The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has been crunching the numbers on the adequacy of pension contributions and retirement savings. One of the unremarked government successes of the 2010s was the introduction of automatic enrolment of employees into pension...
HMRC is uncharacteristically keen to give money away, reminding young adults again that they may be due unclaimed child trust funds (CTFs). The amount still to be paid out comes to just under £1.4 billion. As the UK settles under its first Labour government in 14...
Autumn won’t leave much time for the new government to settle before important pension policy decisions need to be made. When MPs return to work after the summer recess, many areas of policy will require attention. Some are inheritances from the last government, while...
‘Tick the Gift Aid’ box to boost your donation to charity and save some tax. The number of national and international calls on our goodwill to donate to causes has grown in the last few years. You are probably familiar with the ‘Tick the Gift Aid’ box, or a request to...
New data from HMRC show growing numbers of income taxpayers paying above the basic rate. The club that all members want to leave, the income tax playing club, is gathering ever more members who are paying every greater subscriptions. That, at least, is one way of...
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...
Stay informed with the latest financial insights, from government budget changes to retirement planning. We’ve got you covered.