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December 2017

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November marked the first rise in the Bank of England Base Rate in over ten years. At the start of November, the Bank of England raised its base rate for the first time since 5 July 2007. Just over a decade ago, the previous increase...

25 December, 2017 /

The Autumn Budget included a raft of measures focused on venture capital schemes. The writing was always on the wall after a Treasury consultation issued in August posed the leading question, “Are there areas where the cost effectiveness of current tax reliefs could be improved,...

18 December, 2017 /

The Autumn Budget contained more bad news for many buy-to-let investors which went largely unnoticed.  April 2018 will see the next step down in mortgage interest relief for investors in buy-to-let (BTL) residential properties. The amount of interest that can be offset against rental income...

11 December, 2017 /

Statistics show that dividends from UK shares are still rising rapidly.   Source: Capita Asset Services. Overall 2017 figure is Capita estimate The latest quarterly ‘UK Dividend Monitor’ from Capita Asset Services paints a rosy picture for income-seeking investors in UK shares. As Capita noted, “Companies are...

27 November, 2017 /

New figures from HMRC show a large jump in VCT investments in 2016/17. In September HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued updated statistics on the funds raised by venture capital trusts (VCTs). These showed that investment during last tax year reached £570m, an increase of over...

20 November, 2017 /

State pensions will rise by 3% next April, but it’s not all strictly good news. On the day that a CPI inflation rate of 3% was announced, the BBC website covering the rise had a picture of pensioners “dancing for joy”. The supposed reason for their...

06 November, 2017 /

The third quarter of 2017 has ended and despite the heavy political news, investment returns were generally positive. Index Change 30 June – 29 September FTSE 100 +0.8% FTSE All-Share +1.2% Dow Jones Industrial +4.9% Standard & Poor’s 500  +4.0% Nikkei 225 +7.7% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) + 4.4% Shanghai Composite +3.9% MSCI Emerging Markets (£) +3.6%   Think about the third quarter of this...

30 October, 2017 /

The Chancellor has announced the date of his first Autumn Budget as Wednesday 22 November. The second Budget of 2017 will be both Mr Hammond’s first Autumn Budget and the first Budget after the general election. Traditionally, the first Budget of a new parliament is the chance...

23 October, 2017 /