As 2021 drew to a close, inflation finally forced the Bank of England’s hand. What will higher rates mean for you? The November inflation figures, released in mid-December, once again exceeded the Bank of England’s (BoE) expectations. At the start of November, the BoE had said that CPI inflation was “expected to peak at around […]
The world’s share markets generally produced solid returns in 2021, but UK stocks and fixed-interest investments suffered. Maintaining an international outlook in your portfolio can help underpin its value. 2021 was a good year for most investors in share-based funds, particularly those who had holdings linked to the US market. Despite the optimism […]
With Christmas and New Year behind us, tax year-end planning should now be on your radar. The 2021/22 tax year will end on Tuesday 5 April. This year there is no Spring Budget and Easter arrives on 15 April, so no obstacles stand in the way of year-end tax planning. Nevertheless, the sooner you start […]
A new support package has been announced to assist businesses impacted by the Covid-19 Omicron variant. Applications are open to the end of February, but many have said the measures don’t go far enough given the extensive losses suffered in the hospitality and leisure sectors over the festive period. Although no businesses were legally required […]
Family members of online daters urged to help protect their relatives from becoming a victim of romance fraud, as new figures show almost £92 million has been lost through dating scams in the last year alone. Daters who strike up online relationships between Christmas and Valentines Day tend to be the most susceptible to romance […]
The future of two important personal taxes – inheritance and capital gains – has finally been clarified, simplifying aspects of year-end planning. The extended wait highlights the difficulty of changing useful revenue-raising measures in uncertain times. Four years ago, in January 2018, when there seemed to be both appetite and scope for reformation of […]
Individual Savings Accounts, universally known as ISAs, began life as relatively simple savings plans in 1999, but over the past 22 years the rules surrounding them have become ever more complex. A May 2018 report on savings tax from the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) suggested that “there is scope for a wider full review […]
After already increasing taxes by £42 billion a year in 2021, the main focus of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget was on spending. The first Autumn Budget in three years – and Mr Sunak’s third in less than 20 months – featured no significant increases in tax. The task of raising extra revenue had already […]
How much income do you need for a comfortable retirement? New research has put a post-pandemic price on the answer. When the Chancellor announces tax rises that are One traditional way to answer the question of how much income you will need in retirement is to fix the amount as a percentage of […]
