What do you think the fifth most read piece on the personal finance part of the FT website is? The obvious answer is to think that it will relate to some kind of recent news …
A pointless, predatory tax that will do nobody any good
Category: Blog
It’s time to do the honourable thing and raise interest rates
Last year, Bank of England governor Mark Carney told us that when the unemployment rate got down to 7% the Bank would have a think about raising rates from the 300-year lows everyone is beginning …
The looming price war among investing platforms
I’m almost excited. It looks like there really is going to be a price war of some sort among the investing platforms. Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) announced its new charging system last week. We didn’t like …
Trouble ahead for China’s luxury goods market
Two parts of yesterday’s FT didn’t quite match up. The paper contained a ‘special report’ on watches and jewellery which explained at some length how China is all but single-handedly “driving growth in the hard …
This menacing land-grab is completely insane
If I were a Scot, said Damian Thomas in the Telegraph last week, “I’d be feeling scared”. He reckons Alex Salmond’s jovial grandiosity is acquiring “a menacing edge”. If I were a Scottish landowner, I’d …
Why Scottish students should vote no
Of all the policies the Scottish National Party has, the one that is most obviously irritating is the one on tuition fees. University tuition is free in Scotland to Scots and to students from most …
How we can pay to make the Nimbys go away
Currently, if your life is ruined (and the value of your house destroyed) by the building of a new infrastructure project near you, there is little or no compensation available. It’s just considered bad luck. …
Why your nanny should be tax free
Childcare costs in the UK have risen by 19% over the last year. Given that most of us would have considered ourselves lucky to have had a 2% pay rise over the same period, that’s …
Working full time? You could still be costing the taxpayer a fortune
We have written several times before about the problem of welfare to workers – the way in which the UK state effectively subsidises millions of working people’s wages so their employers don’t have to. It isn’t a subject we …
Christmas: a time to think about capital gains tax
Thinking of giving your children or grandchildren a nice family heirloom for Christmas? You might want to think again. Let’s say you want to give a grandchild a nice painting, one that’s been hanging in …