The Greek crisis is serious, but how much does it matter to diversified, long-term investors? It has dominated the European agenda for years and could continue to do so, but the attention and headlines focused on Greece may be disproportionate to the actual impact on most people’s investment portfolios—especially over the long term. Greece represents […]
An essential part of writing this bulletin each month is making daily notes on the main business and stock market news. This month we have comfortably broken our record – more than six pages of notes. And as you might expect, about half of those pages are about Greece and its debts. ‘An agreement was in sight’ […]
Brits consider an internet connection and mobile phones to be greater financial priorities than protecting mortgages and incomes, according to new research in the latest Scottish Widows Protection Report. Only 39% considered providing financial security for their family in the event of death as essential – which has dropped from more than half in four […]
Introduction It’s a parliamentary tradition that while making the Budget speech, the Chancellor may drink whatever he wishes. Previous Chancellors have opted for whisky (Kenneth Clarke), gin and tonic (Geoffrey Howe) and even sherry and beaten egg (William Ewart Gladstone). Reflecting more sombre and health conscious times, both Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown went for […]
It now seems hard to remember, but this time last month the UK was only a week away from a General Election – an election that was the most difficult to predict in a generation. The pundits were unanimous: the Election would certainly lead to a hung parliament. There would be weeks of wrangling and […]
Trying to save money? Then look beyond your utilities bills, commute costs or credit card rates. What’s good for your waistline can be good for your wallet too..? A recent Moneyplus blog from Standard Life shares some lifestyle changing ideas with fitness and financial benefits: how to get in shape and save money too! The […]
The A-level results come out on Thursday, August 13th and thousands of teenagers up and down the country will be looking forward to starting university in September. Their parents, however, might be gloomily looking at their bank accounts and taking a rather different view. With fees of up to £9,000 and accommodation costs of say, […]
The National Fraud and Cyber-Crime Reporting Office recently issued an ‘Alert Notice’ regarding fraud focused on the new Pensioner Bonds. Fraudsters have set up a bogus website claiming to be the official site of National Savings & Investments (NS&I) and are contacting members of the public through cold calls to offer them the chance to […]
In the UK April saw the clock ticking down towards the General Election. For the rest of the world, life went on pretty much as normal: that’s to say, China and Germany remorselessly cranked out another trade surplus, the American economy gave us more mixed signals, and Greece teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. These […]
An annuity is a regular monthly income source that savers, largely from private sector companies, receive at retirement in exchange for their lifetime pension savings. Now George Osborne has said that around five million pensioners, who have used their retirement savings to buy an annuity, will be allowed to sell it for a cash sum […]