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INVESTING FOR THE FUTURE Most parents want to help their children financially, whether it is making sure there is enough money for their education or eventually helping them to buy a property. An early objective as they grow up may well be to help children understand the value and importance of money. Whatever the reason, […]
Investment markets reacted sharply to Donald Trump’s Iran ‘excursion’ in March, but over the quarter there was not as much change as the headlines might have made you believe. 2025 was generally a good year for investment markets with the UK putting in a notably good performance – the FTSE 100 was up more than […]
Just how much is tax disincentivising you? The latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had some disconcerting words to share. Published alongside the Chancellor’s Spring Forecast in early March, the OBR provided a sober projection of gross domestic product (GDP): “The tax-to-GDP ratio is forecast to increase to a […]
Bricks and mortar are not always a sure-fire winner. From January 2016 to January 2026, did house prices grow faster than inflation? The answer is in the graph. Nationwide Building Society says the average UK house price in January 2016 was £196,829. Ten years later, it had risen to £270,873, a 37.6% increase. Over the […]
Were you born after 5 April 1960? There can sometimes be a long period between when legislation becomes law and when it takes effect. The delay is often due to the legislation being only a broad framework to which a raft of detailed regulations is subsequently attached. However, there are instances where a protracted run-in […]
New research reveals that five million mid-lifers, aged 40–54, face a difficult retirement. The retirement landscape in the UK has changed significantly over the last 50 years: In 1978, the State pension moved from what was largely a flat rate benefit to a combination of flat rate and, for employees only, earnings-related State pensions. Over […]
A House of Lords committee has been highly critical of the government’s proposals on inheritance tax (IHT) and pensions. Cynics might expect members of the House of Lords to have more than a passing interest in the Chancellor’s plans to bring unused pension funds within the scope of IHT. Whether or not that view is […]
The 6th April brought a variety of changes to the tax rules. The start of the tax year (Monday 6 April) heralded a variety of changes to tax and pension rules, few of them welcome. Dividend tax The rate of tax on dividends will increase by two percentage points if you pay tax at basic […]
Are you missing out on tax relief for your pension contributions? A ‘Supplementary forecast information release’ from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on ‘Costing of charging NICs on salary sacrificed pension contributions’ may sound like a cure for insomnia. It is certainly not short of acronyms beloved of pension nerds, such as OpRA, RAS […]
As a means of drawing income in retirement, annuities have made a comeback, and for good reasons. In 2014, the then Chancellor (and now podcaster), George Osborne, pulled a rabbit out of the Budget hat that nobody had seen coming. He announced the ending of the effective requirement for personal pension plans to be converted […]
New research from the Office for National Statistics casts a different light on life expectancy. “How long am I going to live?’ is one of those questions that we tend to pay more attention to, the older we are. One quick way to find an answer is to use the Office for National Statistics (ONS) […]
There comes a time when you stop working for your money and put your money to work for you. For most people, that is at 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 […]