And how are you doing Kevin? Well thanks for asking, I’m not too bad in the circumstances.

One of the more encouraging Financial Planning stories this week came from wealth manager Brewin Dolphin which reported its Financial Planning income up by over 30% for the past half year.

The case for reform of the Pension Freedoms is growing with news this week that hundreds of thousands of consumers are taking money out of pensions and most likely shovelling it into low interest bank accounts.

The FCA has issued a warning over a New York-based advice firm, which, it says, is operating in the UK without authorisation.

Former Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd and Nicky Morgan, who recently chaired the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, are to stand down and not contest their seats in the upcoming General Election.

Standard Life Aberdeen’s is set to introduce a new parent leave policy from 1 January, which will give all parents 52 weeks leave with 40 weeks paid in full, regardless of gender.

A new report has revealed the best countries in Europe for retirees.

In total £535m has now been repaid to investors who were overtaxed on pension freedoms withdrawals since April 2015.

New figures published today by HMRC show that a total of £30bn has been withdrawn ‘flexibly’ from pensions, taking advantage of the new ‘pension freedoms’ introduced in 2015.  

The mean ‘gender pay gap’ at the Chartered Insurance Institute has almost halved in just two years, it has been revealed.