The Labour government “seems to be doing its best to scare people” into making bad decisions, according to Strategic Wealth Partners managing director and chartered financial planner Amyr Rocha Lima.
Speaking at Money Marketing Interactive in London yesterday (8 October), he told advisers to expect more phone calls ahead of the Budget.
“Even our most well behaved and responsible clients will reach out to us,” Lima said.
However, “if your clients do not reach out to you in the run-up to the Budget, you should reach out to them”, he added.
Triple Point retail strategy director Diana French, speaking on the same panel as Lima, said the backdrop for this Budget includes tax at its highest level since 1949.
“The tax environment is hard at the moment and is likely to get harder,” she said. “I do really feel like tax is a big conversation right now.”
Lima said regardless of what is announced in the Budget, it is “important we treat people as human beings.”
During the panel discussion, French also spoke positively about venture capital trusts (VCTs).
VCTs are investment vehicles that were set up to promote investment in small UK businesses that meet certain criteria.
To encourage support for these businesses, the government offers generous tax benefits.
Lima added that advisers can really prove their value when “showing clients what is most tax efficient for them”.
In September 2023, French told Money Marketing that VCTs “are becoming a part of regular [financial] advice”.
French added that VCTs give investors access to companies that can grow very quickly.
Triple Point is a purpose-led investment management house that supports financial advisers, but does not actually provide advice to investors itself.
Industry duo Lima and Ian Cooke launched Strategic Wealth Partners, a financial planning practice targeted at high-net-worth clients across the UK, also in September 2023.
There has always been speculation and rumours before any Budget but on this occasions it is way more intense, but it is not the government causing this, it is the media. If we are to believe the likes of, for example, The Telegraph, as a consequence of the Budget everyone in the country will be bankrupt by the end of the year.