Are student loans something to avoid? With the 2024/25 academic year on the horizon, student finance is again a hot topic for many parents. How hot differs slightly for the UK’s four nations as each has a subtly different way of funding students and, outside Scotland,...
The date of the next Budget has been announced, accompanied by the new Chancellor’s warning about government finances. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first announcement on entering 11 Downing Street was the commissioning of a ‘spending inheritance’ review from the...
With a majority of over 200 and a weight of expectations, what happens next for Sir Kier Starmer’s new Labour government? The importance of the first 100 days of a new government cannot be understated. Within that period the new incumbent has the greatest political...
Do you dream of retiring much earlier than your peers? Many ideas which originated in the US have made their way across the Atlantic. The latest financial innovation to join index-tracking investments, budgeting apps and exchange traded funds is the FIRE movement –...
Central banks around the world are beginning to cut interest rates with the European Central Bank leading the way. Source: US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank On 6 June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) became the first major central bank...
New rules have come into force governing the claims made by sustainable funds. As sustainable investing has grown in popularity, the issue of ‘greenwashing’ has moved into the spotlight. However, investors, turned fund detectives, have discovered that funds with...
The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on HMRC customer service which isn’t a happy story. Source: HMRC historic data, Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates A common tactic for grabbing a headline, be it a politician or organisation, is to...
As we count down to the general election in July, be wary of those manifesto promises not to raise tax rates. The Conservatives and the Labour party are going into the next election with the same key fiscal rule. This states that in five years’ time, total government...
April’s yearly inflation figure fell from 0.9% to 2.3%, so why does inflation still feel high? Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) April’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) showed annual inflation had fallen to 2.3%, its lowest level since July 2021 and...
Market responses to elections should be treated with caution. 2024 is a year of elections around the globe – in varying shades of democracy. On some counts, around 60 countries will vote, representing close to half of the world’s population. This includes eight of the...
It’s early days yet, but some pointers on tax have emerged from both the main parties. Within one week of the surprise firing of the general election starting gun, both the Conservatives and Labour have been promoting their tax plans. We can expect more to emerge in...
In mid-May 2024, the Dow Jones Index crossed the 40,000 threshold for the first time. You might have noted headlines in May that the Dow Jones Index of US shares had broken through the 40,000 mark for the first time. It may have sounded like a significant landmark,...
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