Blog – 2 Columns

There comes a time when you stop working for your money and put your money to work for you. For most people, that is retirement. The decisions you make then could have repercussions for the rest of your life, and in recent years there have been some major changes to the retirement choices you can […]

The latest pandemic support measures are less generous than before. As the country braced for dealing with further localized outbreaks of Covid-19, the Chancellor made an early autumn appearance before the House of Commons to announce his ‘Winter Economy Plan’. He announced new employment support and amendments to existing schemes.  Job Support Scheme (JSS)  The […]

The third quarter of 2020 saw share markets calmer than in the previous two.   For many, 2020 has not been a year they will want to remember. For investors, the first two quarters were a whiplash experience. For about a month from mid-February, Covid-19 pushed share markets down with a brutal abruptness. By the […]

After heavy hinting from the Treasury for some weeks, the expected Autumn Budget has been pushed into spring 2021.  Since the March Budget and through to August, the expectation was that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, would introduce his second Budget this autumn. Such timing would have restored the cycle of a Spring Statement followed by […]

The government has acted to ensure state pension increases can happen next April.   The Basic State Pension (BSP) and the New State Pension (NSP) – for anyone who reached State Pension Age after 5 April 2016 – are both subject to the ‘Triple Lock’ measure. This means that every April these two pensions increase […]

National Savings rate to drop sharply from 24 November. At times, National Savings & Investments (NS&I) looks like a relic. Its role in raising money for the government has seemed an increasing anachronism for three main reasons: The amount NS&I raises each year is but a small part of the government’s total borrowing. For 2020/21, […]

Students starting university this year are being warned by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that they could be targeted by a fresh wave of tax scams. As new students start the academic year, they can be particularly vulnerable to cybercrime. With universities taking a blended approach to online and face-to-face tuition this year, and an […]

Financial planning isn’t just reserved for the especially wealthy. Whether we’re aware of it or not, all of us are on a financial planning journey and nearly all of us will want to make the most of our money where we can. While the Covid-19 outbreak has focused many people’s minds on the need for […]

HMRC has published some interesting research into capital gains tax (CGT).  Here are three CGT questions for you to ponder: 1. How many individuals made enough capital gains in 2018/19 to face a CGT bill?  The answer is just 256,000, according to the latest provisional figures from HMRC – 9,000 fewer than in the previous […]

The main US stock market index hit several new all-time highs in August.  So far, the US has had a difficult 2020: Its performance in the battle against Covid-19 has been widely criticised. In the first part of August the country was still experiencing around 50,000 new cases each day. In the second quarter of […]

The Supreme Court has handed down a long-awaited decision on a complex case.   Mrs Staveley died in December 2006, but it was only in August 2020 that the Supreme Court settled the question of the extent of any inheritance tax (IHT) liability on her pension. In the intervening 13 years, the rules relating to […]

Dividends paid by overseas companies fell less sharply than their UK counterparts in the second quarter of the year.  The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on corporate dividends has been dramatic in the UK. Total dividend payments from quoted companies fell by over half in the second quarter, according to research published in July by […]