Is the spectre of high inflation returning?
December 2016 had the highest inflation figure since July 2015 Inflation was far from our minds for much of 2015. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the government’s chosen measure, showed annual inflation oscillating between -0.1% and 0.3%. Last year told us a rather different story and by December 2016 prices were rising by 1.6% a […]
The residence nil rate band is coming soon
From April 2017, the residence nil rate band comes into being. The Conservative Party’s manifesto for the 2015 election promised to “take the family home out of tax by increasing the effective Inheritance Tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1 million.” The legislation which starts the first stage of this process comes […]
Your extremely accurate financial predictions for 2017
At the start of a new year it’s common for financial pundits to predict the value of the FTSE 100 by the end of the year. Seeing what the experts think and why can make for interesting reading, but by the end of the year it has been forgotten in favour of new predictions for […]
What next for Auto-enrolment?
Seven million workers have said yes to Auto-enrolment, but what happens now? Automatic enrolment has reached a new landmark, but does success so far mean an easier path from 2017, or are there new challenges in store? When automatic enrolment (AE) into workplace pensions started in October 2012, there were some doubts about how successful […]
2016 was good year for sterling investors in the world markets. What about 2017?
At first sight, the results from the world’s main share markets in 2016 appear mixed, but that’s before currency effects are considered. World Index Changes in 2016 FTSE 100 +14.4% FTSE All-Share +12.5% Dow Jones Industrial +13.4% Standard & Poor’s 500 +9.5% Nikkei 225 +0.4% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) +0.7% Shanghai Composite -12.3% MSCI Emerging […]
2017 will be the last Spring Budget, so read this.
The Treasury has announced the date of the 2017 Budget. Shortly before Christmas the Treasury announced that the 2017 Spring Budget will be on Wednesday 8 March. In November 2016 Mr Hammond announced he would be moving the main budget announcements to the autumn, something that we have not seen since Ken Clarke was Chancellor […]
Moneyworks Winter 2016
Your new Moneyworks magazine is available. In this issue, Rough ride for annuities? Annuities used to be the most popular way to access your pension money, but times have changed. Don’t get caught out A person in the UK is scammed every 15 seconds. Don’t be the next one. Mind the gap A look at […]
Chartered Status – Not just a badge
The Chartered Insurance Institute yesterday awarded BBi Financial Planning the coveted status of Chartered Financial Planners. So now we get to update our logo, slap a gold badge on our paperwork and carry on business as usual, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because in a very real sense nothing has changed. We are the […]
BBi FP awarded Chartered status
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has awarded the prestigious ‘Chartered Financial Planners’ title to BBi Financial Planning Ltd, one of London’s leading providers of financial advice. Chartered status is an exclusive title only awarded to firms which meet rigorous criteria relating to professionalism and capability. All Chartered Financial Planners commit to the CII’s Code of […]