Those owning properties worth more than £3million will be hit with tax bills starting from £10,000 under a Labour government, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Under the party’s mansion tax plans, homes worth between £2m and £3m would attract around £3,000 in liabilities, but properties worth above £3m will take […]
Throughout the summer this bulletin has been focused on events in the Ukraine, now we have an admittedly uneasy truce in the region and the focus of the world’s discontent has moved elsewhere. At time of writing, pro-democracy protesters are occupying the streets of Hong Kong and a coalition of 40 countries is in the […]
Ahead of the major pension changes already announced for April 2015, the Chancellor, George Osborne, this week announced another shift in pension policy that could have a big impact on many savers and their financial planning requirements. Speaking at the Conservative Party’s Annual Conference, Mr Osborne announced the abolition of a so-called ‘death tax’, which […]
Only a quarter (24%) of adults in the UK with children under 16 have any form of financial protection, a significant drop from 31% in 2013, according to the latest research from the Scottish Widows Protection Report. With over half (54%) of this group admitting that their savings would last just a couple of months if they were […]
Half of UK employees on lower incomes and half of those aged 30-49 are now saving adequately for retirement, according to the latest Scottish Widows Workplace Pensions Report, showing the impact of automatic enrolment on the groups that need it most. As the legislation approaches its second anniversary, the annual report from Scottish Widows finds […]
Peer-to-peer Lending and Crowdfunding are, respectively, the new high(er) interest investment return and start-up funding phenomena that have attracted sufficient interest from city watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, for them to become a regulated investment as of April 1st this year. How attractive an investment are they though – and just how risky? Firstly, what […]
The phrase ‘the world looked a dangerous place’ has been used many times to describe the status of the markets. Never has that seemed more true than in August. In Northern Iran/Iraq the Islamic State continues to gather momentum and the world expressed outrage at the murder of US journalist, James Foley. Towards the end […]
Faced with a hefty 55 per cent pensions tax bill because of HM Revenue & Customs new lower lifetime pensions allowance, many middle-to-high earners with generous pension arrangements are seriously on the lookout for alternatives to pensions as savings vehicles for retirement. That is quite a few savers potentially hunting around, considering that approximately 360,000 […]
Many working age people in the UK could secure a financially comfortable retirement by making some small changes to their saving habits, according to new research published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). While government action to transform British pensions has brought about radical improvements to the retirement prospects of future pensioners, millions […]
In excess of one million pensioner households in the UK now have total wealth of more than £1m according to analysis by Prudential of the latest ONS data for 2010-2012. The analysis shows that the number of millionaire pensioner households has soared by 69% compared with 2006-2008 when the number stood at just over 636,000. […]