Could professional financial advice help you through the cost-of-living crisis?
With soaring inflation and rising interest rates, many people are feeling justifiably anxious about making ends meet. That is partly because the key triggers of the cost-of-living crisis are beyond our control. It is easy to start feeling completely helpless. But there is something you can do that may ease any anxiety you have. Speaking to a regulated, professional financial adviser like ourselves could make the difference. According to…
How are interest rates and inflation linked?
The Bank of England’s aim is for the country to have low and stable inflation – and it works to a target of two percent. Changing interest rates are the Bank of England’s mechanism for achieving its inflation target, and in the current climate of high inflation, it believes raising rates is the right approach. Otherwise, they believe that the problem will continue to get worse and interest rates…
Don’t panic over mortgages amid market turbulence
Since the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, delivered the recent Mini-Budget, we’ve seen the pound crashing to its lowest level against the dollar in 37 years, the Bank of England buying £65 billion of government debt to stop some pension funds collapsing and the International Monetary Fund openly criticising the government and urging it to re-evaluate its policies. We’ve also seen many lenders stop offering mortgages. In fact, a record 935…
How does the falling pound affect me?
The pound went into freefall after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s Mini Budget, with news of a raft of tax cuts at a time of soaring inflation and rising interest rates sending chills through the markets. For many, talk of financial markets, exchange rates and the value of the currency can seem very remote and abstract. But these things have a big impact on our day-to-day lives. Here are just a…
Autumn Mini Budget – Key Announcements
Kwasi Kwarteng, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, has delivered a mini-Budget, dubbed The Growth Plan, in which he promises “a new approach for a new era.” The Chancellor has put tax cuts and driving economic growth at the front and centre of his fiscal plan, as the government seeks to get to grips with soaring inflation and rising interest rates. So, what exactly did he announce? Let’s take…
Teach your children good financial habits as they head to university
You have worked hard to be able to afford to send your child to university, and now the time has come for them to fly the nest and strike out on their own. Naturally, you want them to start their adult life with good financial habits. Here are a few snippets of wisdom you could share with your son or daughter before they head off to university, so they…
Stay calm amid tough economic headwinds
You don’t need us to tell you that investors have had a lot to deal with in the last few years. From a once-in-a-century pandemic to the Ukraine war, along with political upheaval in the US and the UK and soaring inflation across the globe, it’s been a tough period, to say the least. In the face of such grim headlines and events, it’s perhaps no surprise that you…
Interest rates tipped to top 2% in the next year
As the inflation crisis in the UK has deepened, the Bank of England has been forced to act decisively by hiking interest rates. In December 2021, interest rates stood at 0.1 percent, but they’ve since been raised six times and now stand at 1.75 percent. So the question on everyone’s lips right now is just how high could they go? Many analysts, commentators and stakeholders are already predicting a…
What does the end of the mortgage affordability test mean for you?
The Bank of England recently announced changes to its mortgage borrowing rules, with a key affordability test being scrapped. The stress test, introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, required lenders to work out if potential borrowers could manage if interest rates rose by up to three percent. So what does this change mean for you? Well, it could make it easier for potential mortgage borrowers, such…
Does Green Finance matter to you?
Green finance is a rapidly growing part of the financial services market, with more and more providers offering products that help to protect the environment or allow people to manage the impact of their investments on the natural world. This push for green finance is certainly resonating with the wider public, as according to a report from cloud banking platform Mambu, 48 percent of people believe access to green…
