Category: Financial Advice

Just shows it’s the long haul, regarding the markets, especially when you have a Trump around. 

The 19k I lost on March 9^th week, has now been recovered with a 1K bonus. 

Just annoying that I had to lose that with all these tariff issues. 

On the day that we celebrate 80 years since VE day, the Bank of England have reduced the interest rate from 4.5% to 4.25%. 

Though it was a split decision of 5 for, 2 for cut to 4% and 2 for no change. 

This is also on day, when it appears to be a tariff agreement reached with the USA. 

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After the feedback from my pension provider, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I decided to monitor the interest rates as they forecast only 2 cuts this year.

Well the 1^st meeting of the year they have cut the interest rate from 4.75 to 4.5.

So will be interesting to see what happens for the rest of the year, but I think the employer tax changes in April could have big negative impact. We will see.

Today I received my quarterly review of my portfolio and I thought I would report it for a record, that they believe there will only be two interest rate cuts in 2025.

If this is the case, it won’t be great news for people or companies with all tax changes and increases that will come in April this year.

Let’s see if they are correct with their forecast, hopefully not.

As mention before in previous blog posting, I would advise people in the UK to register for this on the UK Government website to keep a check that nothing is happening against your property.

It’s free and gives you peace of mind.

This morning, I had quite a shock when I was checking my emails.

It’s that time of year for my car tax renewal, and where as last year, I was seeing lots of people complaining about the increase, this year virtually nothing.

So when I opened the email from Hastings Direct who I had changed too last year, to see this amount quoted for the next year, I couldn’t believe it.

£1.130.44

This was up from £696.21, why?  A £434.23 increase.

I decided to take a walk to calm down

So I logged on to the go compare website and after confirming all the car details, I found a quote from the AA for £616.

So I then rang Hastings Direct and said about the new quote from them and even the person I spoke to was taken aback.

So after going through everything with him, he got the value down to £702.79.

I asked why he could get the quote down that low and not the original quote, and said he could put personal details in, where the quote was automated and can’t. That just doesn’t make sense to me.

After a quick chat with Claire, we decided to stay with Hastings Direct, as it was only £6+ increase and have the hassle of changing, even though the AA was cheaper.

Well see what happens next year.

Today I received a document regarding the Budget from my financial advisor.

This is some of the feedback.

“The first Budget from a Labour government since March 2010, and the first ever from a female Chancellor, proved to be the defining event that had been widely anticipated.

From the moment in late July when Rachel Reeves unveiled her “£22 billion black hole” and announced means-testing for the winter fuel payment, it was clear her Budget premiere would be a challenging one for both the government and the governed.

As Budget Day neared, talk of the black hole was replaced by a steady flow of rumours about tax increases and also, to a lesser extent spending cuts, totalling as much as £40 billion. In addition, there were suggestions that government borrowing – already overshooting the March 2024 Budget projections by around £7 billion – would rise by £20 billion to fund NHS and infrastructure projects.

In the event, the Chancellor delivered tax increases amounting to £41 billion by 2029/30. By far the largest element of this was the expected rise in employer’s national insurance contributions (NICs). The 1.2 percentage point rate increase, combined with a £4,100 cut in the secondary threshold will yield nearly £25 billion a year by 2028/29. At that level it more than counters the cost of the cuts to employee and self-employed NICs introduced by Jeremy Hunt.

Other significant tax increases included higher capital gains tax rates and a future reduction in inheritance tax business and agricultural reliefs. Despite the additional revenue, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects that increased spending will mean that borrowing will still be over £70 billion in 2029/30. Not without reason does the OBR say, “…this Budget delivers a large, sustained increase in spending, taxation, and borrowing”

Budget highlights

The main rate of class 1 employer national insurance contributions (NICs) will be increased from 13.8% to 15.0% with effect from 6 April 2025 and the secondary threshold at which NICs are payable will be reduced from £9,100 to £5,000.

The main rates of capital gains tax will increase with immediate effect to 18% for non and basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher and additional rate taxpayers. The rate for business asset disposal relief will rise to 14% for 2025/26 and 18% from 2026/27.

Inheritance tax (IHT) business and agricultural 100% reliefs will be capped at a combined total of £1 million from April 2026. Above that, the rate of tax relief will be 50%. However, the cap will not apply to AIM shares which will just qualify for 50% relief.

Unused pension funds and death benefits will form part of a person’s estate for IHT purposes from 6 April 2027.

The additional SDLT rate for second homes and buy-to-let properties increases from 3% to 5% from 31 October 2024. The temporary increases in the 0% SDLT band for first time and other property buyers will end on 31 March 2025.

VAT at 20% will be applied to private school education and boarding services from 1 January 2025. From 1 April 2025, charitable relief for business rates will be withdrawn.

Subscription limits for individual savings accounts (ISAs), Junior ISAs and Lifetime ISAs will be frozen until April 2030.”

From a previous posting in my blog, it just shows no one really saw what was coming in this budget and how can such a big black hole appear in the governments accounts, that should never happen, who is auditing them?

Overall I don’t see much of an impact on me apart from a rise in stuff to pay for the employer national insurance contributions increase, which I can only see will impact worker’s pay rises and taking on new staff. As is normal, it’s the general public that will suffer.

I received an email regarding new rules regarding money and scams.

The main points are these.

“From the 7 October 2024, we’ll be following new rules for Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.

Just to recap – APP fraud is when you believe you’re making a genuine payment but are tricked into sending money to a criminal.

What it means for you if you fall victim to APP fraud

We’ll reimburse your payments up to £85,000, if they’re eligible and are made after the 7 October 2024. The rules include most Faster Payments and CHAPS made in the UK.

If your claim is successful, we’ll put your money back into your account within 5 working days. If we reimburse you, we may not pay the first £100 per claim. This is called an excess. For example, if you raise a claim for £1,000 then we could reimburse £900.”

I find it interesting that they might take £100 if you get your money back and why was this email sent after the rule came into place and not before.