Month: June 2013

You pay tax on your savings interest in the tax year that the interest is paid to you, or credited to your account, even if you’ve earned part of it in previous tax years. Savings income normally has 20 per cent tax taken off before you receive it. This is confirmed by the entry ‘net...

A recent report from Reuters suggests that long after the Euro debt crisis is over, Europe will be grappling with an even more serious problem – how to pay for growing numbers of older people. The population of some countries is stagnant or already shrinking and that could reduce potential savings and economic growth. The...

Pension release is when you agree to transfer your pension savings to an arrangement that will allow you to access your funds before you reach the age of 55. In rare cases, such as terminal illness, it’s possible to access pension funds before the age of 55. However, for most people, promises of early cash...

The GDP, ‘Gross Domestic Product’, is arguably the most important of all national economic statistics. The GDP seeks, every three months, to capture the state of the economy in one percentage number. If the GDP figure is up on the previous three months, the economy is growing. If it is down, the economy is contracting...

Introduction What was the old compliance wording? Markets can fall as well as rise? May was certainly the month when that was born out, with many of the major stock marching steadily upwards – only to suddenly have a day where the wheels fell off and previous gains were wiped out. The FTSE-100 and the...