Images on investretire.co.uk
We discovered yesterday that our website image optimisation software (the clever stuff which made our website pages load quickly) had started to conflict with other parts of investretire.co.uk meaning some visitors were unable to view our content. We’ve removed the offending tool and replaced it with a version that should offer better compatibility for all […]
M&G Property
M&G has announced today (20th April) the reopening of their property funds after 17 months of suspended trading. The funds are scheduled to become available for trading from noon on 10th May. Investment & Retirement Solutions Ltd has not recommended these funds to clients in recent years, however, we have a number of new clients […]
mortgage guarantee scheme
Today, Monday 19th April, the government has launched its new mortgage guarantee scheme. The scheme is aimed at getting the one part of the market working that looked most likely to falter: first time buyers. Without first-time buyers, sellers only have one option at the lower end of the market: landlords. Hence, the Government has […]
What is cashflow planning?
What is cashflow planning? Cashflow planning is the process of looking at your current financial situation and planning ahead for the future. So whether you’re looking to retire early, take that once in a lifetime holiday, help children through education or even purchase a house in the country, cashflow planning will help you make informed […]
Happy New Tax Year!
Today, 6th April marks the beginning of the new tax year and a brand new 365 days of tax planning opportunities! But why the 6th of April – it seems like a rather random date? Our tax year dates originate from when people in England were required to pay rent to their landlords quarterly on […]
Happy Easter!
It seems like far longer than one year since we last wished our clients a Happy Easter! Here’s hoping everyone has a Happy Easter and a great bank holiday weekend. We’ll be back on Tuesday to wish you all a Happy New Tax Year!s
COVID update
On Thursday, the UK government approved the first stage of lockdown easing. “Step one” of the government’s lockdown easing schedule will formally begin on Monday when the legal “stay at home” gets superseded by “stay local” guidance. We also note that the emergency powers vested in the government by Coronavirus Act 2020 have rolled over […]
Tax Year End
Tax Year End – 5th April 2021 It’s that time of the year again and what a year it’s been. We’re going to skip the usual reminders of bagging your Individual Savings Account allowances, banking your Capital Gains Tax allowances, utilising your annual Inheritance Tax gifting allowances and maximising the amazing annual income tax reliefs […]
One of those days
Various digital and cellular services we use are degraded today: Today, 10th March, the following services are degraded: O2 cellular network and the virtual networks built on O2 (downdector), including the Tesco mobile cellular network and the GiffGaff mobile cellular network Microsoft Teams suffered a major outage this morning between 0830 and 0930 but has since been […]
Reflections: Daughters
Today was International Women’s Day – the annual global commemoration of the cultural, political, social and economic achievements of women, and, a day of focus on gender equality, reproductive rights and violence against women. Investment & Retirement Solutions is proud to be an inclusive firm; we’re not perfect, but we strive to ensure our team […]
Spring Budget 2021
Shortly after 12.30 this afternoon Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered his second budget to parliament. The Chancellor’s delivery of the budget to the House of Commons is largely ‘theatre’ with the real details being published in The Red Book by HM Treasury whilst the Chancellor speaks. Whilst the presentation of the budget was […]
Oops
Paul C was trying to set a land-speed record on his bike this evening when a gang of potholes mugged him and threw his mobile ‘phone into the road, leaving the trusty phone to be run over several times before it was able to be recovered. Sadly, the ‘phone has not survived. A new ‘phone […]
Going down?
Our article of 14th August 2020 was titled “Negative Interest Rates?” – one of our less ambiguous titles! In that article, we linked back to our story of 20th May in which we commented about how the UK government had sold a bond (government debt) with a negative yield. We went on to explain that […]
Taking advantage of BREXIT?
It seems to us that the news has only had three main threads this year: LIFE IN A COVID WORLD LIFE IN A POST-BREXIT WORLD LIFE IN THE WHITEHOUSE WITHOUT TRUMP In the weeks since the Brexit free-trade deal was announced on December 24, people in the UK have been coming to terms with the […]
Minimum Pension Age
In our article of 30th September, we reminded readers of the 2014 government announcement that the access to schemes such as personal pensions would be subject to a general restriction of no earlier than ten years before prevailing state retirement age. Whilst the framework for this was established in legislation, the start date has been […]
Old Mutual Wealth Clients
Some of our clients have assets (investments & pensions) held with Old Mutual. Over recent months these clients, like us, have suffered degraded digital access to Old Mutual as planned engineering work has been conducted on their technology infrastructure. We have received notification from Old Mutual that this engineering work is nearing its conclusion and […]
Self Employed?
Self Employed? As it’s self-assessment day, we thought we publish some thoughts focused specifically on the nuances which face those of our clients with self-employment. Self Assessment Don’t forget today (31 January) is the day to complete and pay your tax bill, this year (2021) HMRC have said they won’t issue penalty notices for late […]
Financial Vulnerability Taskforce
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve joined the newly created Financial Vulnerability, another demonstration of our commitment to be a safe pair of hands for our clients at their time of need. The Financial Vulnerability Taskforce is a newly created independent representative body covering the Personal Finance Sector. Its ultimate purpose is to promote greater UNDERSTANDING, […]
Cryptocurrencies: regulator’s warning
Yesterday, 11th January, the Financial Conduct Authority (the UK’s financial regulator) issued a warning to consumers about the risks of investments which promise high returns based on underlying crypto assets. The warning used very uncomplicated language: “Investing in crypto-assets, or investments and lending linked to them, generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. […]
COVID UPDATE
Whilst our outlook for the latter part of 2021 remains very positive, like many readers of this COVID UPDATE we do have a sense of déjà vu. However, along with the sense of “here, we go again“, we enter this lockdown with (1) a much better understanding of how our clients will need our support, (2) […]