For employees, the national insurance cut announced in the Autumn Statement took effect on 6 January. For many years, successive governments have been happy for the public to vaguely believe that national insurance contributions (NICs) are building up in some national benefit fund, rather than representing just another tax on income. While something called the […]
With Christmas and the New Year over, it is time to turn your thoughts to planning for the tax year end. While many parts of the tax landscape have been frozen, such as the personal allowance and most income tax thresholds, that does not mean you should ignore tax year-end planning as we approach 5 […]
Since the beginning of December 2023, Action Fraud and the Suspicious Email Reporting System (SERS) have received over 180 reports concerning the impersonation of National Crime Agency (NCA) agents. The victims describe receiving an email purporting to be from the NCA. The email states that the NCA has evidence that the recipient has accessed and […]
Many of us dream about an early retirement, spending time doing things we enjoy. Financial realities inevitably mean few of us will realise those dreams. You may have heard of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement, which claims it can boost people’s chances of early retirement success. But how attainable is it really? Igniting […]
Protecting What Matters Most Financial resilience is the ability to recover quickly from unexpected financial shocks. Many of us insure our homes and cars without really thinking about it, but far fewer insure their lives and incomes. Savings can and do help in the short-term. But what happens when they run out? Or if an […]
New legislation has paved the way for important changes to automatic enrolment in workplace pensions. At the start of October, automatic enrolment in workplace pension schemes quietly celebrated its eleventh anniversary. The latest data (April 2021) from the Office for National Statistics shows that 79.4% of employees were members of workplace pension arrangements, a […]
