The trouble with averages

Knowing what the average is may not be as helpful as you think. One of the facts which often appears in personal finance surveys is that people tend to underestimate how long they will live. At a time when retirement … Continue reading

Chinese whimpers not whispers…

The Chinese mainland stock markets have had a torrid two months. On 9 June MSCI, a major provider of global stock market indices, announced that this year it would not be including in its Emerging Markets Index mainland China shares … Continue reading

The £1,000,000 Inheritance Tax Exemption

Mr Osborne has made good his manifesto commitment to ease the burden of inheritance tax, but his approach is not simple. One of the surprises in the Conservative manifesto was the proposal to create a new transferable main residence band … Continue reading

Buy-to-let gets squeezed

The Summer Budget contained two important changes to buy-to-let taxation.    In the run up to the July Budget there were a number of stories in the press about the generosity of the tax treatment enjoyed by buy-to-let landlords. Whether … Continue reading

Dividends and Tax – A Summer Budget Surprise

One of the surprises of the Summer Budget was announcement of new tax rules for dividends from April 2016. Dividend taxation has long been one of the more arcane parts of the UK’s complex tax regime. For many years dividends … Continue reading