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Clientele Category: High And Ultra High Net Worth Individuals

Michael Willgrass

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Expertise

Michael’s expertise lies within a wide range of financial planning. He has considerable previous experience in restructuring restricted stock units, performance share units, and bonus payments. Michael also enjoys working with offshore capital to ensure efficiencies are being utilised.

In addition, he has a lot of experience in drawdown planning and helping to structure tax efficient income streams; with a particular focus on comparing pension drawdown solutions.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

Experience

Michael joined Apollo Private Wealth in 2019, following three years’ experience in the financial services industry, including a year with Natixis SA working on the fixed income desk within the investment banking division. Then followed a move to Amsterdam, where Michael worked on the fixed income brokerage desk for a boutique sales trader, STX Fixed Income. After his experience in Amsterdam, Michael decided to join the private wealth sphere, and in 2018 completed a 12 month intensive SJP Financial Adviser Academy programme.

Michael takes great pride in creating long term relationships with his clients. Through holistic financial planning and investment solutions, he efficiently propositions his clients’ portfolios in order to maximise their wealth potential. He predominantly works with professionals in the private equity, legal, technology and investment banking industries.

Michael is also the Head of Advisory Development at Apollo Private Wealth. He undertook this role in 2023, to train our financial advisers, ensuring their development and growth is well looked after.

Qualifications

  • CII Level 4 Financial Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning
  • Leadership Principles Diploma, Harvard Business School
  • BSc Economics, University of Sheffield

Personal interests

Michael enjoys spending time with family, and playing sport. In particular, he is a keen golfer and cyclist. Michael has a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Ixtlan. He also loves to play chess, travel, and takes an interest in ancient civilisations.

Angelo Crisafulli

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Expertise

Angelo takes a holistic approach to his clients’ financial planning, providing support in areas including; investment planning; retirement planning; estate planning; tax planning; and protection. In particular, he works with; high net worth individuals; senior executives; professionals in the investment banking, hedge fund, private equity and asset management sectors; and small business owners.

Experience

With over 25 years’ experience in the financial sector, Angelo began his career as an investment manager for primary asset managers and banks, including Deutsche Bank and Anima SGR; before moving into wealth management.

Coming through the SJP Financial Adviser Academy programme, Angelo joined Apollo Private Wealth at the end of 2017 and has since developed his experience in financial advisory and financial planning.

Qualifications

  • CISI Level 4 Qualification
  • Masters Degree in Economics, Bocconi University
  • MSc in Management Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

Personal interests

Away from work, Angelo enjoys spending time with his family, listening to music, reading a good book, and travelling, when he takes part in outdoor activities such as skiing, sailing and running.

Kabir Virk

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Expertise

Kabir creates long term relationships with his clients, through holistic tax planning and investment solutions, effectively managing their portfolios to maximise their wealth potential. He specialises in working with senior professionals in both private equity and investment banking, understanding the challenges that individuals face in these fields and providing them with the most appropriate solutions.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

Experience

Kabir has been with Apollo Private Wealth since 2018, prior to which he worked for a well-known US wealth management firm. He sees himself as having a metaphorical “seat on a client’s table” as an integral part of their big life decisions, helping them to achieve their goals.

Qualifications

  • Degree in Finance & Economics from University of Reno, Nevada USA
  • CISI Investment Advice Diploma Level 4

Richard Thorne

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Expertise

Within financial planning, Richard’s focus is on tax efficiency, whether someone is in the accumulation phase of wealth building, or whether they’re in drawdown during retirement.

Richard works with his clients to reduce their income tax liability, utilising annual allowances and approved tax efficient investment vehicles, while simultaneously ensuring they have a drawdown strategy ahead of retirement.

Taking a holistic approach, Richard looks to understand clients’ goals in order of priority, then designs a coherent financial plan; holding regular reviews and adjusting where required.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual circumstances.

Experience

Richard has worked in financial services since 2017, beginning his career in foreign exchange. Subsequently, he chose a career in wealth management as investing interested him from a young age.

Richard believes that financial planning is very important for everyone. He finds it rewarding to alleviate financial stress from his clients, so they can concentrate on other aspects of their lives.

Qualifications

  • Investment Advice Diploma – Level 4
  • BSC Information Management and Business Studies at Loughborough University

Personal interests

Richard likes to keep active and is a regular at his local gym. He grew up in the countryside with lots of walks on his doorstep and still loves hiking. 

Shil Shah

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Expertise

Shil takes pride in building strong, trusted, and long-lasting relationships with his clients, advising on a range of wealth management solutions. He specialises in providing bespoke solutions through his understanding of tax-smart investment and retirement strategies, estate planning and comprehensive protection policies.

Experience

Shil joined Apollo Private Wealth in 2023 and brings nearly a decade’s experience in the financial services industry. This included 2 years at Deloitte, and 6 years at KPMG, in their respective private client teams; working with HNW individuals and families in the UK.

Qualifications

  • CII Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland – ICAS Tax Professional (ITP)
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland – Chartered Accountant (CA)
  • BSc Mathematics, King’s College London

Personal interests

In his spare time, Shil enjoys spending quality time with his family; playing basketball; and is an avid Manchester United fan.

Victoria Trapitsyna

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Expertise

Victoria helps clients discover practical solutions to the financial issues that concern them most. She covers a wide range of financial planning elements, including; retirement planning; wealth protection and preservation; savings and investment planning and tax planning.

Victoria places great emphasis on maintaining a long term relationship with clients, and becoming a source of trusted advice as their financial needs evolve over the years.

Experience

Victoria has worked in financial services since 2014, but prior to that comes from a legal background.

Qualifications

  • Chartered Financial Planner
  • MBA, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning

Personal interests

Victoria loves travelling, and spending time with her children.

Tom Markovitch

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Saneka Francis-Lawrence

Expertise

Saneka helps HNW individuals and their families, across the financial planning spectrum including with protection, tax optimisation and estate planning.

Experience

Saneka joined Apollo in 2024 with over 10 years’ experience in banking and the financial services industry, ranging from the largest life insurance company in the Caribbean, to multinational banks including Santander and Lloyds. Most recently, Saneka was with another St. James’s Place practice for two years.

Qualifications

  • Level 4 Diploma for Financial Advisers (DIPFA) with London Institute of Banking and Finance.
  • BA in History from University of the West Indies

Personal interests

Saneka spends as much time as she can creating memories with her son and their family. She loves to read a good book in her downtime.

Tax Optimisation For Income & Assets

Introduction

Many high-net-worth investors don’t think about the tax efficiency of their investments until the end of the tax year approaches in April. But it shouldn’t be a once-a-year job.

Over a lifetime, careful tax planning can significantly boost your wealth, and the most effective tax planning comes from thinking about tax every time you make an important financial decision.

So, whether you’re just starting out, retired or somewhere in between, take advantage of the reliefs and allowances available to you. Here are seven tax planning tips to make your money work much harder.

Need a bespoke financial plan crafted specifically for your unique requirements?

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Maximise your allowances

Don’t fall into the 60% tax trap

If you’re earning over £100,000 a year, you need to pay close attention to tax, as you could end up paying 60% Income Tax.

The income tax personal allowance for higher earners reduces by £1 for every £2 earned over £100,000 and creates an effective tax rate of 60% for earnings between £100,000 and £125,140.

This tax trap is easy to mitigate, though – by boosting your pension contributions, you can not only bring your taxable income down below £100,000, but you can also get that additional contribution topped up by 40% government tax relief and, potentially, employer contributions.

Read more about the 60% Tax Trap.

Anything above the basic rate of tax must be claimed via the individual’s tax return.

Maximise pension contributions

Pensions are a key factor to consider when optimising your tax year planning and it’s important to remember the tax relief you get by paying into a pension.

Basic rate taxpayers get government tax relief at 20%, which means it only costs £800 to invest £1,000.

Higher rate taxpayers get 40% tax relief on pension contributions. This means it only costs them £600 to invest £1,000.

And additional rate taxpayers enjoy 45% tax relief on pension contributions, with a £1,000 contribution only costing £550 in real terms.

If you haven’t been making contributions for a while or receive a lump sum, you can carry forward your pension allowance from the previous three tax years and still receive tax relief of up to 45% depending on your current and previous income.

Anything above the basic rate of tax must be claimed via the individual’s tax return and the above examples assume that you have then invested the additional tax relief claimed.

Fit for purpose savings

If you’re fortunate enough to be sitting on cash in savings accounts – including Cash ISAs – think about making it work harder.

Left in a savings account, your money will generally earn less interest, despite the Bank of England’s recent rate hikes. Over time, the real value of your money will be eroded by inflation. There are also limits on the amount of interest you can earn tax-free each year; £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers, £500 for higher rate taxpayers, and zero for those paying the additional rate. And in the long-term, it’s unlikely to get you much closer to achieving a financial goal – whether that’s saving for a house deposit, the trip of a lifetime or your retirement.

You have more potential to benefit from investing in a Stocks & Shares ISA. Of course, it needs to be money you can afford to tie up for five years-plus. But over time it should give you more bang for your ISA buck.

Assuming a consistent growth rate of 5% per annum net of fees, just £500 a month paid into a Stocks & Shares ISA could amount to £34,000 after five years.*

*The figure is an example only and not guaranteed. It is not a minimum or maximum amount. What you get back depends on how your investment grows and the tax treatment of the investment. You could get back more or less than this. An investment in a Stocks & Shares ISA does not provide the security of capital associated with a deposit account or Cash ISA with a bank or building society.

Splitting assets to mitigate Capital Gains Tax (CGT)

At some point, you may want to sell an asset at a profit. This could be anything from a second home to stocks and shares – or even valuable items such as jewellery or antiques. However, unless you’re holding them in an ISA, if you make a gain over £3,000, you could be liable for Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

There are ways you can cut your bill though. One is to give half of your holding to your partner, enabling you both to use your £3,000 CGT allowance – although this can be complicated so it’s worth seeking expert advice.

If that’s not an option, you can always try selling shares in two stages – March and April – enabling you to straddle two tax years.

A basic rate taxpayer will pay 10% tax on gains over £3,000 (or 18% on residential property and carried interest), while higher-rate and additional rate taxpayers incur a 20% charge (or 24% on residential property and 28% on carried interest), in the 2024/25 tax year.

Watch out for the dividend tax hike

If you run your own business and pay yourself using a combination of salary and dividends, or you hold shares in another company, it’s important to be aware that in April 2024 the allowance for tax free dividends halved, from £1,000, to only £500. The tax on dividends above this is 8.75% for basic-rate taxpayers, 33.75% for higher-rate taxpayers and 39.35% if you pay the additional rate of Income Tax.

So, if you’re earning any dividends outside a tax wrapper, consider putting them into a Stocks & Shares ISA if you haven’t already. Then no tax will be payable on any capital in your ISA or the income it generates.

Avoid raiding your pension

Your 50s and 60s can be an expensive period – you may want to help children out financially, do work on your home or see the world. Your pension might be a tempting pot of cash now that you can access it from age 55. But while dipping into your pension might be easy, it could cost you a fortune in tax.

Only the first 25% of any withdrawal is paid tax free; the remaining 75% will be added to your income for the year and taxed at your marginal rate. It may even bump you up a tax bracket and make you a higher or additional-rate taxpayer overnight. Consider using other assets – such as ISAs – first, especially as they will form part of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes, while pensions are not subject to Inheritance Tax.

Use your Gifting Allowance

Given the current economic uncertainty, financial contributions you make to your children are more valued than ever. But did you know your gift will not only help them out, but it could also save your future beneficiaries Inheritance Tax.

You can give away up to £3,000 of money or gifts each tax year without it being included in your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes – this is your ‘annual exemption’.

In additional to that, every tax year you can give a tax-free gift to someone getting married or entering a civil partnership. For a child you can gift £5,000, while the limit is £2,500 for a grandchild or £1,000 for anyone else. If you are giving to the same person, you can combine your annual exemption and wedding gift.

These allowances are per person, which means a couple could potentially give their child £16,000 tax free as a gift.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time. The value of any tax relief generally depends on individual circumstances.

Should you require more information or have particular questions, we invite you to contact us at your convenience.

Contact Us

Saving For Retirement

Introduction

Planning for retirement can sometimes feel like manoeuvring through a maze of financial choices, with each twist and turn bringing forth questions and possibilities. While pensions have long been the conventional choice for retirement savings, today’s financial world presents a myriad of alternatives to fortify your financial security.

It’s crucial to consider if you’ll have adequate funds to sustain the lifestyle you desire during retirement. While you might qualify for the State Pension, relying solely on it is unlikely to suffice. Moreover, you might wish to retire before reaching State Pension age (currenly 65, rising to 67 from 2028). Your tolerance for investment risk will also impact the saving and investment avenues you select, as they offer different levels of risk and potential returns.

This is where workplace and personal pensions, as well as other assets and investments, play a vital role. Investing in a pension scheme could assist in meeting your expenses and attaining the lifestyle goals you aspire to achieve.

Need a bespoke financial plan crafted specifically for your unique requirements?

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Retirement savings routes

Workplace pensions

If you’re employed and eligible, your company will automatically enrol you in their workplace pension scheme, kickstarting your retirement savings promptly.

Your contributions will be deducted from your monthly salary, with additional contributions from your employer, plus tax relief of up to 45% in some circumstances.

You’ll still have the freedom to choose how your funds are invested, allowing you to align with your investment preferences.

Anything above the basic rate of tax must be reclaimed via the individual’s tax return.

Auto-enrolment products are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Pensions for self-employed

For the self-employed, initiating a pension as you establish your business or career is advisable.

Some self-employed individuals regard their business as their retirement fund, intending to sell it when they choose to retire. However, many are inherently tied to their business, and if they retire, the business holds little residual value.

Consider the scenario where your business serves as your pension, but it faces financial collapse. In such a situation, not only would you lose your livelihood, but you’d also forfeit your retirement savings.

As a self-employed individual, you won’t benefit from an employer contributing to your pension in the same manner.

However, there are still significant tax advantages you shouldn’t overlook. For instance, you’re eligible for tax relief on your pension contributions, up to the lower of the income you pay yourself, or £60,000 per year.

Consulting a financial adviser is the simplest way to begin, as they can assist in launching your plan.

Alternatives to pensions

Indeed, there are alternative methods to save for retirement, such as utilising Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). It’s not necessarily an either/or decision; considering both options is beneficial as they frequently offer distinct flexibilities and advantages that complement each other.

ISAs and pensions represent distinct avenues for saving, catering to a mix of short, medium, and long-term financial objectives when utilised together. Here’s an overview of the key differences between ISAs and pensions:

  1. Tax Treatment:
    • ISAs: Contributions to ISAs are made from post-tax income, meaning there’s no tax relief on contributions. However, any interest, dividends, or capital gains earned within an ISA are tax-free.
    • Pensions: Contributions to pensions benefit from tax relief, meaning you receive tax relief on the amount you contribute, subject to certain limits. However, withdrawals from pensions are usually subject to income tax.
  2. Access to Funds:
    • ISAs: Funds in an ISA can typically be accessed at any time without penalty, providing flexibility for short-term financial needs.
    • Pensions: Funds in a pension are typically inaccessible until you reach the minimum pension age, currently set at 55 in the UK (subject to change), although there are some exceptions, such as ill health.
  3. Contribution Limits:
    • ISAs: There’s an annual contribution limit for ISAs, which is set by the government. For the 2024/25 tax year, the ISA allowance is £20,000.
    • Pensions: There are also limits on pension contributions, although they are generally more generous than ISA limits. The annual allowance for pension contributions can be up to £60,000, but this can be lower for high earners.
  4. Employer Contributions:
    • ISAs: There are no employer contributions for ISAs since they are individually owned and managed.
    • Pensions: Workplace pensions often include contributions from both the employee and the employer, making pensions a valuable way to save for retirement.
  5. Inheritance Tax (IHT) Considerations:
    • ISAs: ISAs are generally subject to inheritance tax if passed on to beneficiaries upon death, depending on individual circumstances.
    • Pensions: Pensions typically fall outside of your estate for inheritance tax purposes, making them a tax-efficient way to pass wealth on to beneficiaries.

By understanding these differences, and working with an expert financial adviser to plan your saving strategies in a tax-efficient way, aligned to your personal circumstances, you can make informed decisions about how to effectively utilise both ISAs and pensions to meet their financial goals at various stages of life.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time. The value of any tax relief generally depends on individual circumstances.

Should you require more information or have particular questions, we invite you to contact us at your convenience.

Contact Us

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