New research shows investors shunning financial advice
A new survey by the US fund management company Legg Mason paints a worrying picture about the financial ‘advice gap’ in the UK with only 4 in 10 Britons aged 40 years or more being prepared to pay...
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Keeping up to date with the taxation of investments.
Changes to the way investments are taxed have taken effect from the start of the 2016/17 tax year.A summary of the tax treatment of income, interest and dividends is set out in the table below.© The...
View ArticleLong-term interest rates hit a further new low
Back in 1980 I took out my first mortgage to buy a flat in Birmingham. The flat was very affordable and required only a modest mortgage to buy it. I had, though, to budget carefully to accommodate the...
View ArticleDo the fluctuations in sterling’s value affect households?
As the referendum campaign has proceeded much focus has been placed on the ups and downs in sterling’s value. Gains in the opinion polls for the ‘leave’ campaign have been associated with a fall in the...
View ArticleMore joy for borrowers, more gloom for savers
The financial consequences of the Brexit vote on 23rd June are already hitting the public. The slump in the value of the pound is pushing up the cost of holiday spending for those jetting off overseas....
View ArticleUnemployment down, earnings inflation up – for now at least
Data published by the Office for National Statistics on 20th July painted a rosy picture of the state of the UK labour market in the run up to the EU referendum. Unemployment was at an 11-year low in...
View ArticleFree trade is good – is it not?
Economists are renowned for disagreeing with each other. However one agreed economic wisdom is that free trade is good for economies. Given the drive by the UK to secure free trade deals with overseas...
View ArticleShould the ‘triple-lock’ on state pensions continue?
Baroness Altmann, the former pensions minister, has been very vocal about the problems with state pensions and with policy towards pensions since losing her position following Theresa May’s cabinet...
View ArticleThe fall in home ownership – it’s all about the affordability of property...
Data published on 2nd August by the Resolution Foundation confirm the continuation of the downward trend in home ownership in the UK. Since 2003 the owner occupancy percentage has fallen from 71% to...
View ArticleIs the Bank of England creating a liquidity trap?
Following the vote to leave the European Union in June’s referendum the Bank of England has executed prompt action to try to avert the UK economy slowing down in the wake of the uncertainties about...
View ArticleUK share prices brush aside Brexit concerns
The unexpected vote to leave the European Union in the June referendum sent shock waves through the financial markets with share prices and the value of Sterling plummeting in the aftermath of the...
View ArticleUS interest rates to rise before the year end – but what does it mean for the...
In a speech last Friday (26th August) Janet Yellen, the Chair of the US Federal Reserve, said that the case for an increase in the level of US official interest rates (the ‘Federal Funds’ rate) had...
View ArticleInvestors now to be hit by cuts to share dividends?
The record low levels of short- and long-term interest rates have resulted in reductions to returns from both variable and fixed-rate savings products. Now investors are set for more misery by the...
View ArticleKeep a track on your National Insurance Contributions – they will dictate the...
Monitoring you record of National Insurance Contributions (NICs) hardly seems like the most exciting of activities. It is, though, important since your record will determine the size of the state...
View ArticleHelp-to-Save and LISAs: Learning from the past
The government is launching a number of new savings products designed to encourage us to save. Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) are designed to help us become home owners and save for our retirement years....
View ArticleConsumers are not protected against bank transfer scams – so what can the...
One of the fastest growing forms of crime in the UK is online fraud with criminals extracting millions from the public via a range of telephone- and internet-based scams. Whilst the public is...
View ArticleTackling the big issue of poor financial capability: Free online personal...
In a week when an MAS survey revealed that 16 million people in the UK have less than £100 in savings it is timely to ask what is being done to tackle the national crisis of poor financial capability...
View ArticleThe Chancellor changes tack on Lloyds share sale whilst plans to return RBS...
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has announced that the planned public sale of the government’s remaining 9 per cent shareholding in Lloyds Bank has been abandoned. The government will,...
View ArticleThe review of the State Pension Age gets underway – will some personalisation...
The first of the new reviews of the State Pension Age (SPA) is getting underway, led by John Cridland, formerly of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The new arrangements require a report to...
View ArticleThe Government does a U-turn on a secondary annuity market
A key element of the package of pension reforms unveiled in 2015 by the former Chancellor, George Osborne, was the proposal to open up a secondary market for the sale of annuities. Now the Government...
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