Whilst New Year’s resolutions are always made with the best of intentions, the truth is that they often prove difficult to keep beyond the first few weeks in January. The main reason for this is that the goals we set ourselves are admirable but simply too lofty to achieve. It’s far better to choose a […]
1st November, this year, marked the fifth anniversary of the Junior ISA (JISA), which allows parents to save money for their child which will be accessed when they come of age. JISAs continue to grow in popularity: 738,000 accounts had more than £920 million paid into them over the 2015/16 tax year. But, as with […]
Introduction Well, for the second time this year the pollsters and the bookmakers had it spectacularly wrong. First Brexit, now President-elect Donald J Trump. By 306 Electoral College votes to 232 the 70 year old billionaire overturned the predictions and beat Hillary Clinton. Yes, there is still the small matter of challenges to the result […]
A recent study has found that the average house in the UK now takes 91 days to sell. The figure is cited in the ‘City Rate of Sale’ report conducted by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) and the Post Office, which examines the average amount of time properties are on the market […]
Figures released last month have revealed that over one in ten (11%) of working people have yet to begin paying into a pension pot. Worryingly, this includes nearly one in ten people in the 51-65 age bracket. The average age at which most people expect to begin saving towards their pension is 46, and almost […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published its ‘World Economic Outlook’ report which suggests that whilst global growth in 2016 has been substandard, this is set to improve somewhat during 2017. The IMF’s report states that stifled global growth this year has been caused largely by the Brexit vote and the economic slowdown in the […]
We left you last month having reported on September as a month where ‘nothing much happened’ on the world’s stock markets. For many of the major markets October was much the same: only three of the twelve markets we cover were down in the month, but most managed only small gains. As you’ll see below, […]
Occasionally when we’re compiling these monthly commentaries we look at our notes, realise that not very much has happened in the month and have a minor panic. What are we going to report on? There are no such worries this month. December 2015 seemed to be the month when pretty much everything happened. The only […]
With the deadline for online tax returns fast approaching (31st January 2016 for the tax year April 2014 – April 2015), HMRC have again shared their top ten terrible tax excuses. Ranging from paperwork eating pets to people who were simply out of the country, the list is comprised completely of unsuccessful appeals against penalties […]
As usual, the coming year will see plenty of shifts in the financial planning landscape for all of us. Changes come about largely as a result of new legislation or policy introductions and, whilst there isn’t anything quite as dramatic as 2015’s introduction of pension freedoms on the horizon, there’s still plenty to look out […]