Keep working on the tax riddles

Asset allocation approaching retirement is largely determined by personal preference and circumstances, but tax is a key consideration for most investors as retirement is a point when three major taxes come into play

Asset allocation is not an exact science. There are at least five key considerations, which are complicated by one overriding question: how long are we going to live? The five issues to bear in mind are: tax, income, time horizons, attitude to risk and personal preference. Two of these considerations are relatively straightforward: tax and income. That is to say, what is the tax position of the client and what is their future income requirement? We will deal with tax in more detail below. Suffice to say, clients do not only need to look at their income and capital gains tax liabilities as...