The government could end up borrowing five times as much as it expected on Budget day. In the Budget on 11 March, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimated that in 2020/21, the government would have to borrow about £55bn to make up the difference between what it spent and what would be raised in […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted many aspects of life which had previously gone unnoticed or ignored and found the holes. The full extent to which supply chains are global is an obvious example. Our reliance on internet connections and their surprising robustness when the world turned to Netflix and Zoom is another. Of crucial importance […]
In a rare move, the rules for what constitutes an income fund have been changed. What counts as an income fund? The Investment Association (IA), the trade body for investment fund managers, sets detailed criteria for no less than 39 different investment sectors, ranging from Japanese Smaller Companies to Volatility Managed. The IA also monitors […]
Criminals continue to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to commit fraud, as a scam involving the purchase of pets, such as puppies and kittens, continues to be reported to Action Fraud. So far, 669 people have lost a combined total of £282,686 in March and April, after putting down deposits for pets they have […]
One perhaps unsurprising side-effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has been an upsurge of interest in wills and estate planning. However, the lockdown is constraining options. Press reports have suggested that the increased interest in will writing has been particularly high among those in the older age brackets who are more vulnerable if they become infected. […]
The world’s share markets had a buoyant first six months. Index 2019 H1 Change FTSE 100 +10.4% FTSE All-Share +10.4% Dow Jones Industrial +14.0% Standard & Poor’s 500 +17.3% Nikkei 225 +6.3% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) +15.7% Shanghai Composite +19.4% MSCI Emerging Markets (£) +9.3% The final few months of 2018 were a dark time […]
