Lights, camera, action!
Jackie Chan’s Stunt Team may be blacklisted by all insurance companies, but for most people life insurance is an easier task to tick off the to do list, no excuses. With one in three people more likely to buy protection insurance because of experiences during the pandemic1, the devastating impact of COVID has clearly led […]
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News in Review
“It’s likely households will face a cost-of-living crunch for much of the year” The biggest economic story of last week is something impacting everyone’s pockets – inflation. Data released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday revealed that surging food and energy prices had pushed inflation to a near 30-year high of 5.4% […]
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Investor income boosted by ‘special dividends’
UK dividends climbed to £34.9bn in Q3 2021, an 89% year-on-year rise, according to the latest UK Dividend Monitor1. Sizeable one-off special dividends were partially responsible for the increase, a trend expected to be evident in Q4 too; however, the underlying total in Q3, excluding specials, leapt up 52.6% to £27.7bn. In context, this large […]
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Consider all the variables
From many people’s perspectives, the Autumn Budget may have left a feeling that nothing much had changed in the world of personal financial planning, as there were no major changes announced to Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax or pensions. However, the key consideration is how outside factors such as higher inflation could affect […]
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Home Finance – In the news
BoMaD boom Half of all first-time buyer transactions were supported by the Bank of Mum & Dad (BoMaD) in 2021, according to analysis1. BoMaD contributions of £9.8bn helped 169,000 first-time buyers onto the housing ladder. Surging BoMaD contributions could become the norm, analysts suggest, after Help to Buy is withdrawn completely from March 2023 onwards. Time to negotiate? Six in ten […]
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Residential Property Review – January 2022
Strong end to record-breaking year – but uncertainty ahead As Big Ben’s bongs rang out, a record-breaking year for the residential housing market gave way to an uncertain New Year. Completed transactions to November totalled 1.36 million, which means the number of homes sold in 2021 will reach levels not seen since before the global […]
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Property Market Review – January 2022
Upbeat tone in new year forecasts 2022 could be a year of recovery for the commercial property market, two leading forecasts have suggested, with Colliers’ ‘Forecasts for 2022’ predicting investment volumes will reach £65bn and CBRE’s ‘UK Real Estate Outlook’ also foreseeing strong growth despite lingering risks. According to CBRE, the office market is predicted […]
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News in Review
“It’s amazing to see the size of the economy back to pre-pandemic levels” A raft of economic news landed in the last week or so, one of the most prominent being the latest UK gross domestic product (GDP) statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which highlighted that the UK economy surpassed pre-COVID levels […]
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Money – In the news
What’s on your playlist this year? Over the years, several studies have proven that investors can enter emotional relationships with the stocks in which they invest. Research has reinforced the concept that equity prices are not only driven by analysis of a company’s prospects but also by external factors which can directly impact investor mood. […]
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Wealth – In the news
Scam victims suffer a £9.3bn hit to wellbeing Scams unfortunately continue to be rife. The financial impacts can be devastating, but a new study has sought to quantify the cost to scam victims’ wellbeing. By using a model that allows researchers to value changes in wellbeing in monetary terms, they have calculated the impact of […]
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