Article by Christina
Your Female Financial Adviser Christina Clegg brings you a roundup of the financial news from January 2023:
- The number of people submitting their tax returns on Christmas Day rose by over 400 top 3,200 this year according to HMRC. With over 10,000 submitting their returns on Boxing Day.
- Rents likely to increase by up to 13% in 2023. According to research by broker Finanze. There are a number of reasons. Including lower investment in the buy to let sector reducing the number of houses available for rent and higher interest rates meaning less people can afford a mortgage and therefore need to rent.
- Confirming this, the Bank of England released figures which showed that the number of mortgage approvals were at their lowest level since lockdown. In October only 37,000 mortgages were approved, down 20,000 on the previous month.
- According to the latest figures, HMRC received over 26,000 reports of fraud relating to the governments furlough scheme in 2020 – 2021.
- The Bank of England expects mortgage customers to see their incomes drop by 12% over the next two years as a result of increased interest rates, inflation and lower pay increases.
- The UK economy grew by 0.1% in November, following on from the 0.5% increase in October. Quite the opposite of most forecasts.
- The FTSE 100 index hit its highest level since May 2018 on the 13th of January at 7,849. Your Female Financial Adviser Christina Clegg wonders whether it will continue at this level.
- The FCA issued a warning for customers of the failed SIPP firm Hartley pensions. It appears they are being targeted by scammers. Please be aware.
- The SEC in the USA has issued 12 major Wall Street Banks with a combined fine of $1.8 billion for breaches in personal data security. Mainly from failing to control their employees from using WhatsApp to communicate with clients. Whilst convenient the App doesn’t allow conversations to be recorded and significantly increases the risk of data breaches. It remains to be seen if the FCA will also act in the UK.
- Latest figures from the 2021 Census revealed that there are 5 million people in the UK who are acting as carers. Those providing more than 35 hours care a week may qualify for the £69 weekly carers allowance. Or carer’s National Insurance credits.
- According to the latest survey by Abrdn 90% of financial advice firms are worried about the impact of increasing costs on their business. 25% of firms said that would have to increase client fees to cover the costs. Those that aren’t increasing are already at the market norm pricing of 1.0% of investment value for ongoing advice. Female Christina Clegg Financial Adviser fees are below the market average.
