Article by Christina
May 2024 news from Christina Clegg your local Certified Financial Advisor:
- In a survey, 80% of employees in the UK said that they would quit their jobs because of stress.
- In a different survey by Arbuthnot Latham, 60% of High-Net-Worth Individuals said they were thinking of moving abroad. This highlights the problem Governments have when setting the higher tax bands. It’s all very well thinking the rich will pay, but you have to be careful they don’t just leave instead.
- The Equity Release Council said that just over 14,000 people accessed equity release products in the first three months of 2023. That was 30% down on last year. To consider equity release you need to speak to a qualified local certified financial advisor.
- Shadow Pensions Minister Gill Furniss has stood down from her post. Let’s wait and see who they appoint next.
- 40% of self-employed workers aren’t currently paying into a This is a ticking time bomb which can be solved by speaking to your local financial planner.
- According to Shawbrook Bank only one in four people know what the current annual ISA limit is. Do you know?
- The Bank of England has maintained the base rate at 5.25%.
- The UK economy grew by 0.6% in the first quarter of the year. The recession that was widely predicted simply hasn’t happened.
- Over half of local certified financial planner on Unbiased are now only looking for clients with over £500,000 to invest according to a report from Financial Planning Today. That’s seems a very high number. We don’t have a minimum investment value on Vouched For, we’re happy to speak to anyone initially to see if we can help.
- Over 50% of people taking out a mortgage now take one out for over 30 years. This is up from only 30% back in 2021.
- In similar news over 60% of people now intend to use the value of their property to fund part of their retirement.
- 28% more homes are being rented this year over last year. Which shows that despite longer term mortgages its getting even harder to get onto the property ladder. Something needs to be done.
- HMRC has admitted to underpaying state pensions by just short of £500 million last year. Apparently because of inaccurate records.
- A whopping £7.5 billion was paid in Inheritance Tax in the 2023/24 tax year. HMRC have also just confirmed that £700 million was paid in April alone, up almost £100 million on the year before.
- Inflation fell to 2.3% in April. Edging ever closer to the government’s target of 2%.
- £1.7 billion was stolen through scams in the UK last year. With almost 3 million cases reported. The fastest growing scams involved romance as a result of the increase in online dating. Please be careful.
- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a snap general election for 4th
- The value of investments held on UK adviser investment platforms hit a high of £660 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2024. Much of this is managed by local certified financial advisors.
- The Financial Ombudsman Service is considering charging Claims management Companies a £250 administration fee for each claim they submit. The idea is to reduce the number of claims being submitted with no value which are clogging up the system.
