How to survive these taxing times January 29, 2012 AS THE dreaded 31 January rolls around for the self-employed – in fact, 1 February this year following planned industrial action – tax is once again top of the agenda. Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, has upped the ante by calling for the personal allowance to be raised to £10,000. In these taxing times, [...]
Mitigating your bill through pension planning January 29, 2012 THE trick with pension contributions is to understand your tax position. Looking specifically at high earners, there are two specific income thresholds, £100,000 and £150,000 to bear in mind. PASSING £100K Once you hit £100,000 per annum of income from all sources, you gradually lose your tax-free personal allowance, at a rate of £1 for [...]
FTSE closes up on US Fed’s growth plans January 26, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue-chip index rose 1.3 per cent yesterday after the US Federal Reserve pledged to support economic growth, boosting miners and other cyclicals stocks and setting the index on course for another week of gains. The FTSE 100 rose 72.20 points to 5,795.20, although the index failed to close above a key technical resistance at [...]
Wall Street’s rally starts to lose steam January 26, 2012 A month-long rally on Wall Street appears to be sputtering as stocks slipped yesterday in what investors called a possible warning of weakness ahead. Weaker-than-expected home sales figures and a group of mixed earnings reports tempered the market’s recent buying interest. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 22.33 points, or 0.18 per cent, at [...]
Banks and oil firms weigh on the FTSE January 25, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares closed lower yesterday as banks fell out of favour after brokers urged caution on the sector after recent gains, while poor growth in the UK highlighted the challenges facing corporates to meet earnings expectations. London’s blue chip index closed down 28.90 points, or 0.5 per cent at 5,723.00, as the FTSE 100 [...]
Nasdaq takes a bite of the prized Apple January 25, 2012 BIG profits from Apple and a promise from the Federal Reserve to keep rock-bottom rates for at least two more years powered the US stock market higher yesterrday. Apple led the Nasdaq to a one per cent gain. Shares of the maker of iPhones and iPads surged to a record, making it the most valuable [...]
Why networking gives you the edge January 25, 2012 EDITORIAL INTELLIGENCE WHEN Cass Business School, regarded by the City as its very own business school, recently asked me to become the first ever honorary visiting professor of networking, they were recognising a significant shift in business thinking which brings networking out of its silo as a take-it-or-leave it soft skill, and into the realm [...]
Too many young people lack skills for work January 25, 2012 QUEST PROFESSIONAL THERE’S no doubt these are tough economic times, particularly for graduates and young people vying for limited roles in an increasingly competitive job market. The resounding sentiment among young people is a fear that they are not entirely prepared for the work. Having practical and personal skills that are useful in the workplace [...]
Big industry responses are needed to big data explosion January 25, 2012 BIG data has been the big tech issue of the last year and this trend is set to continue as volumes of transactional data continue to grow. So what do people mean by big data? The definition is largely subjective and refers to datasets of a size that is beyond the ability of typical database [...]
BIG DATA IS A GIANT OPPORTUNITY IF YOU PLAN FOR ITS NEEDS January 25, 2012 DIRECTOR UK ENTERPRISE CISCO WHAT DOES THE INDUSTRY MEAN BY BIG DATA? Big data refers to data sets that are too large to economically manage and analyse with traditional IT techniques in a reasonable timeframe. Big data is typically in the tens to hundreds of terabytes range, or even much larger. Sources include both human [...]