Latest news

It’s easy to spend money on stuff today today: Shoes, gadgets, flash holidays. But does your present self ever think about your future you. We can always find the money to buy nice stuff today. We’re also pretty good at being able to justify the expenditure: ‘I work hard

There’s an interesting phenomenon playing out in the financial press, in the form of a missing word that speaks volumes about human nature. That word is: “referendum.” Almost everywhere we turn, we’re seeing headlines referring to the “post-Brexit” environment. To imply we are in a “post-Brexit” environment is like

Following the changes in dividend taxation that apply to individuals for 2016/17, changes have also had to be made to the taxation of dividends and discretionary trusts. In basic terms, this means that because dividends are paid gross, dividends that fall within the trustee’s standard rate band will be taxed

Earlier this week, before the polls opened, the Treasury published the government borrowing figures for May along with an updated estimate for 2015/16 borrowing. Such was the focus on Referendum debate, the numbers garnered little attention. However, as consideration turns to the Brexit world, the Treasury’s data is a useful starting

One of our responsibilities as your financial planner is to help you put market news in its proper perspective, especially when the media is reporting particularly pronounced UK Brexit market declines like we’ve seen during the past few days. If you are okay with ignoring the current headlines and

Keep calm and Brexit. The nation has voted and just over half the votes were cast in favour of Brexit. The decision to leave the European Union seems to have come as a shock to the vast majority of expert commentators, news outlets and betting companies – although not

Now that the dust has well and truly settled on last year we thought it would be a good idea to outline the 2015 investment summary. After several years of seemingly uninterrupted growth, 2015 was marked by increased volatility. The year got off to a good start with many

Set to be introduced in April 2017, the Lifetime ISA essentially offers an alternative to the Help To Buy ISA. With two competing options on the table, it’s important to know which is best for you and your needs, as whilst they have some similarities, there are also key differences

One of the most influential people in the field of finance is Eugene Fama, a professor at the University of Chicago and Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences. He and other academics have devoted their careers to understanding what drives investment returns. Their aim is to identify what information in

In our series of the most commonly asked questions, this has got to rate as the 64 million dollar question. The only answer that is certain though is that your investments are probably not making 64 million dollars unfortunately! What we can say, however, is that it is important to

At the time of writing this, markets around the world are falling and the FTSE 100 is down nearly 4%. It is safe to say that markets are volatile at the moment and whilst this is a common feature of investment markets and is to be expected, it can

We are hearing a lot through the media about the attacks we may experience under the new UK Pension Reform arrangements and regulations, when we gain access to our pension pots and can choose to do what we like with them. What an opportunity for fraudsters who right now are

The first £1,000 of interest earned on savings will be completely tax-free for lower earners from next year. Announcing the news during his Budget speech, Chancellor, George Osborne, said: “People have already paid tax once on their money when they earn it. They shouldn’t have to pay tax a second

During the 2015 Budget announcement, the Chancellor, George Osborne revealed a new type of ISA, to be made available to the public in the Autumn of this year. The Help to Buy ISA is sure to be of interest to young people in particular, or to parents with children who

In October we welcomed news from Vanguard that they had reduced their annual fees. You can read the post here. It’s worth reminding ourselves that Vanguard oversees more than 2.9trillion in assets and they pretty much invented index tracking investments. Today, another fund manager we