries”.
Any growth in value of the investment that you place in the trust is immediately outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes and, if you survive for seven years after setting it up, the value of the original investment will not be liable for inheritance tax.
The Lifestyle Trust
The obvious concern with this arrangement is that you could be losing direct access to the wealth you have put into the trust. Ideally you would like to maintain access to some of the money for an overseas holiday perhaps or to help fund your grandchildren’s education. Old Mutual Wealth have recently launched the “Lifestyle Trust” which has been designed to provide a solution to this problem.
Although other trust arrangements will allow you access with regular payments, it is the level of flexibility that makes the Lifestyle Trust unique. You can access a pre-agreed proportion of the trust fund for your own future use in what are known as entitlements as and when you might need it. You can even defer or waive payment of an entitlement if you decide you don’t need the money when it becomes available.
The Lifestyle Trust could be right for you if you want to leave your wealth tax efficiently to future generations whilst at the same time retaining the flexibility to periodically have access to some of the money for your own needs and projects. That’s why it’s being called the ‘have your cake and eat it’ trust.
Find out more about how we can help you protect your wealth, in your lifetime and for future generations.
WHAT’SYOUR NEXT STEP?
We offer all prospective clients an initial discovery meeting with one of our financial planners at our expense, to see if we can be of help to you.
Book your meeting today, if you want to leave your wealth tax efficiently to future generations whilst at the same time periodically having access to some of it.
