The third quarter of 2017 has ended and despite the heavy political news, investment returns were generally positive. Think about the third quarter of this year – July to September – and you might think markets had suffered a hard three months. In the UK there was the backwash from the general election, the slowly-moving […]
Self-employment is the dream of many, especially as the goal of retirement seems to creep further out of reach. Being your own boss sounds great. But there are drawbacks. Around two million of the country’s self-employed workers are unable to save any money each month, leaving them vulnerable to financial shocks. The same body of […]
Inflation was in the news last month in various guises. August was a month when inflation hit the headlines several times trailing a cloud of acronyms: The Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report (QIR) revealed that the Bank now expects inflation (as measured by the Consumer Prices Index – CPI) “to peak around 3% in […]
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has come closer to using its weapon of last resort against tax avoidance schemes. “Whack a mole” used to be a good summary of the battle between the extreme end of the tax avoidance industry and HMRC (together with its predecessor, the Inland Revenue). First, some ‘creative’ minds would […]
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) have launched their first Junior ISA. The Junior ISA (JISA) was introduced in 2011 as a replacement for the Child Trust Fund. It had a slow start, but momentum has built and, according to the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), JISAs now hold over […]
August provided a reminder that even in seemingly quiet times, the value of individual shares can be volatile. August is traditionally a month when the turnover on stock exchanges slows down because many people are on holiday. In the jargon, trading can be “thin”. That doesn’t mean, however, that nothing much happens, as the graph […]
