Cotswold Link (West Oxfordshire) Jan-Feb 2023

Welcome

In this issue we welcome in 2023 and look forward to the year with a look at how to make your garden a success for next winter (p12)

We also have an exciting theory about possible life on Mars (p10), as well as how to keep young people safe regarding social media (p6). I hope you all enjoy this issue and I’ll see you again in March. Best wishes,

Christine

The Impact of Social Media on Young People

What is meant by “Social Media?”

Academics have obtained degrees by answering this question therefore I will keep the definition as simple as possible to: “A means of communicating with other people via the use of computers and mobile telephones”. You will notice in my definition that Social Media can include communication with applications of games through which one can directly communicate with other people. Unfortunately many people including adults become addicted to using it to their disadvantage.

We must not forget that when properly controlled by the individual and provider there are multi-numerous advantages to communicating with other people via the internet.

The dangers of “Social Media”

There have been widely publicised reports of youngsters being over influenced by others when using the internet to the extent of committing suicide, theft and meeting strangers. To give the reader an idea to the size of the problem, one 14year old who took her own life received 16,000 destructive posts of self-harm, anxiety and suicide in the six months leading up to her death. A child; and for that matter an adult; can become addicted without realising the damage they are causing to themselves and their families leading to mental health issues.

What to do if concerned about your youngster and the social media

There are many courses of action. The straight forward one is to do what the film star Kate Winslet did to her children and that was to refuse them access to a mobile phone. This does not work for everyone so the next step is to ask for help and

This is not the first occasion I have written about the effects of Social Media on young people and sadly I know it will not be the last.

advice. If you believe your young one is suffering from mental health illness obviously refer them to a doctor and speak to the school.

There are numerous web sites which offer suggestions such as: www.gov.uk/government/speeches/social-media-young-peopleand-mental-health www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/news/social-media-channels www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/ www.mediasmart.uk.com/ www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/digital/5-a-day/ John Harris: May I take this opportunity of wishing all of our readers A Happy Healthy 2023

TAX YEAR ALLOWANCES

ISAs and Junior ISAs

ISAs are often a key element of our clients financial planning, as they are a tax-efficient account, with any ongoing growth and income being exempt from tax. Furthermore, when you withdraw the proceeds, this is also free from tax. Because of this, the amount you can pay in annually is restricted.

Happy New Year!

As we tick over to another calendar year, we at Wise Investment are already well underway with our planning to help clients through the new tax year, for which the ball drops midnight on the 6th of April 2023.

With the new tax year, comes a new set of allowances. But also importantly, it means now is the last opportunity to use up some of this tax year’s allowances, as they are in most part lost with the start of the new tax year.

The standard ISA allowance for UK residents is £20,000 this and next tax year. You can use your allowance by adding new money, or by moving existing investments. This can either be via a Stocks and Shares ISA or a Cash ISA.

You must be 16 or over for a Cash ISA and 18 or over for a Stocks and Shares ISA.

The ISA allowance is a “use it or lose it” allowance and there is no opportunity to backdate any unused allowances.

For those that have maximised their own allowance, you can also invest on behalf of your children, or grandchildren with a Junior ISA (JISA), investing for their future, perhaps to help them out with university fees or toward a deposit on their first home.

Under 18s have a JISA allowance of £9,000 per tax year. This means that 16 and 17-year-olds currently get two allowances - £9,000 for a JISA and £20,000 for an ‘adult’ Cash ISA.

Pensions Annual Allowance – Defined Contribution Schemes

With the introduction of Auto Enrolment in 2012, many people are beginning to realise the benefits of pension investments and it can be the cornerstone of one’s retirement planning. Like ISAs, growth inside of a pension is tax free. Furthermore, any personal contributions you make, could receive up to 60% tax relief. There will be tax to pay at the point you take the benefits but this is likely to be at a significantly lower rate. Depending on how you take benefits, usually 25% is tax free and the remainder is subject to income tax.

Finally, in most cases, pension benefits are not subject to Inheritance Tax (IHT).

The amount you are permitted to contribute personally to a pension each year is the value of your earned income up to a maximum of £40,000 gross (£32,000 net of basic rate tax).

Earned income is classed as one or more of the following types of income:

• Employment income, such as: pay, wages, bonus, etc.

• Income from self-employment or a partnership

• Redundancy payment above the £30,000 tax exempt threshold

The rules differ slightly for employer contributions. They are still subject to the £40,000 limit but Employer contributions are not tested against your earnings, so more than 100% of your earnings can be contributed.

Employer pension contributions are paid gross by an employer and are normally treated as an allowable business expense. Consequently, they reduce the company’s taxable profit, and so normally also reduce the company’s Corporation Tax bill. However, HMRC guidance states that employer contributions can only qualify for Corporation Tax relief if they are judged to be “wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade”.

Unlike ISAs it is possible for you to use any allowances you have missed for the 3 years preceding the current tax year, but for personal contributions, this can only be up to the maximum of your total salary for the current year. This is known as “carry forward” and it has a set of complex rules associated with it. We can discuss this with you and explain how this rule works, please let us know if you think this may apply to you.

There is another often unknown benefit of pension contributions for those with income over £100,000. At this level, your tax-free personal allowance tapers away at a rate

You could also receive up to 40% tax relief on your contributions over £100,000, resulting in effective tax relief of up to 60% on your contributions.

There are some exceptions to pension allowance rules, shown below.

If you don’t have earned income (or earn less than £3,600 each year), you can still contribute up to £3,600 gross (£2,880 net).

If you have already taken taxable pension benefits flexibly via a drawdown arrangement, your allowance is reduced to £4,000 a year instead of £40,000.

Your annual allowance is also reduced if you earn more than £240,000 in the tax year, but you could still use the carry forward option, if applicable.

Please note if you are over 75 you won’t qualify for tax relief on pension contributions. For this reason, most providers will not accept new contributions from customers aged 75 or over.

Any contributions made over your allowance, will be subject to the Annual Allowance Tax Charge, which effectively removes the tax relief you would have received on the contributions.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Allowance£12,300

You can make capital gains of up to £12,300

We at Wise Investment help our clients to utilise any gains within their investments to make sure we maximise this available allowance where possible. It will be particularly important to do so this tax year as the allowance will be slashed to £6,000 next tax year and just £3,000 the year after.

Dividend Tax Allowance - £2,000

The dividend tax allowance remains at £2,000 per person and applies even if you choose to reinvest your dividends. Dividends generated by ISA and pension investments are exempt.

Again, some management and structuring of investments, can help make sure that these allowances are utilised. However, there will become less opportunity to do so as the allowance is to be halved to £1,000 next tax year and then to £500 the year after.

So, there is plenty to consider in the next few months, but the clock is ticking to make the most of your allowances.

This article is based on current Legislation. As we saw with the autumn statement in November, things can change very quickly, so if you would like to discuss any of the above with us, please get in contact.

wise@wiseinvestment.co.uk www.wiseinvestment.co.uk 01608 695100

Important Information

This article is intended for information only, and does not constitute advice.  All information is based on our understanding of current law and practice, which may be subject to change in the future.

Past performance in not an indication of future performance. Any investments you make and any income, can go down as well as up - you might not get back the full amount invested.

Wise Investments Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA no. 230553.

Registered Office: The Great Barn, Chalford Park Barns, Oxford Road, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 5QR. Registered in England 4970458.

Cotswold Sky

Did Mars support life before Earth?

This is not hot off the press news but readers may be interested to know that researchers at the University of Copenhagen, The Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, University of Bern Physics and The Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology Zurich have suggested that Mars may have been the first planet in our Solar System to support life.

Mars they believe was; just like Earth; bombarded with asteroids that carried water and organic molecules including amino acids which are the building blocks of life.

Oceans on Mars were formed to depths of at least 300 metres during the first 100 million years of the planets formation. Unfortunately the existence of plate tectonics on Earth have destroyed any similar evidence of this occurring in the Earth’s first 500 million years of existence.

Further detailed information can be obtained from: ww.earthsky.org/space/mars-water-asteroids-deep-ocean-1st-life-in-solarsystem/?

Diary

Mercury: Observable in the pre-dawn sky during the last 2 weeks of January and the first few days of February.

Venus: Spectacular viewing in the south west at dusk during January and February. Note on 22nd January at around 17.00 hours how close it is to Saturn. One month later on 22nd February it will be close to Jupiter and a crescent shaped Moon well worth viewing.

Mars: A brilliant evening object throughout January but shows signs of fading later in February. Notice the red planet working its way across the sky starting in the south east.

Jupiter: Can be observed in the early evening throughout the 2 months of January and February but by the end of January can only be observed for a little over 1 hour before setting. Well worth noting its closeness to Venus and the Moon on 22nd February between 18.00 and 19.00 hours.

Saturn: Low in the south west at dusk, notice its closeness to Venus on 22nd January. By February Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun and unobservable.

May I wish all our readers A Happy Healthy 2023. Stay Safe – John Harris

Winter Scent

I love a garden planted for winter. There are so many plants with wonderful shape and interesting evergreen foliage. But the thing that draws me out into any garden is scent, and fragrance is particularly uplifting in the depths of winter.

Getting outdoors into natural daylight, even on a cold, dank day is a mood booster. If you need an excuse to don woolly hat and gloves then what better than winter-flowering shrubs. Even better if you can cut a few sprigs to take back indoors. Chimonanthus praecox, known as Wintersweet is the type of shrub that looks rather unexciting in spring and summer, but in winter once established (which may take a couple of years) the bare branches erupt with lovely waxy yellow flowers which have an intense sweet and spicy scent.#

For a little spot near the front or back

door, think about Daphne bholua, a shade-loving, tiny, evergreen shrub which produces delicate pink or white blooms that look like they are made from fondant icing. They have a rich floral, old-fashioned scent.

If space is limited you also try Sarcococca hookeriana. This is also a shadelover and produced a very powerful jasmine-like scent which carries well on the breeze.

If you have more space and would like something more robust then plant Viburnum x bodnantense. It produces pom-poms of flowers in pastel pink or white which smell of warm vanilla and lilac. It also has an extremely long flowering season, starting in mid-autumn and going right through until early spring.

All of the above flowers can be cut, and will last for several days in a vase in the

house. But January is also the perfect time to enjoy gardening indoors. My teenage son collects cacti and was gifted a striking, ornamental cactus with funky foliage a couple of years ago, called Epiphyllum anguliger. The wavy-edge leaves which oscillate along the stem give rise to its more common name, the Fishbone Cactus. As well as looking handsome all year round it has the delightful bonus of producing large creamy white flowers in winter which emit a wonderful scent in the evening, just one bloom can fill a room with a sweet fragrance.

You don’t have to be deprived of scent in the winter months. Make a New Year’s resolution to bring some fragrance into your garden, and your home.

Happy gardening.

Architecture

Insight Planning Services: p7

Bathrooms

Chris Smith Plumbing: p5

Country Bathrooms: p11

Blinds

Associated Blinds: p16

Builders & Contractors

Country Roofing & Building Contractors: p13

Mitre Oak: p5

Rooflight Company: p3

SJP Builders: p13

Wychwood Oak Frames: p10

Children’s Services

Cotswold Tutor: p7

Clearances

Oxfordshire Clearances: p2

Education Cotswold Tutor: p7

Sibford School: p7

Electrical Services

Aerial Solutions: p4

Finance & Legal

Wise Investments: p8

Food & Drink

The Local Trove: p14

Flooring

Country Tiles & Flooring: p11

Furniture

Amanda Hanley By Design: p1

Andy Bennett Upholstery: p10

Bob Dadge Carpentry: p4

Gardening & Outdoors

Stockwell Davies Tree

Contractors: p13

Tom Negus Tree Care: p13

Gifts

Alain Rouveure Galleries: p4

Cotswold Frames: p4

Glass

Chips Away: p15

CN Glass: p1

Healthcare & Wellbeing

Alain Rouveure Galleries: p4

Cotswold Deep Tissue Massage: p6

Cotswolds Foot Clinic: p6

Footworx Clinic: p6

Home & Interiors

Alain Rouveure Galleries: p4

Amanda Hanley By Design: p1

Andy Bennett Upholstery: p10

Associated Blinds: p16

Bob Dadge Carpentry: p4

Country Bathrooms: p11

Country Tiles & Flooring: p11

Paul Dadge: p11

Rooflight Company: p3

Kitchens & Bathrooms Country Bathrooms: p11

Country Tiles & Flooring: p11

Motoring Chips Away: p15

Painting & Decorating

Cotswold Wallpaper Hanging & Decor: p15

Paul Dadge: p11

Stephen McNally Painting & Decorating: p10

Pet Services

My Best Friend Professional Grooming: p4

Plumbing

Chris Smith Plumbing: p5

Gas & Oil Heating: p15

MPN Plumbing & Heating: p15

Property Maintenance Country Roofing & Building Contractors: p13 Mossinator: p5

Recruitment

Burford Garden Company: p3

Security

Opalstone Group: p2

Sport & Leisure

GLL/Better: p14

Tree Surgery

Stockwell Davies Tree Contractors: p13

Tom Negus Tree Care: p13

Tuition

Cotswold Tutor: p7

Windows Rooflight Company: p3