It’s Tax Freedom Day: It may be the latest it’s been since 2001 but you’re finally earning for yourself June 3, 2016 Ask a random person on the street how much tax they pay and they’ll usually guess around 20 per cent of their income. That’s the basic rate of income tax, and it’s easy to forget taxes like VAT, council tax, beer and wine duties, air passenger duty, motoring taxes and stamp duty. Even if you remind [...]
Buy to let investors are feeling the heat: What are the alternatives for gaining exposure to residential property? May 26, 2016 The buy-to-let boom of recent years has fed the stereotype that Brits are uniquely obsessed with property. Yet statistically this appears to be little more than a myth. The latest data from Eurostat show that 64.8 per cent of the UK adult population lives in a property they own compared to an EU average of [...]
School of hard knocks: How to cut the soaring cost of private education May 26, 2016 When it comes to our children, a good education is priceless. But if you’re talking about sending them to a private school, there is a hefty price tag, and it has been rising precipitously. To send a child to a private day school from 2015 to 2028 will set you back an average of £286,000, [...]
Building an economy of the future: Why the Conservative government needs to change its fiscal mandate May 24, 2016 Since the Conservative's won their majority government in 2015, our economy has begun to waver. In the first quarter of this year growth slowed, with construction output falling by 0.9 per cent. The OECD has downgraded forecasts, as has the CBI. In addition, 10-year gilts hit an all-time low in February and foreign investment is collapsing, [...]
The big squeeze: Should you consider VCTs as part of your retirement planning? May 24, 2016 A total of £429m of new money was raised by Venture Capital Trust (VCTs) managers in 2014-15 – the fourth highest yearly figure ever. Introduced back in 1995, these listed investment vehicles enable investors to access pooled funds of smaller, higher risk firms in a tax-efficient manner, while providing a crucial lifeline to fast-growing UK [...]
Performance vehicle: Five tips to get the most mileage from your Sipp May 24, 2016 Whether you’re a young saver prepared to take on more risk, or a retiree who doesn’t want to trade their nest egg for an annuity, self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) are tax-efficient vehicles which put you at the controls. Also known as DIY pension schemes, Sipps can be used to invest in any number of assets [...]
Brexit threatens London’s world beating tourism industry: Don’t let the capital become a museum May 24, 2016 Tourism is one of our biggest exports – and London is the most-visited city on earth. But the industry is worried that this world-beating ranking could be at risk if Britain cuts itself off from Europe. In fact, Europe is our biggest tourist market, with more than 60 per cent of visitors to the UK [...]
Cut capital gains tax with EIS investment May 24, 2016 Investors facing a capital gains tax bill have an opportunity to cut it down by investing in the UK’s early stage businesses. Chancellor George Osborne recently cut the rate of capital gains tax to 20 per cent, down from 28 per cent. It’s applicable in the current tax year, but anyone who made a capital gain [...]
Focus on Notting Hill property: Prices may have fallen, but is it all down to stamp duty reform? May 19, 2016 Notting Hill hasn’t been having the best of weeks, if truth be told. On Tuesday, a report from estate agent Stirling Ackroyd revealed that average house prices had fallen in several prime central London locations. In W11, they’ve gone down by 10 per cent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of [...]
Enterprise Inns posts revenue growth and announces it will sell 22 commercial property sites in a £20m deal by mid-June May 17, 2016 The UK's largest pub company, Enterprise Inns, has made "good progress" in the first half of 2016 and is primed to sell 22 of its commercial sites in a £20m deal by mid-June. The figures Enterprise Inn's revenues nudged up by £3m in the first half of 2016, from £302m this time last year to [...]