John Husband answers your personal finance questions

Ask the expert: John Husband

John Husband runs the Money Clinic for Saga Magazine and has been writing about business and personal finance for 40 years

He is also Personal Finance Editor of the Daily Mirror and has just won the Personal Finance Editor of the year award for the second time. He holds two Lifetime Awards for Achievement in Personal Finance Journalism.

He is a member of the Financial Services Authority's Treating Customers Fairly Consultative Committee, a trustee of the Mirror Group's pension scheme and a member of its Investment Committee.

John is on hand to answer your money queries. Here is a selection of your latest questions:

Q. What is the inheritance tax position concerning farms and farm land?

A. Farmland, farm buildings and cottages usually qualify for 100 per cent agricultural property relief where the deceased owned the farm two years before death. But the relief relates strictly to their value for agricultural use only.

You can find more detailed information on the Government's website www.hmrc.gov.uk. For advice talk to an inheritance tax expert such as an accountant or independent financial adviser. See also our online Inheritance Tax Guide

Q. I will reach pension age in January 2010 with a deficient NI contribution record. However, with the change to a 30-year record for women from April 2010, I would meet then this criteria. So should I defer taking my pension until the April to enable me to receive a full pension?

A. That's well worth considering. But the bill has not yet been passed by Parliament so we'll have to wait and see exactly what the rules will be. Meanwhile you should take advantage of the next four years to save as much as you can afford towards a pension before you retire.

• Email John Husband your finance and money questions at web.editor@saga.co.uk
  

This article was created: 5 January 2007.
This article was last edited: 30 April 2007.

Email  Back to top