New data from HMRC show growing numbers of income taxpayers paying above the basic rate. Source: HMRC The club that all members want to leave, the income tax playing club, is gathering ever more members who are paying every greater subscriptions. That, at least, is one way of looking at some updated statistics which HMRC published in the final week before the election. Curiously, the main parties ignored the data, reinforcing what the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies

The date of the next Budget has been announced, accompanied by the new Chancellor’s warning about government finances. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first announcement on entering 11 Downing Street was the commissioning of a ‘spending inheritance’ review from the Treasury. Her decision to do so was questioned by the opposition (Conservatives), among others, who argued that the state of public finances had been made clear in the report from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR

Do you dream of retiring much earlier than your peers? Many ideas which originated in the US have made their way across the Atlantic. The latest financial innovation to join index-tracking investments, budgeting apps and exchange traded funds is the FIRE movement – Financial Independence, Retire Early. If you are a millennial or a member of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and not enjoying your working life, then FIRE has an obvious appeal. At the most extreme are people in

Market responses to elections should be treated with caution. Source: Investing.com 2024 is a year of elections around the globe – in varying shades of democracy. On some counts, around 60 countries will vote, representing close to half of the world’s population. This includes eight of the world’s most populous nations – Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States. June saw European Parliament elections, followed rapidly by the surpri

Central banks around the world are beginning to cut interest rates with the European Central Bank leading the way. Source: US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank On 6 June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) became the first major central bank (the big three being the US, UK and European) to announce an interest rate cut in the current cycle. This marked the ECB’s first cut since September 2019, when its main rate was reduced to a negative rate of -0.5%.

With a majority of over 200 and a weight of expectations, what happens next for Sir Kier Starmer’s new Labour government? The importance of the first 100 days of a new government cannot be understated. Within that period the new incumbent has the greatest political capital to take bold actions, as well as the greatest opportunity to lay the blame for ‘inherited’ problems on its predecessor. Given the timing of the election, Labour’s first 100 days are a little complicated and