The proposal accepted by the Government this week that tuition fees for students could be unlimited has set alarm bells ringing for many families.

Business Secretary Vince Cable endorsed radical funding reforms put forward by Lord Browne which could see students expected to pay tuition fees of around £7,000, more than double current levels, from 2012.

This will worry many families with children coming up towards university age and underlines the fact that financial planning should focus on the whole family and not just those with an established career or business.

If the proposal becomes law, young people will be expected to begin to pay off their debt, which could run into tens of thousands of pounds, as soon as their earnings hit £21,000 per annum. Student bodies have claimed that this could deter those looking at higher-priced courses at the more expensive universities.

Under the proposal, the student themselves will pay off the loan but, we all know, this sort of burden is likely to increase the calls on the “bank of mum and dad”. This is where putting a plan into place for the whole family comes in. Not only does it help to clarify where these extra funds will come from but it also helps to establish the concept of financial planning for the younger members of the family, ensuring that they understand the implications of their decisions and are able to make the right choice about which course to take, whatever the cost.

It is never too early to establish a life plan. The beauty of the process is that it takes the fear out of dealing with financial issues while remaining completely flexible. The student can look at all the “what ifs”, from how they will pay back the loan from the basic salary level of £21,000, to what the implications are if they earn double that sum in their first job.

Hot on the heels of July's announcement of the end of compulsory annuitisation at age 75 comes another major change to pension regulation.

The Treasury announced yesterday it is to cut the annual allowance for pension saving from £255,000 to £50,000 from next April.

The change will affect 100,000 pension savers, 80 per cent of which have incomes above £100,000, according to the Treasury. Pension savings above this level will be subject to a 55 per cent tax charge. Individuals paying 50 per cent tax will be able to claim relief at the full marginal rate.

Individuals will be able to offset unused parts of the allowance over a three year period to allow for one-off spikes in contributions over the £50,000 limit.

The lifetime allowance will be cut from £1.8m to £1.5m in April 2012. The Treasury will consult later this year about measures to help those who are close to and may breach the new limit.

For defined benefit schemes, increases in benefits will be valued at a factor of 16 compared to the current factor of 10. The increase is less than many had expected.

The new structure was put to consultation in July following widespread criticism of the previous administration’s proposal, the High Income Tax Relief Charge, which involved an earnings test, an age-related method of valuing final salary and other defined benefit pensions, and a complex tapering of tax relief for earnings between £150,000 and £180,000.

The changes will not affect the vast majority of savers. A financial planning rule of thumb is to save 12% of income per annum to ensure lifetime financial security. With the ISA allowance of £10,200 per annum and a pension allowance of £50,000 per annum, an individual would have to be earning in excess of £500,000 pa before he or she would be unable to direct all savings into these two tax-privileged savings vehicles.

The reduction in the lifetime allowance is something that needs to be monitored closely, especially for those approaching this figure, or indeed already in excess of £1.5 million.

One moor esteem on the agenda for the next round of annual reviews!