logo
How TrinityBridge helps businesses navigate change with confidence

How TrinityBridge helps businesses navigate change with confidence

As he reflects on the changes we have seen since the Financial Crisis, Bruce Saunderson, Private Client Director with TrinityBridge, tells us how a deep understanding of business exits, succession planning and wealth preservation allows him to help clients navigate life's financial turning points.
'I'm proud to be able to provide holistic financial planning and investment management services to clients and their families,' Bruce explains.
'My particular specialty is advising business owners in the run-up to an exit and helping them manage their finances after a business sale.'
This tailored approach is especially critical in today's volatile financial climate. Recent changes proposed in the UK's Autumn Budget last year – particularly around Inheritance Tax (IHT), pensions, and family businesses – have added complexity to the wealth management landscape.
Bruce notes: 'We have seen significant fiscal and economic upheaval before and my experience of advising clients through such troubled times allows me to help clients address the issues and concerns affecting them today'
'A significant amount of my work at the moment is centred around Inheritance Tax planning,' Bruce notes. 'The challenges presented by the proposed IHT changes are shared by a number of my clients and go beyond tax planning, to wider family succession issues. Given this added complexity, my focus is to deliver proven wealth management solutions that are tailored to individual clients and are designed to safeguard assets across generations.'
(Image: TrinityBridge's Bruce Saunderson is celebrating his 30th year working in Glasgow)
At TrinityBridge, the strategy is about combining time-tested solutions with a deep understanding of each client's unique circumstances. 'We work closely with our in-house investment specialist team to provide advice based on the specific needs, concerns, and objectives of our clients,' Bruce says.
'Having worked in professional practice for most of my career, I understand the importance and value that collaborating with clients' tax, legal and other professional advisers adds.'
This collaborative mindset is essential as shifts in financial legislation as well as geopolitical events can occur rapidly. 'Close coordination between financial planners and investment managers is vital to optimise clients' finances' Bruce emphasizes. 'We aim to take an integrated approach - everyone's financial situation and aspirations are different, so it's important to have a financial planner who understands these bespoke needs.'
Though TrinityBridge may be a new name, the firm's roots in Scotland – and Bruce's in Glasgow – run deep. 'I joined TrinityBridge in 2017. Glasgow has been my home for nearly 30 years, since graduating from Edinburgh University with a joint degree in Law and Accountancy.'
Bruce's career has spanned boutique firms and legal and Big Four giants, giving him a distinctively broad perspective. 'As a company, we are able to offer a great mix of expertise to clients – having a wide-reaching talent pool across the UK to draw from, paired with the ability to engage in local one-on-one relationships thanks to our regional footprint.'
Looking ahead, Bruce sees the firm's new name as a natural evolution.
'It's just another step on our journey,' he says.
'We have to the platform to continue to show clients that we are a great avenue to achieving their financial goals – not just for themselves, but for their families for years to come.'
As for personal milestones, there's one more on the horizon: 'I need to think about how I'm going to celebrate my 30th year of living in Glasgow,' Bruce laughs. With a legacy of trust and a future-focused mindset, TrinityBridge is not just managing wealth – it aims to shape financial legacies.
■ Please be aware that no investment, or investment strategy, is without risk. The value of investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested
www.trinitybridge.com

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Can we gift our daughter three of the bedrooms in our house to lower inheritance tax bill?
Can we gift our daughter three of the bedrooms in our house to lower inheritance tax bill?

Daily Mail​

time20 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Can we gift our daughter three of the bedrooms in our house to lower inheritance tax bill?

Inheritance tax is a minefield for us. We do not want to leave our daughter with a big tax bill after we die, but our house may be worth £1million in 20 years. We have been advised to make a trust under Section 102. We've also been told to give our daughter three of our bedrooms, then if the last person survives seven years the house will not be included in IHT. This is because it will already be registered with the Government, and she will only have to deal with probate on the remaining funds. The cost would be north of £5,000. I'm not clued up about this, so can this be set up so that the last person to die be after seven years? For example, I could die tomorrow but my wife could live over seven years. Any advice welcome. Angharad Carrick of This Is Money says: Inheritance tax (IHT) is a thorny issue and I understand why you and your wife do not want to leave your daughter with a huge tax bill. Frozen thresholds combined with rising asset prices, including the value of homes, investments and savings, are already dragging more people into the IHT net. IHT is levied at 40 per cent on estates above a certain size. As an individual, your estate needs to be worth more than £325,000 for your loved ones to have to pay IHT. This can be doubled to £650,000, jointly, for married couples or civil partners, who have not already used up any of their individual allowances. A further crucial allowance, the residence nil rate band, increases the threshold by £175,000 each for those who leave their home to direct descendants. This gives a total potential extra boost of £350,000 and creates a potential maximum joint inheritance tax-free total of £1million. Changes to the rules in 2027 will also bring pension pots into people's estates, which will only add to the numbers due to pay death duties. This Is Money recently revealed how this change will add thousands to some families' tax bill. There are several ways to mitigate the tax's impact, but the rules are complex. We asked some tax experts for some general thoughts on using a trust for IHT and whether it's possible to gift your daughter part of your property. What is a trust for IHT purposes? Natalie Butt, Director, Private Clients at Crowe, says: A trust is a mechanism whereby an individual can move assets out of their estate. To get relief from IHT, an individual would need to a) give the asset away and retain no benefit, and b) survive 7 years from the gift. When an individual gifts any asset into a Trust, this is a lifetime chargeable transfer and is subject to an immediate charge to IHT – on the basis that the individual has not settled Trusts in the preceding 7 years, they would have the first £325,000 at 0 per cent and the balance above at 20 per cent. Generally, if the settlor survives for 7 years after making a gift to a Trust and has no benefit, it will fall outside of their estate. Trusts come with both legal and taxation reporting requirements, including registration on the Trust registration service, which is managed by HMRC. Trusts are often irrevocable and should not be entered into without due care and attention. For IHT purposes, when a married couple, or couple in a civil partnership, put assets jointly into a Trust, they are deemed to have both made the gift on the percentage of what they bring to the table. For example, if a rental property was owned tenants in common with a 60/40 split, then the total value would be apportioned. If one of the couple were to die within the 7 years, then their gift will fall back into their estate. Can I gift bedrooms to lower the tax bill? Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter says: At the heart of this is a concept known as the 'seven-year rule'. If you give something away like a share in your property, and survive for seven years, then that gift is generally outside your estate for IHT purposes. But there's a key catch you can't still benefit from what you've given away. This is known as a 'gift with reservation of benefit' (GWR), and it means if you keep living in the house rent-free after giving it away, HMRC will treat it as still being part of your estate, and tax it accordingly. That's where Section 102 of the Finance Act 1986 comes in. It outlines the GWR rules and is designed to stop people dodging IHT while continuing to enjoy the benefit of the gifted asset. Simply giving your daughter three bedrooms, while you and your wife carry on living in the house, would fall foul of these rules even if one of you survives another seven years. Some people try to mitigate this by paying market rent to the person they've gifted the house to but that's often impractical, especially when the beneficiary is a close family member like a child. HMRC expects it to be properly documented and paid consistently. Butt says: It is very difficult to give away your family home and continue to live there. One option an individual may consider to help ease the impact of IHT is to take out a life assurance insure the tax. This policy could be written into Trust and be accessible straight away on death. It should be outside the scope of IHT and enable the beneficiaries to pay the tax. If that is not an option due to age, some individuals are considering lifetime mortgages and using the cash borrowed against the property to gift to children. The alternative is for the parents to pay market rate rent to their children for the gift to be IHT effective. This technique though depletes cash savings and means the children have a reporting obligation to HMRC for the rent received and creates an income tax charge for them, so this is probably seen as a last resort. It would be advisable for individuals considering their options to seek professional advice. Please note, we cannot give tax advice in isolation – we need to know the full picture of any clients' needs. However, we can provide general pointers that should not be relied on. Is there anything I can do to lower the IHT bill? Griffin says: The good news is that if your daughter is your direct descendant and the house is your main residence, then each of you currently has a £175,000 residence nil-rate band in addition to your £325,000 standard nil-rate band. That means, as a couple, you could potentially pass on £1million tax-free — as long as your estate meets the criteria and doesn't breach the £2million taper threshold. If those allowances remain in place and your only significant asset is your home, your daughter might not face an IHT bill at all. But of course, tax rules can and do change. It's also important to consider your own financial needs. Gifting away your home or locking it into a trust could limit your options later in life, particularly if you need to fund care or downsize. Probate may still be required, even if IHT isn't due, and it can come with administrative and legal costs. Getting clear advice from a financial planner or solicitor with estate planning expertise is a wise next step. In short, be cautious about complex gifting arrangements, especially if you're still living in the property.

Donald Trump calls Elon Musk 'man who has lost his mind' and won't talk to him'
Donald Trump calls Elon Musk 'man who has lost his mind' and won't talk to him'

Metro

timea day ago

  • Metro

Donald Trump calls Elon Musk 'man who has lost his mind' and won't talk to him'

President Donald Trump has dubbed his former pal Elon Musk as a man who 'lost his mind' and is refusing to speak with him. Trump on Friday morning reportedly seemed rather uninterested in the fiery verbal feud with Musk that blew up just hours earlier. Asked if he had a call with Musk set for later in the day, Trump just before 7am said: 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Trump told ABC News that he was 'not particularly' keen on speaking at the moment with Musk, who used his X (formerly Twitter) platform to engage in a real time war of words on Thursday. The president said that Musk wants to speak with him, but said he is not ready to do so. A Trump adviser who was with him on Thursday night said that he appeared more 'bummed' about the breakup with Musk that angry, according to the news outlet. The feud exploded when the president suggested in a press conference that Musk has 'Trump derangement syndrome' and claimed that the Tesla CEO opposes his 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill' because it cuts consumer tax credits for electric vehicles. Trump and his former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief sparred for hours and the feud escalated to an unbelievable level. By Friday, it had quieted down considerably. More Trending While Trump's opponents rejoiced in the seeming end to the bromance, many of his supporters hoped that they would reconcile, sooner rather than later. Musk's father, Errol Musk, said he urged his son to put an end to the fight. 'I haven't spoken to him, but I did send him a message, you know, telling him to make sure this fizzles out,' he told Al Arabiya English from Delhi Airport. 'Trump, of course, will prevail, because he is has been voted in by the majority of the people in America.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Coca-Cola recalls Topo Chico mineral water over fears of bacteria MORE: Donald Trump's new anti-terror chief is a 22-year-old former gardener MORE: Donald Trump and Elon Musk might make peace – but it will never last

Fed's Bowman lays out ambitious agenda to overhaul and ease bank oversight
Fed's Bowman lays out ambitious agenda to overhaul and ease bank oversight

Reuters

timea day ago

  • Reuters

Fed's Bowman lays out ambitious agenda to overhaul and ease bank oversight

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's new top regulatory official laid out an ambitious agenda for revisiting and easing numerous bank rules and oversight policies which she argued have become onerous and unnecessary. Michelle Bowman, who was confirmed to be the Fed's Vice Chair for Supervision on Wednesday, said the Fed will be reconsidering how it writes rules and polices some of the nation's largest and most complex banks. In prepared remarks, she argued that the influx of rules since the 2008 financial crisis merits reconsideration. "Our goal should not be to prevent banks from failing or even eliminate the risk that they will. Our goal should be to make banks safe to fail, meaning that they can be allowed to fail without threatening to destabilize the rest of the banking system," she said. Bowman, who has served as a Fed governor since 2018, has long been critical of efforts to impose stricter rules on the banking sector. In her first remarks since being confirmed to the Fed's top regulatory post, she said the Fed will soon launch numerous projects aimed at easing requirements and streamlining oversight, including in many areas that have been longtime targets for complaints by banks. Among those initiatives will be changes to how the Fed supervises large banks, plans to make some bank rules less restrictive, and a consideration of changes that could ease the bank merger process.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store