In one of the longest ‘Budget’ speeches in memory, Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave the first Labour Budget speech for nearly 15 years on 30 October 2024. This was clearly going to be a challenging Budget, with the Chancellor seeking to address the nation’s funding gap, while...
In this update: Voluntary National Insurance Contributions National Insurance Contributions National Insurance can be a confusing subject, and we can be forgiven for wishing to overlook the nuance and complexity of it. Some time spent reviewing our own situation now, in good time for the future, may leave...
In this update: The Big Picture The importance of portfolio rebalancing Withdrawal discipline The Big Picture It can be difficult to see the big picture when all that we are exposed to, driven by the media machine, appears only to be chaos and disorder. The good news is...
We have summarised the main points of yesterday's Spring Budget below, along with a reminder of various changes from April 2024 that we were already aware of. PENSIONS State Pension The triple lock means that the new state pension and basic state pension will increase by 8.5% in...
In this update: Latest Retirement Living Standards Latest Retirement Living Standards The latest update to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards (RLS) reveal a shift in the cost of retirement living driven by changes in the UK public's expectations and increases to the...
Yesterday's Spring Budget included pension measures that went further than recent rumours suggested, when Jeremy Hunt announced the abolition of the pensions Lifetime Allowance alongside increases to the Annual Allowance, Money Purchase Annual Allowance and the Adjusted Income limit and minimum level for the Tapered...
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, given on 17 November 2022, included a number of tax measures aimed at improving the government’s finances – although there were no increases to the main rates of tax, reductions to various tax bands and allowances were announced and an extension...
In this update: Why are mortgage lenders withdrawing their mortgage deals? Why did the Bank of England buy £65 billion worth of government bonds? Why has sterling weakened? How should investors respond? This month’s Thinkpiece takes on a different perspective, in response to the recent events...
Here is our summary of the key points from the government's Mini Budget. Income tax Earnings and savings - The additional rate of tax of 45% (39.35% for dividends) on income in excess of £150,000 is to be abolished from 6 April 2023. This means that...