Author archives: charlie

Spring Forecast Statement 2022

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, delivered his 2022 Spring Statement on 23 March, confirming implementation of the politically contentious 1.25 percentage-point rise in most National Insurance contributions, though with revised thresholds to mitigate the impact. He declared that his overall plan “builds a stronger, more secure economy for the United Kingdom.” The fiscal update […]

News in Review

‘The economy has recently been subject to a succession of very large shocks’ Last Thursday, as highly anticipated, the Bank of England (BoE) announced the third increase in Bank Rate in four months, placing more pressure on household finances. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voted by an eight to one majority in favour of […]

News in Review

“At the Spring Statement, Rishi Sunak has to make a huge judgment call” With a week to go until the next fiscal event in the government’s calendar – the Spring Forecast Statement on 23 March – new research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has highlighted its belief that the Chancellor has some big […]

Preserving your retirement from the risk of mental decline

Many of us can now look forward to a longer retirement, due to increased life expectancy, however this unfortunately comes at a cost. The prevalence of age-related cognitive decline is on the rise, which could leave us vulnerable to costly financial errors. There are nearly 885,000 people living with dementia in the UK1, with estimates […]

News in Review

‘The situation remains highly fluid and the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty’ Last week, as the invasion of Ukraine entered a second week, the President of the World Bank declared the situation “a catastrophe” for the world. Although David Malpass stressed his biggest concern is “about the pure human loss of lives” he also […]

The ‘Late Financial Bloomer’ faces a complex retirement journey

A new group of consumers, dubbed the ‘Late Financial Bloomers’ are set to change the face of retirement1. An array of socioeconomic factors, such as later home ownership, are the primary drivers behind this shift. Divorce and marriage trends are also key contributors, as is later childbirth. First marriages now take place four years later […]

News in Review

“The UK is announcing the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen” ‘Freedom Day’ in England was overshadowed last Thursday as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, with troops attacking the country from the north, south and east. The European Union hailed the invasion as one […]