With the rise in interest rates recently, there is no time like the present to review your mortgage? With another rate rise predicted for the near future, reviewing your mortgage could be as important as ever. In reviewing your mortgage, there is a good chance that I will be able to save you money on…
Read moreAuthor: MartinJP
PPM would like to wish you all a very peaceful and happy Christmas. From all the staff at PPM The contents of this article is for information purposes only and represent the opinion of Pryor Portfolio Management Limited only. No action should be taken on the basis of this article alone. We always recommend you…
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UK companies paid out a record amount in dividends in the second quarter of this year. At a time when there is much heated debate about whether the Bank of England should double its base rate to 0.5%, it can be easy to forget the much higher income yield available from UK shares. While most…
Read moreLast month saw the first suggestions that interest rates could increase soon. In June, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, increased short term interest rates for the second time this year and the fourth time since December 2015. The 0.25% increase to 1.00% − 1.25% had been well signalled by Fed officials, so there…
Read moreThe latest inflation numbers show prices rising at their fastest rate for nearly four years. The May inflation data came as a surprise to many pundits. The expectation had been for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), to remain at April's level of 2.7%. Instead, National Statistics revealed that annual inflation had…
Read moreThe general election left the future of many spring Budget announcements up in the air, but that situation may soon change When Theresa May announced her snap election in April, it threw a major spanner in the previous month's Budget. There was no time to pass the 776 pages of Finance Bill before parliament shut…
Read moreThe first six months of 2017 have presented investors with an interesting half year. 2017 Change to 30 June FTSE 100 +2.4% FTSE All-Share +3.3% Dow Jones Industrial +8.0% Standard & Poor's 500 +8.2% Nikkei 225 -1.1% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) + 4.6% Shanghai Composite +2.9% MSCI Emerging Markets (£) +11.5% Think about the first…
Read moreNo, it's not a mistake, but it is not the FTSE 100, either. The most frequently quoted index of UK share prices is the FTSE 100 index, or the "Footsie" as it is frequently described. The FTSE 100 index was launched at the end of 1983, with the aim of giving a yardstick to the…
Read moreThe latest Quarterly Inflation Report (QIR) from the Bank of England has been published and shows that 'the Old Lady' has changed her mind a little. But the market projections for short-term interest rates don't make for helpful reading for those with cash deposits. The QIR was published in May, a few days before the…
Read moreThe general election campaign provided a reminder that the issue of funding social care remains unresolved. Who pays how much for long term care in England came to the fore last month. It is one of those subjects which successive governments have repeatedly kicked down the road. Nearly 20 years ago the then Labour government…
Read moreThere is unfinished business for the new government to deal with. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. However, when it comes to general elections, there is plenty of history to suggest that tax increases are more likely in the first Budget to occur after the polls have closed. From a politician's…
Read moreThe 2017 election manifestos offered little good news on the future of income tax. Judging by the manifestos of the three main political parties, the days of appealing to voters by cutting income tax (and its alter ego, national insurance) are over: The Conservatives repeated their 2015 manifesto promise of a personal allowance of £12,500…
Read moreThe election has put a stop to planned increases in probate fees for England and Wales. Once a general election is called, there is usually a period known in parliamentary jargon as a ‘wash up’, during which outstanding legislation is passed, modified and passed or simply killed off, all in a matter of days. Unsurprisingly…
Read moreThe market most associated with US technology shares reached a new high in April. You may be old enough to remember that the end of the 20th century was marked by a surge in the value of technology shares in the United States. Many of these were traded on the NASDAQ market, which became synonymous…
Read moreThe Spring Budget has become a victim of the snap election. Philip Hammond has not had much luck with what he said would be his first and last Spring Budget. His proposal to increase Class 4 national insurance contributions from April 2018 survived only a week before being dropped. Then when the Finance Bill was…
Read moreAn independent review has recommended bringing forward the move to a state pension age of 68. There was a time when men received their state pension from age 65 and women from age 60. Those numbers may still be locked in your memory, but they are heading towards their own retirement. Currently a woman's state…
Read moreThe Budget confirmed the rate on the new National Savings & Investments Bond. 2.2% That is the fixed rate on the “welcome break for hard-pressed savers” which Mr Hammond confirmed in last month’s Budget. The new NS&I three year fixed rate bond will be available from April for a period of 12 months. The maximum…
Read moreNew rules for taxing many salary sacrifice arrangements came into force from 6 April. One of the employment trends of recent years has been to make employee remuneration more flexible. Instead of pay and, if you were lucky, a company car and healthcare, ‘cafeteria remuneration’ has become common, giving employees the choice of sacrificing pay…
Read moreOne of the few surprises in the March Budget was a cut to the dividend allowance to come in 2018/19. The dividend allowance first saw the light of day in the post-election Budget of July 2015. It was designed primarily to discourage self-employed business owners from using incorporation as a way of avoiding national insurance…
Read more6 April marks the launch of a new ISA variant, the Lifetime ISA (LISA). One of the last surprises produced by George Osborne in his final Budget was the announcement of the Lifetime ISA. Shortly after Mr Osborne was replaced it began to look as if the LISA, as it inevitably became known, would suffer…
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