Wealth Preservation
The rules around Capital Gains Tax (CGT) are complex and they differ depending on your financial situation. It’s a complicated tax and, as a result, some people may get confused about how much they should expect to pay. WHAT IS CAPITAL GAINS TAX? Capital Gains Tax is a tax payable on the profits (or ‘capital gains’) you make from selling certain assets. These assets include some property, items of value such as art, jewellery or collectables, company shares or other investments, and businesses or business assets.
Market Update: Markets wake up to living with the virus
It has been a week of ups and downs. Monday saw sunshine and relaxation as so-called ‘Freedom Day’ COVID restrictions were lifted in England. Investors did not join in the party, though, as major equity indices sold off around the world. Markets recovered most of those losses later into the week, but the episode marked an unwelcome return of volatility. Unfortunately, that market volatility has been matched by uncertainty in the underlying economy, as the spread of the virus continues to pose a threat to global activity.
Market Update: How negative are yields?
Investors chase returns. That statement may seem too obvious to be interesting, but over the last decade it has had a special significance. For a year and a half now, central banks around the world have pinned interest rates down and poured historic amounts of liquidity into the global financial system. But the era of loose monetary policy long predates the pandemic
Market Update: Don’t Look Down
Global equities have been on a pretty rapid ascent since the start of the year. This week the world’s investors had a bout of looking down, and a mild attack of vertigo. This dizzyness has been prompted by some reasonable worries. Do we have enough food (earnings growth) to carry on? Is the strong tailwind (in the form of liquidity) about to turn into a headwind? Has one of our party (China) already started slipping back down?
The Retirement Clinic
If you are approaching retirement age, it’s important to know your pension is going to finance your plans. Pension legislation is extremely complex and it’s not realistic to expect everyone to understand it completely. But, since we all hope to retire one day, it is important to get to grips with some of the basics.
Market Update: Transition Uncertainties
The great British summer may have struggled to materialise so far, but the end of the first half of the year always brings an element of sunny optimism. We will comment on market and investment returns in more detail next week, when the data has settled, but after what proved a quite decent 2020 for investors, the first half of 2021 has again left investors with plenty to be positive about.
Market Update: Moderating Expectations…
The seemingly never-ending pandemic-induced restrictions and uncertainty is making the forward planning of summer activities quite precarious and frustrating at times. That capital markets have recently borne fewer surprises than the planning of our summer holidays is a rare event and should be cherished – assuming it is not simply the calm before the next storm.
Six Principles of Investing
Whatever stage of life you’ve reached and whatever plans you may have for the future, you want your money to earn the best return possible without taking undue risk. That’s why it’s important to invest in a way that’s right for you and that will meet your goals. Creating and maintaining the right investment strategy plays a vital role in securing your financial future. How much control do you want over your investments? Investing can seem daunting but you don’t have to do it all on your own.
Market Update: Investors try to make sense of the Fed’s ‘dot-plot’
The biggest event of the week took place on Wednesday, as the US Federal Reserve (Fed) concluded its two-day Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting, where it discussed economy policy and its latest projections on inflation and interest rates. Leading up to Wednesday, we were asking ourselves the question “what will the Fed change?”. In essence the choices were “nothing”, “a bit”, or “more than a bit”. All of us were somewhere between “nothing” and “a bit”. The Fed delivered “a bit”.
Succession Planning
The operational demands of running a family business or other closely held enterprise can be all- consuming, but it’s vital that business leaders take the time needed to assess their organisation’s business succession planning.
Market Update: Hazy as Carbis Bay
The G7 meeting in St. Ives’ Carbis Bay was rightly the centre of attention in the UK this week and looks to centre on Europe’s leaders cosying up to a much more loveable US administration, at the same time as trying not to mention Brexit too much.
Market Update: Going up Sideways
May’s returns numbers are in, and the headlines are as follows: a rotation from tech to financials – and from value to growth – as well as a bit more downward pressure on bonds. We have included our usual ‘in review’ table and monthly comments below. Overall, it was a quiet month...
Market Update: Touch of Goldilocks at the end of May
After a strong April, May felt somewhat of a mixed bag for investors, particularly when stock markets suffered a correction in the middle of the month. However, as the month draws to a close, it is mostly only cryptocurrency holders and those who had banked on a warm and sunny May in Northern Europe who are still feeling the pain.
Live The Life You Want
The current life expectancy in the United Kingdom[1] in 2017 to 2019 was 79.4 years for males and 83.1 years for females, while you can access your pension savings from the age of 55, and the State Pension age is currently 66.
Market Update: Europe’s Beacon of Hope Shines Light on Old Problems
After a long quiet spell, Europe is capturing investor interest once again, with the green shoots of a recovery now coming through. After a desperately slow start, vaccination programmes on the continent have stepped up greatly, with ever more jabs set to be delivered in the coming weeks. That, combined with warmer weather and a slowing spread of the virus, is thawing the freeze on economic activity as businesses start to reopen...
May Team News
With the success of the vaccination programme, shops and restaurants have begun to re-open and outdoor activities are in full swing; life is looking a little brighter. Over the last couple of months, the team has celebrated a big birthday, a new member of staff and the end of the 2020/21 tax year! It has been nice making a slow return to the office with a Covid-friendly staff rota, and regular lateral-flow testing.
Market Update: Market vertigo galore!
Markets have certainly lost a bit of that exuberance displayed in recent weeks. However, the risen inflation expectations that have been blamed for the sell-off, are now merely – at last – reflecting what the US Federal Reserve (Fed) had told markets to expect since the beginning of the year. Moreover, the global economy continues to motor towards a post pandemic recovery boom. Therefore, we view this sell-off as more to do with market participants experiencing a wave of vertigo, rather than a fundamental change of direction.
Market Update: The UK bounces back – or is it all just politics?
There has been a great political awakening across the world in recent years. The issues of the day have become visceral divisions. These arguments have had significant impacts on all aspects of our lives, including capital markets. In the UK, this has been most evidently played out in the great Brexit drama which, aside from its impacts on foreign investment and asset valuations, has been the main driving force behind the value of Sterling.
Investing for Life’s Journey
Whatever age you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, it’s human nature to live in the moment and cope with whatever challenges life throws at you. Selecting the most appropriate investments to align with your values and life goals requires undertaking the right planning to accumulate wealth over the long term.
Market Update: Doubling of Earnings Leaves Markets Cold
After last week’s lull in global equity markets, most regions recovered their previous highs this week, albeit in somewhat lacklustre trading patterns. Just as there were several reasons why markets were in a bad mood last week, there are many reasons for the more positive outlook this week.