Article by Christina
As your local Financial Adviser near me, here is a roundup of the financial news from September 2022:
- The value of cryptocurrencies continues to fall across the board. Last month the average across the industry was just over 7%. Depending on where you start to measure from most have lost more than half of their value. One of the trends being monitored now is the number of tweets a cryptocurrency receives. This is being seen as sign of reduced interest in the market across the board, although some analysts expect a bounce back.
- In a complicated legal ruling, the High Court rejected a Judicial Review into the government changing the basis of pension calculations from the old Retail Price Index (RPI) to the new Consumer Prices Index including Housing (CPIH). Some employers had brought the case to court claiming that the change would cot hem billions in pension payments and cost pensioners up to 15% of their lifetime payments. The court rejected the claim and so CPIH will now be used as the basis for calculations.
- There are still an estimated 10.5 million people with Defined Benefit pension schemes, who may benefit from speaking to a financial adviser near me.
- The FCA continues to raise concerns about the quality of ESG Benchmark statements. So much so that they have written to firms involved to express their concerns. This is a serious matter. The FCA is worried that the data being used to measure ESG credentials is not reliable and robust enough. They are concerned that consumers are not being given accurate information about what they think they are investing into. With £1.4 trillion invested in the UK alone this is a major issue. The FCA is seeking more transparency and looking for a better way to create more reliable measures, that may include using the services of an independent financial adviser near me.
- The UK economy grew by 0.2% in July slightly easing fears of an impending recession. This was despite a fall of 0.6% in June. Overall, the economy is 1.1% larger than it was pre Covid.
- Inflation fell in August to 9.9%. Although this is still a 40 year high.
- Latest figures from HMRC show that tax receipts from Inheritance Tax were up by 11% in the 12 months to the end of August 2022, to £2.9 billion. As good a reason as any to get advice on you IHT position.
- The Bank of England announced an increase in the base rate to 2.25% (22/9/22)
- As expected, the new chancellor announced that the 1.25% increase in National Insurance Contributions introduced in April this year will be reversed from the 6th of This is expected to save families £300 a year on average.
