£750 billion in dormant pensions – how much is yours?
YOU may have heard the term ‘frozen’ pension. There are two meanings to this. If you have paid National Insurance contributions, and are expecting a state pension but emigrate to another country, the UK has a policy in certain countries (Canada, Australia) where they no longer increase your state pension by inflation. As each inflationary […]
Yesterday’s lottery numbers as an investment
WATCHING the latest series of After Life, and the moment Ricky Gervais manages to persuade the owner of the newspaper not to sell (sorry if I spoiled that) . . . it goes like this: “How much would you sell it for?” . . “Half a million”. “What would you do with that”? “Buy a […]
Beating debt and covid
THERE are evolutionary moments in life . . . when you are in secondary school thinking how easy it would be to sit back in your primary school desk; when you look at how complicated life is as a house owner, and how A-levels were actually a doddle; when you realise how debt just makes […]
Think of your finances as a leaking bucket and start plugging the holes
IN the next of our taking care of finances in lockdown, I’ll just look at some of the basic tips for making the most of your money. One involves the term ‘leaky buckets’. My late father had explained how he used to fill a bath from a well, which was a reasonable hill walk. By […]
Taking control of your money in lockdown
HOPEFULLY a few of you managed to bag the shares I mentioned in the column last week? Most of them were up around 30 per cent in the next two days – a nice light in dark times. Keeping your head in difficult times is a tough task, but pays dividends, something many large UK […]
The Covid-19 economy
The Covid-19 economy – it’s been a week studying mathematical analysis on coronavirus, to ascertain where this is all bringing us, and how that will impact economies and investment markets. Markets plummeted, then bounced, and we are all looking at where the next movement will be. Do I leave the market, sit tight, or do […]
Loan scheme is 11.36 per cent above residential lending
I’LL be sticking with guidance through the coronavirus over the next few weeks as its turmoil knocks businesses and family’s globes off their axis – today I’ll focus on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme (CBILS). And in short, if you can avoid it, don’t do it. New Order had the hit record of ‘Love […]
The Coronavirus impact – clarity through the noisy turmoil
I’VE covered the coronavirus impact previously, but it’s hard to ignore it again, given what are ‘not normal conditions’. Stock market corrections/falls are reasonably common occurrences. The first was in 1637, when tulips had more value than houses. My first was in 1987. I was fresh and soon to be wounded. I’ve been through many […]
Coronavirus and should you fix your mortgage?
SHOULD you fix your mortgage now or wait to see what happens with the coronavirus impact, and fix later? The Bank of England unanimously voted to cut the bank base rate to 0.25 per cent, the lowest level in history. Will we see it go lower? Probably. The UK has been particularly slack with their […]
Keeping your head in markets
WADING your way through the extraordinary noise that is financial markets at the moment is an interesting experience. ‘Will coronavirus hit my finances?’ and ‘will Brexit trash the economy?’ are two common questions from investors worried about losing large amounts of capital from their pensions and investments. It isn’t always a pleasant investment world and […]
The investment lie which serves no-one
WHO said: “This is a big deal . . . something that could become systemic. These funds are built on a lie, which is that you can have daily liquidity for assets that fundamentally aren’t liquid”? It was Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, who was referring to illiquid assets (assets you can’t […]
Invest your money tax efficiently
THERE are many ways to invest your money, and to do so efficiently, and tax efficiently. From a tax efficiency viewpoint, ISAs ensure that all gains in your investments are tax free, as do pensions. A unit trust, open ended investment company (OEIC), or Investment Trust have the benefit of gains being offset against losses elsewhere, […]