2016 has seen a number of new laws introduced by the government, and whilst some were widely reported, others feel conspicuous by their absence in the media. Here are four which could have a major impact on how both you and the British public in general live day to day: Immigration rules for working people […]
A survey carried out by YouGov only a few years ago found that over half the respondents who contributed to either a personal or workplace pension scheme had not reviewed their pension in the preceding three years. More worryingly, many of these people admitted that they had never carried out a pension review. If this […]
The Panama Papers leak from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca has thrust offshore funds back into the public spotlight. But whilst the media rails against those revealed to be profiting from such funds, there’s been little discussion of what an offshore fund actually is. As the term suggests, an offshore fund is an investment fund […]
April was the month for stats fanatics… We monitor a dozen world stock markets for this commentary: remarkably, seven of them rose by 1% during April. Brazil and Russia managed rather more noteworthy increases: the Chinese market shuffled off in the opposite direction. But April was a month when events away from the world’s stock […]
Introduction Another month, another dire warning from the economic great and good. In March it was the International Monetary Fund’s turn to warn that the world faces ‘economic derailment.’ As always, the blame was laid firmly at the door of the Chinese economic slowdown, with IMF second-in-command, David Lipton, warning that steps needed taking to […]
In the lead up to the budget announcement, George Osborne seemed to bow to the pressure David Cameron and other members of the Conservative Party were putting on him to soften his approach when it comes to pensions and tax relief. Ahead of the announcement, treasury sources suddenly began to indicate that now is ‘not […]
The Chancellor will need to reduce borrowing by £32bn in 2019-20 – the biggest ever annual cash consolidation – in order to meet his Budget surplus target by the end of parliament, according to a new post-Budget briefing report published by the Resolution Foundation. The Foundation’s post-Budget report shows how the Chancellor has chosen to […]
Amongst the key announcements that came from the budget was the introduction of a new ‘Lifetime ISA.’ By far the most attractive feature of this new form of savings account is that contributions every year will receive a healthy 25% bonus from the government. As the maximum annual contribution amount will initially be set at […]
Introduction It was famously said that ‘all roads lead to Rome.’ In British politics, all speeches currently lead to the EU Referendum. George Osborne’s Budget speech, delivered on Wednesday March 16th, was no exception. More than ever, the Chancellor was seeking to balance politics and economics as he rose to speak. On the politics front, […]
February was another month where the problem for this commentary was what to leave out: the world is not short of ‘events’ at the moment. In the Far East, North Korea successfully fired a long range rocket, causing consternation in Tokyo and Seoul. Closer to home, David Cameron returned from Brussels with his deal on […]