Insights

Temporary property tax holidays for the lowest property tax brackets came to an end in 2021. We take a look at what property taxes buyers now need to pay across the UK, whether resident or not.

The markets felt the tremors from a continuing chain of seismic rate rises across the world – plus the UK government’s move to rip up the budgetary rule-book – in the week of 19 September 2022.

Should I invest now or wait for greater falls? Rebecca Cretney discusses some of the questions she gets asked and explains why personal financial advice can prove far more valuable than economic forecasts.

The week of 5 September saw further monetary tightening as central banks continued to raise interest rates to curb inflation. While on the fiscal front, governments announced packages to support consumers in the face of soaring energy prices.

August started promisingly with risk assets supported by encouraging economic data from the US. But focus soon shifted to the further deterioration of Europe’s energy situation, increasing the prospect of much slower economic growth, higher inflation and higher interest rates.

Push-pull factors continued to buffet markets in the week of 29 August 2022. Rising inflation, energy disruption and hawkish talk on base rates prevailed, alongside relatively strong corporate earnings data.

Although retirement planning should be carried out as early as possible, many of us only seriously review our financial situation a few years before we plan to retire. Recent events, however, highlight regular reviews of your wealth are more important than ever, as Simon Prescott explains.

The global outlook remains highly challenging, with the upward surge in inflation and mixed economic data increasing expectations of further interest rate hikes from central banks.

As global inflation remains persistently high and central banks struggle to rein it in, we look at the implications for equity markets and the potential opportunities to be found for portfolio positioning.

Following a challenging first half of 2022, global equity and bond markets rallied strongly during July. Risk assets were supported by concerns over global economic growth and recessionary fears, which tempered higher interest rate expectations.

Recession – what recession? The week of 25 July 2022 saw strong rallies across most markets, in response to hints that the Federal Reserve might ease up on its rate hike programme.