Investments

Investment performance in 2025 delivered an unexpected result. Despite widespread confidence in continued US market dominance, it was the UK market that ultimately came out on top. Source: Investing.com – FTSE 100 vs S&P 500 A Year Dominated by US Narratives...

The Autumn Budget at the end of November introduced a series of important changes for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) scheduled to take effect from April 2027. However, depending on your age and ISA usage, you may not feel the impact immediately. Budget...

Recent rule changes from HMRC mean that a form of crypto-related investment fund has now become eligible for inclusion within an ISA — a notable development in the UK’s cautious approach to cryptoassets. Source: Investing.com Cryptoassets: From Fringe to Financial...

HMRC Is Asking Taxpayers to Recheck Their Dividend Income Some taxpayers have recently received letters from HMRC urging them to confirm that their 2023/24 self assessment tax returns include all dividend income. The letters open with wording along these lines:...

Nine Months In – And Markets Haven’t Behaved as Expected As we enter the final quarter of 2025, investment performance may not resemble what many investors had anticipated at the start of the year. While global markets continue to generate headlines, their underlying...

A Significant Shift in ISA Subscription Trends Recent HMRC figures for the 2023/24 tax year reveal a notable trend: cash ISA subscriptions rose at a much faster pace than stocks and shares ISAs — around 224% more by the end of the decade. With cash ISAs attracting the...

A Shift in the Government’s Approach to Investment The UK government has signalled a major change in its stance on investment and risk. In a recent Mansion House speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves emphasised the need to encourage investment rather than excessive saving....

Evaluating Gold as an Investment At first glance, the proposition of investing in an asset exhibiting limited practical utility, generating no direct income, and incurring ownership costs such as insurance and storage, might appear counterintuitive. Such criticisms...

The House of Commons Treasury Committee has been pondering the future of Lifetime ISAs (LISAs). The Lifetime ISA (LISA) is arguably a good example of brand overstretch. When ISAs were first launched in 1999, there were only two varieties, and they replaced two...

Wealth in the G7: How Do We Compare? One of the nation’s largest investment managers has examined investors’ attitudes in the UK relative to other major developed G7 nations with interesting results. So, are we investing wisely compared to the rest of the G7? Personal...

Exploring 2024's Global Markets The global market outlook showed an improvement for 2024 with the US achieving more than 20% returns for a second consecutive year. A quick look at a Global Market Growth table (below) comparing changes across key global indices puts...

New statistics show that cash ISAs remain a popular investment. Every autumn HMRC publishes a set of annual savings statistics, setting out detailed information about individual savings accounts (ISAs), lifetime individual savings accounts (LISAs), child trust funds...