Ask the expert: Should I pay into an ISA, pension or overpay my mortgage? Personal Finance Fidelity personal finance specialist Marianna Hunt helps a saver decide where to place their capital as interest rates fall. Q: In light of current interest rate expectations, is it better to pay down my mortgage, pay into my pension or invest in an ISA? I have a £350,000 property with a £200,000 mortgage at 4 [...]
Ask the expert: We pay for our adult children to live at home. Will that result in an IHT liability? Personal Finance Fidelity personal finance specialist, Marianna Hunt, is on hand to help parents who are concerned that letting their adult children live at home could lead to a large IHT bill. Q: Our adult children live in our house. We pay for all food, utilities, council tax etc, but don’t charge any rent. Is that an [...]
Savers stick to cash amid fears over investment risks Business Fears over falling stock prices are prompting UK savers to avoid investing, new research has found, with Brits preferring to park their earnings in cash. According to online trading platform IG, three in five savers believe any form of retail investing is too risky, despite government and industry figures’ encouragement to increase their exposure to [...]
What has caused the M&A surge in the UK financial sector? August 27, 2025 The UK financial sector has seen an influx of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity so far this year as investors look to capitalise on emerging opportunities in the market. Growing economic stability in both the private and public markets, following a period of instability caused by inflation and soaring interest rates, has sparked a renewed [...]
UK investors eye opportunities in emerging markets August 11, 2025 UK retail investors are eyeing opportunities to enter emerging markets as they look to sidestep domestic economic problems. Growing economies across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe are enticing investors away from placing all their capital into developed markets in search of higher returns overseas. Larger, more mature economies are suffering the consequences of Trump’s [...]
UK consumers lack confidence to identify as investors July 22, 2025 Less than half of Britons who contribute to a workplace pension regard themselves as an investor, in signs of the public’s trepidation over getting involved in the stock market. Only two-fifths of people investing in pension schemes identify as investors, in spite of the fact that nearly 75 per cent contribute to a workplace pension [...]
The cheapest Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) providers May 30, 2025 High earners are increasingly contributing £60,000 and above to their Hargreaves Lansdown Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), new data shows. The number of people making contributions of exactly £60,000 – the full allowance – was up 12 per cent in the last tax year. The number of people making SIPP contributions over the annual allowance was [...]
St James’s Place fund in the doghouse over underperformance February 21, 2025 St James’s Place’s Global Quality Fund has retained its spot as the largest fund to be consistently underperforming after falling 26 per cent below its benchmark over the last three years. The report from Bestinvest, which identified the funds in the ‘doghouse’ due to persistent underperformance, found 137 funds struggling to match their peers. Despite the [...]
Exclusive: Investment platforms flouting tax rules on ISA stocks February 6, 2025 Almost all UK investment platforms have been breaking HMRC rules by allowing stocks ineligible for tax relief to be put in ISAs, a City AM investigation has revealed. AJ Bell, Fidelity, Interactive Investor and many others have been allowing stocks that should not get tax-free status to be added to ISA portfolios, meaning capital gains [...]
Fidelity and Abrdn among backers of new investment platform trade body September 22, 2024 Fidelity and Abrdn are among the big names to have joined a new trade body for online financial sites as the industry faces regulatory scrutiny and a government shake-up.