Happy birthday to tax-free savings

The arrival of the new tax year on 6 April means it is time to consider your Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) investments, which will celebrate their 20th birthday in April. Over the last 20 years, the maximum annual contribution has … Continue reading

The 2018 investment year

The world’s share markets mostly saw falls in 2018. Index 2018 Change FTSE 100 -12.5% FTSE All-Share -13.0% Dow Jones Industrial -5.6% Standard & Poor’s 500 -6.2% Nikkei 225 -12.1% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) -14.3% Shanghai Composite -24.6% MSCI Emerging … Continue reading

Understanding the Child Benefit Charge

7 January marked the fifth anniversary of the tax on child benefits, an imposition that is still not widely understood. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), to give child benefit tax its correct name, was introduced in a rush … Continue reading

Filling the pensions hole for the self-employed

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is aiming to expand pension coverage among the self-employed. Pension automatic enrolment has become a major success since it was launched nearly seven years ago, with almost 10 million people joining a workplace … Continue reading

Shake up your New Year’s resolutions

The time to resolve has returned. Have your New Year resolutions fallen by the wayside yet? You know, the ones about eating better, drinking less and exercising more. The problem is they all require you to make a change to … Continue reading