As the memories of January’s festivities fade behind us, it is time to turn our thoughts to 5 April. The 2024 Budget revised the Chancellor’s fiscal calendar. From now on, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will make only one full assessment a year of the UK’s finances, alongside the […]
Protecting What Matters Most Financial resilience is the ability to recover quickly from an unexpected financial shock. Many insure their homes and cars without really thinking about it, but far fewer insure their lives and incomes. With the rise of flexible and gig work, fewer people have employer-provided benefits, making personal financial protection even more […]
Each day, month and year brings a fresh wave of predictions about which markets, sectors, or asset classes will outperform. Financial headlines continue to highlight the latest themes – whether it’s the rise of AI-driven companies, the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies, or the apparent resurgence of gold as a safe haven asset. Despite the persuasive […]
HMRC figures for 2023/24 show cash ISA subscriptions have increased by around 224% more than stocks and shares ISAs by the end of the decade. The Chancellor’s plan to reform individual savings accounts (ISAs) to “improve returns for savers” has been considered for some time. Rachel Reeves’s scheme is widely believed to mean the […]
Nine months into 2025, investment performance may not be what you expect. The daily blog from Financial Times, FT Alphaville, runs a competition every Friday for a trivial prize, such as a T-shirt. The quiz typically involves a trio of graphs with the same question applied to each one: what is being plotted? The answers […]
HMRC’s latest statistics show a jump in unclaimed Child Trust Funds (CTFs) to over £1,500,000,000. CTFs had only a brief existence. They were launched in January 2005 by the previous Labour government and survived for just six years, before being culled by the Conservative /LibDem coalition government in 2011, shortly after it came to power. […]
