Speculation season is in full swing. In the months leading up to the autumn Budget, it has become standard for a deluge of possible measures to be floated in the press, sometimes as a result of government leaks. Property taxes will be reformed, pension tax relief will be cut, gifting rules will be tightened . . . all options get their time in the sun.

But the truth is, we just don’t know. We can’t rule anything out. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is in a tight spot: if she wants to stick with her self-imposed fiscal rules, she will probably need to either cut spending or increase taxes – perhaps both. The government has also promised not to increase taxes on “working people”, which leaves precious little space for manoeuvre.

All the tax changes mentioned above are possible, but for this very reason, managing your finances by trying to guess which will materialise is grasping at straws. So this is your yearly reminder not to panic ahead of the Budget.

Some fresh figures bring the dangers of speculation into sharp relief. According to data from the Financial Conduct Authority, savers took out £10.7bn in tax-free lump sums from their pensions in the six months to 31 March 2025. This is the period that includes last year’s Autumn Budget and the month leading up to it.

The figure marks a 41 per cent increase on the previous six months, and a 76.3 per cent increase on the six months to March 2024. Overall, in 2024-25 savers took £18.7bn (35.9 per cent) more from their pensions than they had done the year before.

There are two factors at play here: the government’s decision to apply inheritance tax (IHT) to pensions from April 2027, which was announced in the Autumn Budget; and fears over the tax-free lump sum being scrapped in the run-up to it.

“While some savers and retirees will doubtless have taken their tax-free cash as part of a well-thought-out plan, you can’t help feeling that much of this increase is a slightly panicked dive into pensions sparked by uncertainty over policy change,” says Emma Sterland, chief financial planning officer at Evelyn Partners.

In the end, there was no particular advantage in taking money out of your pension before the Budget: the tax-free lump sum survived unscathed, while the IHT changes were announced well in advance, giving people time to plan.

When it comes to pensions, things rarely happen overnight; protections are typically put in place to mitigate the impact of the changes on people who had been making long-term plans based on the previous system.

“Taking tax-free cash early, without a particular need for it, means that you are taking funds that are growing in a tax-protected environment to one where they could be subject to capital gains, dividend or savings interest taxation,” Sterland explains. “Many people last year who withdrew their tax-free lump sum purely due to Budget fears found themselves trying to reverse the process when nothing happened – with varying degrees of success.”

It is happening again this year. Advisers say they spend a lot of time talking about potential Budget changes with their clients, trying to make sure they don’t do anything rash. If you were going to take your tax-free cash out anyway soon and have a purpose for it, then you can consider getting the process started. But otherwise, you risk doing your finances more harm than good.

In idle moments, it’s fun to imagine what you would do with a big lump of cash. A lottery win, perhaps, or a windfall from a long-lost aunt.

Thinking about passing on money is considerably less pleasant. Estate planning can feel like a morbid affair, given the inevitable focus on death. It is necessary, however. Getting your investments in order before you pass away can spare your loved ones a great deal of pain – both emotional and financial.

How to pass assets down to children is a key consideration for many people, but it’s not the only one. Spouses are often first in line to inherit. Despite their older age, ‘baby boomers’ could account for half of global wealth transfers in the next decade, according to EY, with women set to be the main beneficiaries.

Each situation comes with its own challenges. Regardless of who you plan to leave your estate to, however, a few basic steps can ward off problems down the line.

1) Make a list

It is easy to accumulate lots of bank accounts, Isas, pensions and insurance policies over time. And nowadays, there is often no paper trail. 

“Think about compiling them in one document or a spreadsheet, and making sure your family knows where it is,” says Alice Guy, an independent pension expert and chartered accountant. “For probate, they will need to find everything. Having it all in one place could speed up the process and make it a bit less stressful.”

Obtaining a grant of probate is not the only hurdle. When someone dies, loved ones sometimes have to submit a tax return on their behalf. This is nigh on impossible if your finances are a black box.

Start by making a list of the assets you have, which provider they are with, and roughly how much they are worth. Beware of listing passwords, however. When someone dies, executors of the will should not use passwords or PINs to access their online accounts. In fact, they could run into legal trouble if they do so. Instead, they need to go directly to the companies to gain access. 

Categorising your investments means your beneficiaries are less likely to miss out on money that’s rightfully theirs. This is a big problem. The UK is home to a staggering £50bn of ‘dormant’ assets, according to 2022 estimates, consisting of everything from pensions to Premium Bonds. 

2) Keep things simple

If step one proves arduous, it might be the moment for a spring clean.

“During a very difficult time for a bereaved survivor, there is some comfort in dealing with an estate that is administratively simple,” says Lisa Whiting from Fidelity’s wealth management team.

If you have lots of paper share certificates, you may want to digitise them. Most of the big investment platforms will allow you to do this, and it typically involves filling in a Certificateless Registry for Electronic Share Transfer (Crest) form.

You may also want to consolidate your pensions, close old bank accounts, and deal with particularly fiddly things such as foreign assets. If you have very small amounts invested in certain funds or shares, it might also be time to cut them loose. 

3) Make a will – and don’t forget your pension

When it comes to estate planning, making a will is the single most important thing you can do. And yet, 53 per cent of adults aged between 50 and 64 do not have one.

Efforts are being made to address this. ‘Free Wills Month’ is a UK-wide campaign, where charities partner with solicitors to offer over-55s the chance to have a simple will written or updated for free. It is due to kick off again in October. However, if your circumstances are more complex, it is probably worth paying for tailored support.

Once you have made a will, there are a couple of other documents to attend to. Pensions are not usually covered by your will. Instead, you have to fill in an ‘expression of wish form’ to tell the scheme provider who you would like to inherit your savings. They will usually follow your wishes, but they are not legally bound by them. 

“You could get a scenario where someone has got divorced but still has their ex-wife as the beneficiary of their pension because they hadn’t updated it,” says Guy. “The pension company would then have to make a decision.”

Last but not least: sort out a lasting power of attorney (LPA). An LPA is a legal document that lets you appoint people to make decisions on your behalf, if you lose mental capacity. This is clearly a major decision, and many people instruct a solicitor to help. 

4) Talk

So far, there has been a lot of paperwork. Talking is a key part of passing on a portfolio, however. 

‘‘It’s about being transparent,” says Jack Cornell, a relationship manager at Fidelity. “I think, as a country, we’re not particularly good at that. But you need to think about the people who will inherit the money, and what their objectives are. It’s not nice to have morbid conversations – but it’s prudent to have a plan in place.”

In couples, there is often one person who handles the finances and another who is less involved. This can cause issues if the savvy investor dies first. It’s useful, therefore, to have conversations well in advance. 

The first thing to cover is the current state of the household finances; your list will come in handy here. Once that’s ticked off, however, you can look to the future. Would your partner prefer risky or less risky investments? Do they want to manage an extensive portfolio? And what do they actually want to do with the money? Research suggests that women are more likely to want to pass on wealth in their lifetime than men, for example. 

Getting children involved can also be helpful. “There’s real value in taking an intergenerational approach,” says Robin Melley, managing director of Matrix Capital Financial Planning. “We’ve had some really fabulous outcomes where we’ve managed to persuade mum and dad – who came for advice – to involve their children.”

5) Review your investments

These conversations lead neatly on to step five: review your investment approach. For starters, do you want to stay invested in the first place? Much of this will depend on who you are leaving your investments to, what they will use the money for, and how long before they need to use it.

Assuming you’re happy to stay invested, now might be a good moment to re-evaluate your portfolio. If your partner is not keen on DIY investing, could you trim your exposure to individual stocks and active funds and opt for a multi-asset fund offering a ‘ready-made’ portfolio instead. You could also choose a small selection of passive trackers, but these still require reviewing and rebalancing over time, so your partner will need a degree of understanding of investing to keep on top of things.

There is also a question of how many investments are too many. For example, Fidelity customers with portfolios of between £100,000 and £200,000 have an average of eight fund holdings. And those with larger portfolios don’t keep buying more and more, with the number plateauing at roughly 17 for clients with between £500,000 and £800,000.

6) Think about who owns what

For couples intending to pass assets to each other, joint ownership is also something to consider. This is because it will ensure accounts pass immediately to the survivor, without the need for a lengthy probate process.

“That can be convenient,” says Robin Melley. “But you have to take a holistic approach and consider other factors like inheritance tax planning. Owning assets jointly does simplify matters, but sometimes that simplification can unwind some of the planning.”

Isas cannot be held jointly. But it is possible to pass an Isa to your spouse or civil partner and keep the tax benefits, thanks to something called the “additional permitted subscription” (APS) allowance.

Regardless of who the contents of the Isa have been left to, your partner will inherit this allowance from you. This sits on top of the usual £20,000 limit and is the value of the Isa on the day someone dies or when the account closes (whichever is higher).

Jemma Slingo writes about investing for fund manager Fidelity International