It has only been six months since the Chancellor last stepped up to the dispatch box to deliver a Budget. Much has changed in that time. Energy price rises, global supply chain issues, and rising demand, prompted by the easing of coronavirus restrictions have caused inflation to hit levels not seen in a decade. With…
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Cryptocurrency is the big talking point in finance. Is it the future of finance or a re-incarnation of the Tulip Bubble, the South Sea Bubble, and even the Dotcom bubble rolled into one? Sometimes it feels like complex terms are being used just to confuse people. The world of cryptocurrency revolves around new jargon and…
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The Stamp Duty holiday finally ended on 30 September 2021, after being phased out over the summer. The tax break was originally introduced in England in July 2020, as the first national lockdown came to an end, to shore up the housing market. It was split into two phases. Between July 2020 and June 2021 there was no tax to pay…
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Did you know that Starbucks, the humble coffee shop, could well be one of the biggest banks in America? Here is the reason: Next to every till conveniently placed next to the place where you pick up your favourite beverage, is the Starbucks gift card. This card can be topped up with cash to spend…
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Divorce is never easy, but it can be far more complicated when you are a business owner. The divorce process is not designed to damage a business. Indeed, the income produced by the business is usually the main source of income and is needed to fund child maintenance and spousal maintenance payments, so damaging the…
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The Prime Minister has announced a 1.25% increase to dividend tax rates from April 2022 as part of a package of measures to fund the costs of social care and the NHS over the next 3 years. It is estimated that the tax hike will raise about £600 million of additional revenue for the Government.…
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The scale of the climate change challenge is immense and becoming more apparent each year. If we want to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, then global emissions need to fall 7.6% every year this decade. To put this into perspective upon this, the worldwide lockdowns caused by COVID-19 only saw emissions drop…
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Everyone has been talking about it. Cryptocurrency. It has gone mad! Just over a year ago, one Bitcoin was worth just over $10,000. Since then, it has peaked at over $60,000, dropped to nearly $30,000, and, this week, reached a new peak of over $66,000. You can easily be forgiven for feeling like you have…
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Inflation is a silent killer – it earns its’ reputation through the slow deterioration of the purchasing power of your money over time. It is also the enemy of your savings because you always need to take it away from any growth to find out the real rate of return. Low inflation is easily overlooked…
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If you had invested in a UK Index fund from 1980-2009 you would have achieved a return of some 700% on your investment. However, if you had missed just the best 20 days of stock market performance during that period, that return would have been reduced to just 240%. Getting market timing right is a…
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