The aim of Movember is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.

Informed Choice managing director Martin Bamford has donated the space above his top lip to Movember for the first time this year.

After eleven days, and despite being on the receiving end of numerous insults, Martin has persevered and is well on track to grow a healthy looking Mo by the end of the month.

You can support Movember and Martin’s effort at http://mobro.co/martinbamford.

Martin is also posting regular photo updates on his Twitter page at www.twitter.com/martinbamford.

If you are participating in Movember this year, please tell us about it using the comments section below this blog.

Where death occurs on or after 6th April 2012 and at least 10% of the value of the net estate has been left to a registered charity, a reduced rate of inheritance tax will apply.

This reduced rate is effectively a 10% discount off the standard 40% rate of inheritance tax, so a reduced rate of 36% rather than 40%.

To qualify for this reduced rate of inheritance tax, the 10% of the estate left to charity on death is calculated after the removal of any inheritance tax exemptions, reliefs and the available nil-rate band.

It is important therefore to understand it is not 10% of the gross estate being left to charity which results in the inheritance tax discount, but 10% of the net estate after these deductions have been made.

The nil-rate band for inheritance tax remains frozen at £325,000 until 6th April 2015, so growth in the value of property and investments will be resulting in larger inheritance tax liabilities between now and then.

The first port of call when considering inheritance tax and estate planning is often a solicitor. We recommend speaking to a solicitor who specialises in estate planning, with membership of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) a good qualification to look out for.

It is usually worth having a meeting with a Financial Planner before speaking to your solicitor about estate planning.

We often find that we can save our clients a great deal of time (and money) by working with them to establish estate planning objectives within an overall Financial Plan before referring them to a suitable solicitor to implement some or all of the recommended measures.

Do speak to us if the future cost of inheritance tax for you or a parent is a concern or if you have any questions about the announcements made in the Budget yesterday.

Photo credit: Flickr/Mr. T in DC

New research from Unbiased.co.uk, the professional advice website, found that some simple changes to giving practices could help charities net over £1 billion a year in money that is currently being wastefully claimed by the taxman.

UK adults gave a total of £9.9 billion to charity in 2007/08. According to this research, these gifts could be boosted by nearly 12.5% if donors had made full use of the tax allowances available to them.

The most tax efficient way to donate to charity is via Gift Aid. This is a form of opt-in tax relief on money donated to UK charities, allowing the charities to reclaim basic rate income tax relief on the money.

With Christmas fast approaching, and little prospect of the Treasury making the Gift Aid system ‘opt-out’ rather than ‘opt-in’, this is a simple way to ensure you make the most of any charitable donations.

In keeping with previous years, we have once again decided to make a donation to charity instead of sending Christmas cards to our clients and professional connections.

The charity we are supporting is Facing the World.

This is a children’s charity set up by some of the UK’s leading craniofacial surgeons so that children in desperate need, living without hope in the world’s poorest countries, can have access to the very best surgery that can transform their faces and radically change their quality of life.

You can find out more about the work of Facing the World at www.facingtheworld.net.