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Over the last few weeks I have been presenting the annual review of the Spofforths pension scheme to its members. This is always interesting for me, as I get to meet people outside of the usual demographic range plus the Spofforths Financial Planning clients. True, there are plenty of accountants in their 50’s and above but there are also many in their 20’s and 30’s.

I was delighted to welcome more than one hundred guests to Christ’s Hospital School on Wednesday, as they attended our free wealth management seminar. The event was a great success and we received positive feedback following the presentations from our wealth management team. The school was the perfect venue for the seminar and John Franklin, the Head Master, kindly gave us all a tour of its ancient chapel.

Yesterday saw the launch of the new long-term tax free savings accounts, known as Junior ISAs. These are available for children who are under 18, live in the UK and don't have an Child Trust Fund. Like an 'adult' ISA each child can have one cash and one 'stocks and shares' Junior ISA at any one time. Anybody can put money into a Junior ISA, the total being £3,600 each year. Interest and gains received in this account will be tax free.

These documents will provide you and your nearest and dearest with peace of mind by protecting your assets and allowing health decisions to be made for you should you become unwell. Life can be very uncertain and if the worst happens you should feel comforted that you have made all of the necessary arrangements to ensure your assets are not only protected but can also be accessed for your benefit and for those whom you support. Your spouse, partner or children for instance.

A very respected charity has just revealed that one in three people with a Will have admitted it is out of date and needs amending. In money terms, this means that over £1.1 trillion of assets could be at risk of ending up in the wrong hands. What a frightening thought! We remind all our clients to dust off their Wills and check that they are still up to date after as little as three years. What were you doing three years ago? The top five major life events are marriage, divorce, an addition to the family, the death of a family member and cohabitation. Have any of these occurred to you during that period? These are but a few of the major life events which might cause us all to think about updating our Wills.

This week David Cameron announced that a new fund will be set up to finance charities and social enterprises. Big Society Capital, estimated to be £600m, is a mixture of money from dormant bank accounts and the main High Street lenders. To receive funding social enterprises must prove they can repay an investment through the income they generate.