How Much do you Need for Retirement?
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association says the minimum income needed to fund retirement has fallen. The PLSA publishes annual ‘retirement living standards’ levels to give the public a generalised indication of what income levels they might need in retirement. According to the PLSA’s figures, a minimum annual income level required for a retiree is now £13,400 a year – down £1,000 on 2024 – while for couples it is £21,600,…
Government Plans for Pensions
The Government has launched plans to make wide-ranging changes to how major pension funds are structured, with legal requirements to invest in UK assets. The plans will oversee the creation of new pension ‘megafunds’ which will manage over £25 billion in assets. This will affect major Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) and multi-employer defined contribution (DC) schemes, which include major pension providers such as NEST that pool together the pension funds…
UK Inflation Increase
Price rises have accelerated to 3.5% according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation for April 2025, released on 21 May 2025.This means that, year-on-year, the cost of a range of goods and services is now 3.5% higher than the same period 12 months ago. It is a 0.9% jump from March 2025’s figures, which showed 2.5% CPI inflation. Inflation is now at its…
Possible Mortgage Changes
The financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking at ways it can make the mortgage market more accessible, with a number of proposals on the table. Those proposals could have important implications across the spectrum for homebuyers, owners remortgaging, and the wider property market. The review of mortgage rules stems from changes that were made in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, which tightened important aspects of the market,…
Welcome to May!
As we step into a new month, the financial landscape continues to evolve, with key developments across UK taxation, global markets and central bank policy all shaping the outlook for the months ahead. Markets both in the UK and abroad are responding to shifting inflation trends and central bank movements. The Bank of England’s next interest rate decision (on the 8th May) is highly anticipated, particularly as UK inflation shows…
Liberation Day
President Trump declared the 2nd of April as “Liberation Day”, which signalled a seismic shift in US trade policy. On the campaign trail, we saw President Trump’s affinity for tariffs, with him labelling the word “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and noting that he sees tariffs as a way of achieving multiple objectives: levelling the playing field with trade partners, raising government revenue, and boosting domestic manufacturing. Last…
Spring Statement
This Spring Statement was always intended to be a fiscal non-event. Chancellor Rachel Reeves had promised that there would only be one major economic event each year and last October’s controversial budget was most definitely intended to be it. Speculation had been rising that this Spring Statement might break that promise, and bring some surprises and policy changes, amidst the economic headwinds the government currently faces. Most notably: No…
Be Ready for the End of the Tax Year
The end of the tax year is fast approaching, and with it comes an opportunity to make the most of your allowances. Are you taking full advantage of what’s available to you? Pensions: Have You Maximised Your Contributions? Pension contributions can be a tax-efficient way to save for the future. Have you checked if you have unused allowances from previous years that you can carry forward? ISAs: Using Your…
Government to Ban Leaseholds
Leaseholds could soon be a thing of the past as the Government announces plans to ban the practice. The Government has set out plans to ban new leaseholds, moving to a system of shared freehold or ‘commonhold’ on flats and banning new leasehold properties from being sold. In its white paper, it called the leasehold system “feudal” while emphasising that commonhold is a popular approach used around the world, marking…
Less than a Third of Gen X on track for Retirement
Generation X or ‘Gen X’ – the generation of adults born between 1965 and 1981, roughly 45 to 60 years of age now – is woefully unprepared for now looming retirements, according to a survey of 2,000 UK adults in December 2024. One of the most significant issues the cohort faces, according to the research from Get Britain Pension Ready, is that the group fell through the gaps in…
