2017/18 produced record inheritance tax (IHT) receipts according to HMRC data published in July. The latest release of the annual statistics revealed IHT produced £5.228 billion for the Exchequer in 2017/18, an increase of two thirds over just five years. As the graph shows, IHT revenue has been rising rapidly since Treasury receipts hit a […]
The Bank of England increased the base interest rate in August to 0.75% – the second increase in 12 months. The Bank’s decision to raise the rate to its highest level in nearly nine and a half years was no great surprise to the investment community. Of more interest to the experts were the […]
A paper published in August by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) casts new light on life expectancies in the UK. Life expectancy has been increasing in the UK for a long time, as the graph shows. In 1980, the average life expectancy at birth was 70.6 years for a man and 76.6 years for […]
The rates charged on student loans rose at the start of September. The revised terms for interest on, and repayment of, student loans were published in August, along with the A level results for the year. From 1 September, the main interest rates for Plan 2 loans, taken out by students and recent graduates […]
The US stock market set a new record for the longest-ever bull market in August. Wednesday 22 August 2019 saw the S&P 500 drop – by less than 0.1% – after 3,453 days, making it the longest-ever bull run (a period of rising share prices) for the index, which is used by professional investors’ as […]
Action Fraud is warning about fraudsters who are targeting those who have already been a victim of fraud. Between January 2018 and July 2018, 1,155 reports of timeshare recovery fraud were made to Action Fraud. In the same period, victims reported losing £7,893,028 – an average of £14,000 per victim. How is this happening? […]
