Investors plan to plough even more into private equity this year – and get more back through distributions March 13, 2018 Investors in private equity funds are planning to plough even more money into the asset class over the next 12 months, according to a new survey, after a record year in 2017. These institutional investors, surveyed by adviser Rede Partners which helps match private equity funds with investors, are also expecting to get “significantly more” [...]
Peer-to-peer platform Funding Circle appoints bankers ahead of potential float March 11, 2018 British unicorn Funding Circle has appointed bankers to lead an initial public offering (IPO) which will likely value it at more than £1.5bn, according to reports. The peer-to-peer lending platform has appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and London-headquartered Numis Securities to broker the deal, according to Sky News and Bloomberg. [...]
Six reasons to use your ISA allowance March 6, 2018 1. Excellent tax benefits ISAs are one of the simplest and most effective ways to save tax. If your investments are in an ISA you don’t have to pay tax on income from them, and there is no capital gains tax to pay on any profits. Even if keeping your money outside the clutches of [...]
Saving for school fees March 6, 2018 A good education can be predictably expensive. Parents can now expect to pay upwards of £200,000 in order to secure their children a private education, from nursery to upper sixth. The onset of autumn is synonymous with the start of the new school year and parents of young children, or prospective parents, might be looking [...]
Fed chair willing to hike rates faster if necessary February 28, 2018 On Tuesday, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s prepared comments to Congress were released ahead of his appearance before the House Financial Services committee. In them he downplayed concerns over recent stock market volatility, claiming dramatic swings do not weigh heavily on his outlook for the economy and maintaining his expectation for further gradual increases [...]
Make the most of your tax breaks before the tax year end February 27, 2018 ISA allowance ISAs are often the first port of call for investors looking to save tax. They are simple, flexible and tax-efficient. By using your full ISA allowance each year (£20,000 in the current 2017/18 tax year) it’s possible to build up a large pot of money sheltered from capital gains tax or income tax. [...]
Israel is building bridges on the foundations of its tech revolution February 27, 2018 David Ben Gurion once famously said: “in Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles”. Israel’s founding father was an unrelenting idealist, and it was thanks to his vision that this tiny nation, built from swamps and sand dunes, can today call itself a high-tech superpower. Israel is the startup nation. [...]
Beat the shrinking dividend allowance February 23, 2018 Changes to the way dividends are taxed stand to leave investors exposed to an unwelcome tax charge from April. Investors can mitigate this risk by making the most of all their available tax-free allowances. The government has been tweaking the rules surrounding dividend income for a while now. In 2015, it was announced that the [...]
Berlusconi’s ghost haunts Italy’s general election – and reveals the polarisation of its politics February 22, 2018 Liberal commentators regularly liken President Trump to the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The huge personal fortune, the unabashed anti-immigration, tax-cutting populism, even the perma-tanned complexion – the comparisons are irresistible. Yet having previously served three terms as Prime Minister, Mr Berlusconi is no insurgent outsider in Italian politics. With barely two weeks to [...]
Five habits of good investing February 21, 2018 Taking a long-term view History suggests the stock market is the best way to grow wealth over the long term, easily outpacing interest rates on cash. However, significant market falls are also a part of investing and notoriously difficult to predict. It is worth remembering that the longer you invest for the greater your chances [...]