Trump Farquaad’s Tariffs
SAT in an armchair writing this very column, with my daughters in Germany in 2001, I watched Lord Farquaad in Shrek, not realising it was probably a training programme for today’s US elections. Complete with eyes squinting like he is still on his sunbed, reading out what his script writers have said about billions of […]
Donald Trump and the impact on your money
I HAVE been asked about how Donald Trump will impact people’s money. Naturally I don’t get excited at the ‘charade’ of democracy that is called the USA elections. Overall spending surpassed $3.9bn in this election, and that’s what was spotted. That’s not a democracy, that’s a ‘monetocracy’. Emotionally trapped between inflation and real hardship, voters were […]
Where did the 2% inflation target come from?
ASKING where the two per cent inflation target came from is an interesting question, but the bigger ask might be why central banks have an upward target for inflation at all? It would seem to be a good idea if you cared about society that you would target for prices to fall rather than rise, […]
‘The inflation hoodwink’
THIS should be my last column on the current inflation hoodwinking, which I hope has been helpful. It has, and will be used for political measures, so watch out for that in the near future. It’s an easy trick to use, and easily missed, so bear this in mind when you are looking at your […]
Inflation – a deeper story
LAST week, we covered inflation and some of the drivers for it, mainly corporate greed. ‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes’ is a phrase we can use when looking at inflation ‘stories’ and, in particular, who gets blamed for it. There is often a bogey man, but the accounts of the energy companies, […]
What is inflation and why does it matter?
FOR the most part, society looks at this as being ‘out of their control’ and the numbers are as meaningful or interesting as a party-political broadcast, whilst eating last night’s cold chips. But inflation really does matter. It wipes out your financial security and it hurts us all, well not necessarily all. Read on, I’ll […]
Eat the egg not the chicken!
WHILE we are still in a ‘cost of living crisis’ and inflation is unnecessarily high, it is worth spring cleaning your expenditure every so often, even if it’s summer. There are tips and attitudes that can really help. Often financial advice looks straight at the money side of things, but that isn’t really in the […]
Interest rates rise to 4.5 per cent
UK inflation is expected to fall slower than previously thought as food prices remain stubbornly high, the Bank of England has said, as it raised interest rates for the 12th time in a row. Seven members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to increase the base interest rate to 4.5% from 4.25%. Food prices have […]
Attraction of 6.5% dividends
The news that BP is to reinstate its dividend is a welcome one, and investors with all but zero interest rates may well be flocking back to the stock. Investors are being subjected to top end building society interest rates of around 3%, whereas inflation is currently outstripping that. It’s a very difficult position for […]
Fix my mortgage at 2.14% or gamble?
Should I fix my mortgage or keep it at a standard variable rate? There are two parts to the answer. The first relates to what risk you can take with your monthly outgoings and the other to the update on whether or not inflation really exists. Speak to an independent mortgage broker for advice but […]
Tax, Tax and more Tax
Well there was no surprise regarding the budget. Tax, tax and a little more tax. But if you are bailing out banks at a rate of knots its no surprise that you need a sub from the unsuspecting tax payer. It is perhaps most worrying that the government appears intent on taxing the higher earners. This will be deemed as a penalty against success and sends a message out to the entrepreneurs who make the world tick that the UK is not a place to visit.
With Profit Bonds – How exactly don’t they work?
Following on from last week’s with profit bond comments I thought I would use this week’s column to explain exactly how they work – without the salesman and insurance company’s noise. Let’s look at why investors invest, how they understand risk, and how with profits are contrived to sell to that fear.