Relax, you’ll be a millionaire by 2050 – and other predictions for the future February 15, 2016 Sit back, take it easy and stop worrying about money – you'll be a millionaire by 2050. Unfortunately, so will everyone else, making the millionaire milestone a little less special, but earnings will still grow at an annual rate of two per cent, doubling in real terms. That's just one of the predictions for mid-century life in [...]
Mobile challenger bank Mondo raises £5m from Passion Capital and plans £1m crowdfundng campaign ahead of 2016 launch February 15, 2016 Innovative new mobile-first challenger bank Mondo has landed a fresh round of funding and plans a further injection of cash from a crowdfunding campaign ahead of its launch later this year Venture capital firm Passion Capital has invested £5m in the London startup which is in the process of applying for a banking licence from regulators. The bank also plans [...]
Falanx Group’s John Blamire talks listing a shell company, intelligent fridges and going from army officer to entrepeneur February 15, 2016 I think I’d just been given one too many orders,” laughs John Blamire, founder of Falanx Group. The entrepreneur spent the first chunk of his career as an officer in the British Army, serving in Northern Ireland, Iraq and the Falklands. In 2001, he was responsible for creating a strategic-level intelligence unit in a high-risk [...]
UK pensions: When can you afford to retire? Never or at least not until your 70s if you want to be comfortable, according to a report out today February 15, 2016 Today's workers will need to keep plugging away well into their golden years if they want to afford the same standard of retirement as their parents, a report out today has found. The study by pensions company Royal London discovered that people on average earnings would need to continue to work until they are 77 [...]
New personal savings allowance, which allows people to earn up to £1,000 in interest tax free and is due to be introduced in April 2016, is too complex, warn tax experts February 14, 2016 Changes to the way savings are taxed, which are due to come into force this April, will be helpful for the majority of people but may prove tricky for some to get their heads around, tax experts have warned. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) cautioned late last week [...]
UK pensions: Shift to a flat rate of pension tax relief would cause a retirement crisis for millions in the squeezed middle February 14, 2016 A move to a flat rate of pensions tax relief would adversely affect savers in the squeezed middle who are paying at the higher rate tax bracket, causing a retirement crisis by discouraging them from saving, a pensions consultancy has today warned. "A move to a flat rate of tax relief redistributes tax relief away from additional rate taxpayers, [...]
Monitise share price up even as losses quadruple February 12, 2016 Monitise has reported quadrupled losses as the troubled payments firm has had to write off £167m from its value. The figures Monitise reported pre-tax losses soaring from £58m to £211m in the six months to 31 December. At the same time, sales were down from £42m to £33m. The firm’s share price, which has plunged [...]
Don’t dump upfront pensions tax relief: Why a Pensions Isa won’t drive people to save February 12, 2016 A pensions revolution may truly be upon us. Hats off then to City A.M. whose reporting has led the way in publicising the Treasury’s activities in advance of potential changes to how Britain incentivises pension saving. The lurid comparison with Gordon Brown and his 1997 abolition of dividend tax credits made by former pensions minister Steve [...]
BBVA shakes up fintech venture fund, spinning out into independent Propel Ventures, doubling fund and setting up London office February 11, 2016 Spanish bank BBVA, which recently ploughed £45m into UK digital challenger bank Atom, has more than doubled its war chest for investing in fintech startups and will set up shop in London in a shake up of its venture investment strategy. The bank's $100m (£69m) fintech venture fund, which invests in European and US startups, will be upped to $250m [...]
Millienials want to invest for good – but what is impact investing and how do you get involved? February 11, 2016 Impact investing is moving into the mainstream. The companies on the Social Stock Exchange – the UK’s main market for impact investing – have a total combined market value of £2bn and last year raised in excess of £400m. We also saw the first LSE Main Market and Social Stock Exchange dual listing with Menhaden [...]
