The Autumn Budget included a raft of measures focused on venture capital schemes. The writing was always on the wall after a Treasury consultation issued in August posed the leading question, “Are there areas where the cost effectiveness of current tax reliefs could be improved, for example reducing lower risk ‘capital preservation’ investments in the […]
National Savings & Investments have increased their interest rates – and boosted a chance of winning. National Savings & Investments (NS&I) beat many of its banking competitors by announcing a 0.25% increase in its variable rate products. These took effect from 1 December and are shown in the table below for taxable products open to […]
It’s estimated that people aged 45 to 54 spend more time planning their summer holidays than they do planning their pension1. However, if you want to be able to enjoy holidays in retirement, then you’ll need to have saved sufficient to be able to afford them. The common perception is that you’ll need between half […]
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is warning the public about rogue websites advertising fake premium rate numbers for their cruelty line. The premium rate 0844 numbers advertised are designed to rack up a heavy bill for the caller and are give a false impression that they’re affiliated with the […]
September inflation was just low enough to spare Mark Carney writing to the Chancellor. And helped spur the first interest rate rise in a decade. Each year the Chancellor of the day gives the Bank of England an inflation target to meet. Ever since Gordon Brown changed the inflation index used to the Consumer Prices […]
State pensions will rise by 3% next April, but it’s not all strictly good news. On the day that a CPI inflation rate of 3% was announced, the BBC website covering the rise had a picture of pensioners “dancing for joy”. The supposed reason for their jollity was that the 3% September inflation figure was […]
