Business & finance

REGULATOR FORCES BROKER TO CHANGE ‘MISLEADING’ AD

If you watch certain channels on daytime or early evening TV, many of you may have seen frequent adverts from one of the UK’s largest brokers of Equity Release mortgages, where they claim that their advice is free of charge. Now, for some time this has rankled local Advisers like ourselves because we knew the advertising to be misleading, since although the actual advice may be free, the broker arrangement fee certainly was hefty and that was never mentioned. So the company has now had to make clearer what the situation really is, as required by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) following a number of public complaints. At Dragon Financial, we have never charged a fee until we are certain that the lender will lend, plus on every type of mortgage we arrange, our fee is always fixed –we do not charge a percentage, as this would be unfair to the borrower, since the same amount of work is involved, whether the property is worth £100,000 or a Million Pounds. Why would you want to pay, for example, a fee between 1% and 1.5% on a mortgage of say, £150,000, when you could come to us and be charged a fixed fee which would be substantially lower, guaranteed? The Broker mentioned above had to admit also, that (as they also have a range of their own products) the advice was only free on their own in-house schemes, whereas we know they charge a percentage fee on the products from all other lenders. For our part at Dragon, the fee is always fixed irrespective of the borrowing amount and for all lenders that we use in the whole of the market. As a result, typically we are very much lower with our costs than the large Broker in question and will guarantee to always be lower on our fees, perhaps one of the reasons that we have so many Clients in this category. So, if you have any reason to talk over Equity Release or Later Life Borrowing (including Retirement Interest-Only mortgages, known as RIOs), please give us a call. For the months of August and September 2020, we are offering a FREE Will (a Will each for couples) OR a half-price Lasting Power of Attorney with every Equity Release or Later Life Mortgage we arrange, once the loan has completed, so another great reason to speak to us first. Call 01656 782545 or 07768 418308 for an informal chat by phone initially and we take calls outside of normal business hours PAUL FIELDING Dragon Financial 01656 782545 / 07768 418308

FLEXIBILITY IN RETIREMENT

You might want to look at Income Drawdown. This is where you leave your pension pot invested and take a pension income directly from it instead of using the money to buy an annuity. As your pension pot remains invested it will continue to benefit from any investment growth. Since pension reforms were introduced in April 2015, more and more retirees have opted to take flexible withdrawals from their pension funds and the Financial Conduct Authority has reported that drawdown has become much more popular than annuities. Whilst drawdown offers greater flexibility there are risks that you need to be aware of. Unlike an annuity the amount you could draw, as income isn’t guaranteed. Your pension fund remains invested which means that you are exposed to market movements. This makes it even more important to take good independent professional advice as without it you might set your income level too high and you might risk running out of money too soon. Your financial advisor should have a ‘cash-flow analysis’ tool to check how long your pension could last. In Drawdown you can take monthly income or just lump sums as and when you need funds, this can be organised around any other pensions you have so as to mitigate tax, you can’t do this with an annuity. Whilst it’s no longer obligatory to take an annuity at retirement, they still have benefits to offer. It’s possible to put a portion of your pension pot into an annuity and leave the rest in drawdown to get the best of both worlds. Just remember once you buy an annuity there is no going back but you can move from drawdown to annuity anytime. Drawdown funds will transfer to your beneficiaries on death, spouse, children or grandchildren but annuities can die with you. This is one of the main reasons why drawdown will remain popular, as you are able to retain wealth within your family. Whatever options you take it’s important to seek independent financial advice. Philip Vaughan is a director at Abacus Assurance Financial Services Ltd Porthcawl

PHILIP VAUGHAN Director at Abacus Assurance

Financial Services Ltd Porthcawl 01656 772222

19TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

ISSUE 238 NOVEMBER 2019 ISSUE 239 DECEMBER 2019

£ 7 . 9 9 f r o m 01 65 6 6 7 182 8 www.parcelpromise.co.uk email: info@parcelpromise.co.uk BUILDERS B A GS A V AI L ABLE KILN DRIED & SEASONED L OGS & C O AL FREE LOCAL DELIVERY FAST, EASY, DELIVERY NEED TO SEND A PARCEL? S outh Cornelly Trading Estate behind - petrol station PHONE FOR BEST PRICES 01656 671828 ISSUE 237 OCTOBER 2019

HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES

COVER PHOTO: Judi Russell, North Cornelly HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES

ISSUE 236 SEPTEMBER 2019 21ST ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

WIN A FAMILY TICKET TO SEE THE PANTO SEE PAGE 14 ISSUE 234 JULY 2019

HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES ISSUE 235 AUGUST 2019

COVER PHOTO: Mike Jones, Porthcawl Tumble dryers Microwaves Dishwashers FOR OAP’S 10% DISCOUNT r epair specialists Domestic appliance repairs & spares Washing machines Fridge/freezers Cookers Refurbished appliances on sale SSB Ltd. Unit 12, South Cornelly Ind Est, CF33 4RE ServiceShop.Ltd@Gmail.com Mon-Sat: 8.30am-5.30pm (1pm Sat) APPLIANCE REPAIR SHOP 0 1 656 67 0900 Tumble dryers Microwaves Dishwashers FOR OAP’S 10% DISCOUNT r epair specialists Domestic appliance repairs & spares Washing machines Fridge/freezers Cookers Refurbished appliances on sale SSB Ltd. Unit 12, South Cornelly Ind Est, CF33 4RE ServiceShop.Ltd@Gmail.com Mon-Sat: 8.30am-5.30pm (1pm Sat) APPLIANCE REPAIR SHOP 0 1 656 67 0900 at the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl Friday 13 December 2019 – Sunday 5 January 2020 HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES

COVER PHOTO: Mike Jones, Porthcawl Tumble dryers Microwaves Dishwashers FOR OAP’S 10% DISCOUNT r epair specialists Domestic appliance repairs & spares Washing machines Fridge/freezers Cookers Refurbished appliances on sale SSB Ltd. Unit 12, South Cornelly Ind Est, CF33 4RE ServiceShop.Ltd@Gmail.com Mon-Sat: 8.30am-5.30pm (1pm Sat) APPLIANCE REPAIR SHOP 0 1 656 67 0900 COVER PHOTO: Tony John, Porthcawl Tumble dryers Microwaves Dishwashers FOR OAP’S 10% DISCOUNT r epair specialists Domestic appliance repairs & spares Washing machines Fridge/freezers Cookers Refurbished appliances on sale SSB Ltd. Unit 12, South Cornelly Ind Est, CF33 4RE ServiceShop.Ltd@Gmail.com Mon-Sat: 8.30am-5.30pm (1pm Sat) APPLIANCE REPAIR SHOP 0 1 656 67 0900 COVER PHOTO: Tony John, Porthcawl Tumble dryers Microwaves Dishwashers FOR OAP’S 10% DISCOUNT r epair specialists Domestic appliance repairs & spares Washing machines Fridge/freezers Cookers Refurbished appliances on sale SSB Ltd. Unit 12 , South Cornelly Ind Est, CF33 4RE ServiceShop.Ltd@Gmail.com Mon-Sat: 8.30am-5.30pm (1pm Sat) APPLIANCE REPAIR SHOP 0 1 656 67 0900

COVER PHOTO: Marilyn Cook, Bridgend Tumble dryers Microwaves Dishwashers FOR OAP’S 10% DISCOUNT r epai r spe c ialists Domestic appliance repairs & spares Washing machines Fridge/freezers Cookers Refurbished appliances on sale SSB Ltd. Unit 12, South Cornelly Ind Est, CF33 4RE ServiceShop.Ltd@Gmail.com Mon-Sat: 8.30am-5.30pm (1pm Sat) APPLIANCE REPAIR SHOP 0 1 656 67 0900 19TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

£ 7 . 9 9 f r o m 01 65 6 6 7 182 8 www.parcelpromise.co.uk email: info@parcelpromise.co.uk BUILDERS B A GS A V AI L ABLE KILN DRIED & SEASONED L OGS & C O AL FREE LOCAL DELIVERY FAST, EASY, DELIVERY NEED TO SEND A PARCEL? S outh Cornelly Trading Estate behind - petrol station PHONE FOR BEST PRICES 01656 671828 ISSUE 237 OCTOBER 2019

HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES

COVER PHOTO: Judi Russell, North Cornelly

HAND DELIVERED DIRECT TO LOCAL HOMES EVERY MONTH 27,000 COPIES

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Keri Harvey trading as Dragon Financial Services is an Appointed Representative of the On-Line Partnership Limited, which is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Think carefully about securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured against it. For investments, the value of units can fall as well as rise and you may not get back all your original investment. For pensions, this is a long term investment. The fund value may fluctuate and can go down. Your eventual income may depend on the size of the fund at retirement, future interest rates and tax legislation.

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