NEWS
In his book Pioneering Portfolio Management, the former CIO of the Yale endowment, David Swensen, helped popularise the idea that long-term portfolios should extend beyond traditional stocks and bonds to include assets linked to the real economy and alternative assets such as hedge funds. First published in 2000, the book drew on lessons from investing across a range of market environments, including periods of elevated inflation.
For most of the past two decades, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) has been a relatively peripheral concern for the majority of investors. The annual exempt amount – the amount of gains you can realise each year free of tax – was generous enough that many clients could rebalance portfolios, fund ISA contributions, and take profits without a CGT liability arising at all. That position has changed significantly.
Financial markets were primed for sharp, immediate tax rises. Commentators warned of fiscal tightening. Yet when the Chancellor delivered the measures, the initial reaction was muted. Markets barely moved. The plaster came off—and it didn’t hurt.
In the weeks leading up to the UK Budget, the industry has struggled to read the signs from the Treasury as to what was most likely to happen in the Autumn Statement and what new taxes were to be introduced – we just knew that tax would rise.
If you watch or read the news at the moment, it’s easy to think the world is falling apart. Political tensions, elections, and talk of global conflict seem to dominate every headline. It can all feel a bit bleak – and when you’re also hearing that some professional investors are ‘turning cautious,’ it’s natural to wonder whether it’s time to be worried. Yet, strangely, the investment markets don’t appear to agree with the headlines.
Over the past few years, one of the quietest but most significant shifts in personal taxation has been the steady tightening of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowances. What was once a generous £12,300 annual exemption has been reduced to just £3,000 for the 2024/25 tax year – and there’s every chance that future Budgets or the forthcoming Autumn Statement could push rates higher still.
Plenty of speculation about the taxes that the Government might introduce – and there is lots of choice but let’s examine the potential for a change to the tax free cash sum that clients normally access on retirement.
With a yawning £41 billion hole opening up in Britain’s books, this autumn’s Budget is shaping up to be less about giveaways and more about plug holes.
Equity markets rise over-time but they do not do so in a straight line. Volatility – although difficult to stomach at the time – is par for the course. According to Duncan Lamont, head of strategic research at Schroders, the stock market tends to fall by 20% once every four years and by 10% at some point during most years.
President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs that will reshape trade relations with the United States. The new tariff regime is more severe than expected, and extraordinary both in terms of scale and how they were calculated.
After Rachel Reeves’ first Budget in autumn 2024, you might have been concerned about the announcements that would be included in her Spring Statement on 26th March 2025. Thankfully, the major headline from this year’s springtime fiscal event is that Reeves made few announcements that are likely to directly affect you and your personal finances.
The end of the financial year is nearly upon us, and it’s time to get in quick and make the most of exemptions before April is upon us. But that’s not all that should be on your financial spring cleaning list.
I am writing this because most families meet the care system for the first time in exactly this way: in the middle of a crisis. That is the worst possible moment to be learning the rules. A little understanding now is worth a great deal later.
In his book Pioneering Portfolio Management, the former CIO of the Yale endowment, David Swensen, helped popularise the idea that long-term portfolios should extend beyond traditional stocks and bonds to include assets linked to the real economy and alternative assets such as hedge funds. First published in 2000, the book drew on lessons from investing across a range of market environments, including periods of elevated inflation.
For most of the past two decades, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) has been a relatively peripheral concern for the majority of investors. The annual exempt amount – the amount of gains you can realise each year free of tax – was generous enough that many clients could rebalance portfolios, fund ISA contributions, and take profits without a CGT liability arising at all. That position has changed significantly.
The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply transits here each day. Commercial traffic has been severely disrupted since late February. Iran maintains a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz – the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil transits during peacetime. As long as that remains the status quo, analysts expect oil and stock markets to experience continued heightened volatility.