Tax is a necessary evil. If we want to live in a country with access to public services, taxation is the system used to pay for these services. We can (and do!) argue and moan about the different levels of tax payable and whether they are levied fairly. But at the end of the day, the money to be used for public services has to be collected somewhere.

Are we finally getting back to normal? It’s great to see people out and about again as the country eases itself out of lockdown. And for all of those retail businesses that were forced to close their doors, the early signs are good with the example of footfall on Grafton Street back to approx. 90% of the pre-pandemic levels.  

We’re currently doing a lot of planning work with clients whose financial situations have changed greatly in the last 18 months. As part of this process, we’ve taken a little bit of time to stop and reflect on some of the changes to their lives in general, how these might impact their future and how these changes feed through into their financial plans. We’ve noticed a number of themes emerging.

We decided to write about this topic after listening to a very sad radio interview recently. It was with a father of three children, who had recently been bereaved after the death of his life partner of 20 years, the mother of his children. She passed away as the result of a medical condition, that was further complicated when she contracted Covid-19.