GP TechLead

For most NHS workers, especially doctors, there may be less consideration for financial planning for retirement. There may be a thought that the NHS pension will be enough and actually with annual allowance considerations for high earners, further contributions will be not tax efficient. However there is another savings vehicle that could be used that seems to be often ignored for retirement, that is the Lifetime ISA (LISA).

The annual allowance allowance calculation for the NHS pension is confusing. I wrote about it here but I still have to go back to refresh my knowledge about it. The hard bit about working it out for tax purposes is to think that it's not the monetary amount you contribute, but its the annual growth of the your pension pot. The maths involved makes my head hurt. 

GP Practices have had a few financial obstacles put in its way this year. Firstly there was the 3% pay rise for staff which I have covered before. But more recently, there was an increase in National Insurance (NI) contributions and in the budget last week, an increase to the minimum wage to £9.50 an hour. Financial experts feel the NI changes alone will mean an average loss of £15,000 a year  to the average GP surgery. I feel NI is a very confusing tax to understand compared to income tax, so I thought I'd try to break it down as easily as I can.

Previous I discussed the principles of Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) but there is more than one type of FIRE. There is a no one size fits all when it comes to financial independence. 

What is the point of saving? For some it is to buy a house, for others its to buy a nice car or a big holiday. But once you're settled in your living arrangement or there is nothing material to save for, what else should you do with your money? Do you live to work or do you work to live? These deep questions may make you think about the purpose of work and what we really do with our money.

As a member of the BMA, I occasionally get promotional emails from them and their partners. One such partner is Chase de Vere, an independent financial advisor. They send out regular notices of their free webinars talking about retirement planning, wealth building and investment advice, which can be be quite interesting to watch. However one such email invited me to get a free 'financial health check' - this seemed too good to pass up! I thought I'd go through what happened during this health check, and to remind you that no company gives you something of value that is truly free.