The Paraplanners' Assembly Podcast

The rules are changing and from April 2027 unspent pension pots will fall within the scope of inheritance tax. Draft legislation is now published, and there’s plenty for paraplanners to get to grips with. This Assembly looks at how we got here, and where we need to go with less than nine months to go. We looked at what the May 2026 HMRC technical note and draft legislation actually confirmed, what...

We got together online at 1pm on Wed 17 June 2026 for The Self-Assembly Paraplanning Show. Why 'Self-Assembly'? Because host Sam Tonks and guests Alan Gow , Jackie Manning and Kimberley Malin started out with four talking points to cover in one lunch-hour. The topics were – how the paraplanning year has gone so far – what's coming up for paraplanners – what could be a thing but isn't yet, and – wh...

Setting up your own outsourced paraplanning business can be an exciting prospect but going into it with your eyes open and with the benefit of other people’s hard-won experience makes for a much stronger start. This Assembly brings together three paraplanners who’ve recently done exactly that, for an honest conversation about what it’s really like. Join us online at 1.00 pm on Wednesday 3 Jun...

Host Leanne Pickering from Pivotal Paraplanning is joined by James Jones-Tinsley, self-invested pensions technical specialist at Barnett Waddingham, to catch up on what's been happening in Parliament and politics and what it means in practice for paraplanners and their clients. They cover the: local election results state opening of Parliament new Enhancing Financial Services Bill Pension Schemes...

Trusts used to be the kind of thing you’d come across every now and again. Something to dust off the knowledge for, handle carefully, then put back on the shelf. That’s changing. With pension IHT changes on the horizon, trust planning is becoming a regular fixture on paraplanners’ desks and the paraplanners best placed to support their clients will be the ones who can approach it with genuine conf...

Think about the last time you worked on a financial plan for a family with a child or adult with special educational needs or a disability. How confident were you that the plan truly reflected what that family needs, not just now, but for the long term? As paraplanners, we’re in a position to make a real difference but only if we understand what good planning for these families actually looks like...

The tax landscape has shifted significantly over the past couple of years. Allowance reductions, rising dividend tax rates and the proposed extension of IHT to unused pensions means there's plenty for paraplanners to get to grips with — and plenty of opportunity to add real value for clients. This Assembly cuts through the complexity and gives you a clearer picture of how different tax wrappers wo...

When a client is moving into retirement and suddenly becomes far more aware of every market dip, smoothed funds can feel like an obvious solution. But how well do you really understand what’s happening under the bonnet? More providers are launching smoothed funds, which means they’re cropping up more often in research and recommendations. Yet the mechanics and the meaningful differences between th...

Salary sacrifice – or salary exchange – has been around for ages. But a proposal in last autumn’s Budget to cap the national insurance relief available on pension contributions has brought it into sharp focus. We racked our brains but don’t think that we’ve ever explored the essentials of salary sacrifice for paraplanners so, while the Finance Bill is making its way through Parliament, we decided...

Think about the last financial plan you worked on for a couple. Who led the conversation? Whose risk profile shaped the recommendations? And if one partner wasn’t at the meeting – or didn’t really engage when they were – how much of a difference did that make to the plan you produced? If you’re not sure, that might be the point. As paraplanners, we work with the information we’re given. But some o...

Pensions will become subject to inheritance tax (IHT) from April 2027, but how much of a role does protection play in your approach to building IHT strategies for your clients? And how confident are you about the protection options that are available to you? But with IHT receipts expected to almost double, and sweeping changes to business and agricultural property relief already landing from April...

Back in November, guests from CISI, PFS and LIBF joined us to talk about what the professional bodies can do for paraplanners. But there was  too much to cover  in just one session. So we’ve invited  Nicola Mellor  (PFS),  Chris Morris  (CISI) and  Sally Plant  (LIBF) back   to pick up where they left off. This time around, they answered questions inclu...

We’ve been recording ‘Technically speaking’ sessions with Utmost’s Steve Sayer for a few years now. And because they offer really crunchy case-study based content, they’re really popular with paraplanners.  But we like to plan ahead so late last year, we sat down with Steve and the team at Utmost to talk about the ‘Technically speaking’ plans for 2026. During the conversation, Steve talked ab...

How are you feeling about this year’s tax year end? Whether you’re already deep in the detail or still getting your head around everything that’s changed or going to change, one thing’s certain: there’s plenty to think about. From pension allowances and ISA planning to the upcoming changes to Business Relief and Agricultural Relief, the list of considerations for clients seems longer than ever. An...

The Government's Finance Bill which includes the provision for pensions to become subject to inheritance tax (IHT) has reached a critical point in its progress through Parliament. But as James Jones-Tinsley from Barnett Waddingham explains in this 15-minute briefing recorded especially for the Paraplanners’ Assembly, the measure isn’t necessarily a done deal. He suggests that the government’s rece...

In the second of her two-part special on AI in paraplanning, Zara Okoro asks where we are heading as a profession. What plans are AI tool providers and financial planning practices likely to pursue in future? And what could it mean for the role of paraplanner itself? In conversation with Benjamin Fabi of Principled Paraplanning , Aram Kupelian of Holden and Partners , Jonny Stubbs of Brooks Financ...

In the first of a two-part special on AI in paraplanning,  Zara Okoro  hears about the tools paraplanners are using now, the ways they’re being adopted, and the boundaries practitioners are drawing when it comes to their use. In conversation with Benjamin Fabi of  Principled Paraplanning , Aram Kupelian of  Holden and Partners , Jonny Stubbs of  Brooks Financial , and Ben...

Budget measures are often the subject of media speculation. But the level of attention in the run-up to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget statement on 26 November 2025 was unprecedented. So did the reality match the hype?  For our final Assembly of 2025, we invited Les Cameron from M&G Wealth to join us and share his latest thoughts on what paraplanners need to know following Rache...

It’s been more than a decade since auto-enrolment in workplace pensions was first introduced by the UK Government. And it’s fair to say that the measure has transformed the level of pension saving in the workplace. Plus it’s transformed the role that businesses (and their owners) can play in the financial wellbeing of their employees. Mind you, there are plenty of paraplanners who weren’t around w...

As paraplanners, many of us hold memberships with Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), Personal Finance Society (PFS), or pay for LIBF courses. So we pay our fees, collect our CPD, and maybe sit an exam or two. But are we really getting the most from these organisations?  What do they offer that can support us in our careers? And is one more suited to me than another? Or...

When a client dies, their will isn’t necessarily the final word on how their estate gets distributed. Deeds of variation and disclaimers give beneficiaries a valuable window – two years from death – to reshape inheritances in ways that can reduce tax bills and improve family outcomes – often both. In the latest episode in our ‘Technically speaking’ series, we invited Steve Sayer from Utmost to joi...

It's more than a year since speculation ahead of last autumn's Budget led to a surge of savers raiding their pension pots in a bid to beat rumoured changes to tax-free lump sums.  But when no changes were announced and people sought to reverse their withdrawals, they discovered that the 30-day cancellation rule didn't apply. Or did it? That confusion over conduct of business rules led to call...

If you want to know what's on the minds of other paraplanners, then this is definitely the Assembly for you. That’s because Scottish Widows's Craig Spittal joined host, Richard Allum , and guest Alison Neale of Principle Paraplanning , to exclusively reveal key findings of this year's Scottish Widows ' Paraplanner Survey ahead of it's formal publication in November 2025. Original insights on...

As paraplanners, we have the power to transform retirement outcomes by understanding how product innovations can take these critical risks off the table. But are we truly using the full toolkit available to us? Or are we sticking with conventional approaches that might not deliver the stable, reliable income our clients need? It matters because retirement planning has evolved beyond traditional dr...

In this bonus episode, The Big Day Out 2025 hosts, Aleks Sasin and Chris Wormell , join one of the Paraplanners' Assembly organisers, Maxine Cameron , to look forward to our annual gathering at FarmED near Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds. In 20 minutes you'll learn all about: the practical AI session with Harriet Mayer that's focused on hands-on writing tools that work for all experience levels,...