Investors need to actively manage their Sipp funds September 16, 2012 SELF invested personal pensions (Sipps) are an increasingly popular kind of tax-efficient pension scheme. But like all investments, they are not suitable for everyone. Sipps allow better control over what your money is invested in and investors benefit from increased transparency. Compare this to stakeholder pensions, for example, where you have no control over how [...]
Gold spikes as Fed turns on the taps September 13, 2012 THE FEDERAL Reserve launched a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) last night, with Ben Bernanke pledging to buy an extra $40bn (£24.8bn) of assets every month until the economy recovers and unemployment falls in earnest. The Fed will also keep extending the average maturity of its asset holdings through the rest of this year, [...]
Wall St soars as Fed pledges fresh stimulus September 13, 2012 US stocks and crude oil prices rose and the dollar weakened yesterday as investors bet the Federal Reserve’s fresh dose of monetary stimulus would improve economic growth. The US central bank initiated another aggressive stimulus programme, saying it will buy $40bn of mortgage-backed debt per month until the outlook for jobs improves substantially as long [...]
Fed launches open-ended bond buying programme September 13, 2012 The US Federal Reserve this afternoon launched a third round of quantitative easing. It will spend $40bn (£24.8bn) a month on buying mortgage-backed securities, with no end date. Interest rates are likely to stay “exceptionally low” until at least mid-2015, the Fed added. US economic growth cooled in the second quarter, coming in at a [...]
Lloyds joins SME loan price war September 10, 2012 CHEAP funds from the government filtered through to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) yesterday as Lloyds became the latest bank to cut borrowing costs. It comes a day after RBS announced a similar move to cut rates for manufacturing firms, while several leading banks cut mortgage rates last month. The Bank of England is [...]
These politicians are wrong – a tax on wealth would be bad for Britain September 9, 2012 A NUMBER of leading political figures – including Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Ed Balls – have recently voiced their support for a new wealth tax. It is easy to see why this idea is attractive to politicians. In the UK, personal wealth totals around £7 trillion – around 5 times GDP – even after [...]
Your first move onto the property ladder September 9, 2012 UK HOUSE prices saw their biggest fall for a year in the three months to July 2012, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). But the capital is bucking the trend. London property prices grew by 6.5 per cent over the last year, according to last quarter’s Greater London Authority London Housing Market [...]
More homes would make climbing the second step easier September 9, 2012 GETTING a foot on the property ladder is hard. But, taking the second step could be even harder. Agonising market conditions mean that it could now be the most challenging time to be a “second stepper” in years. Research shows that a first-time buyer stays in their first property for around four years. Since the [...]
Grazie, Mario September 6, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) is gearing up to spend billions of euros on supporting troubled governments, ECB boss Mario Draghi announced yesterday, sending markets soaring. As long as indebted governments ask the official bailout mechanisms for help and put in place strong plans to get their finances back on track, the ECB will consider [...]
Top tips for investment first-timers September 2, 2012 IF YOU’RE lucky enough to find that you’ve got money left at the end of each month, the investment decisions you make now could make a big difference to the quality of the rest of your life. However, deciding how you invest isn’t easy. At a time of stock market volatility, negative real returns from [...]