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The first six months of 2018 were unpredictable times for investors as global stock markets suffered a sudden bout of volatility. The unpredictability came as a major surprise after the general stability of 2017.  Once the dust had settled there was a mixture of good and...

03 September, 2018 /

The Lifetime ISA (LISA) may not survive after low uptake by providers and fresh criticisms from parliament. The LISA has been reviewed by the Treasury Select Committee, which was critical of, “its complexity, its perverse incentives, its lack of complementarity with the pension saving landscape...

13 August, 2018 /

The prospect of a flat rate of tax relief on pension contributions has resurfaced in the national press. The cost of pension relief has been chipped back in recent years, mainly by reducing the annual allowance. However, a report in The Times in early July...

06 August, 2018 /

The latest quarterly review of the FTSE 100 revealed common misunderstandings about how the index is drawn up. Every quarter FTSE Russell, which operates all the FTSE indices, decides which companies are promoted or demoted from the FTSE 100 index. There had been speculation that the...

16 July, 2018 /

Important changes affecting Chinese market indices took effect in June 2018, which could affect emerging market funds. On 1 June 2018, the index provider MSCI added 233 domestic Chinese stocks to its emerging market and global indices. MSCI has some of the most widely used indices...

02 July, 2018 /

HMRC is starting the tax year with their annual reminder to submit your tax return. HMRC’s reminder might seem early, but its statistics show that 750,000 people (6.5%) missed the deadline for 2016/17, potentially facing an immediate £100 penalty, even if they had no outstanding...

21 May, 2018 /

With Brexit now less than a year away, how insular are your investments? Brexit – or more accurately the start of the transition/implementation period of the UK leaving the EU – begins on 29 March 2019. By the end of the following year, the UK’s...

30 April, 2018 /

There are advantages to planning your ISA investments around the start of the tax year. With ISAs all the taxation benefits occur after investment is made, yet the focus is often on year-end contributions. Various articles on ISAs filled the weekend press in March, and...

23 April, 2018 /

Important changes for venture capital schemes and enterprise investment have recently come into effect.  New ‘risk-to-capital’ conditions apply to investments in venture capital trusts (VCTs), enterprise investment schemes (EISs) and seed enterprise investment schemes (SEISs). The changes took effect on 15 March 2018, when the...

16 April, 2018 /

Investors and their advisers should start to turn their focus to the end of the tax year on 5 April. ISA contributions have historically always been focused on the end of the tax year. This is the case even though it would make more sense to...

12 February, 2018 /