Personal finance

23 May 2025

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are a type of tracker fund and are meant to be a simple way to access a particular part of the market. You buy shares in the ETF and it mirrors the performance of a certain index. Look a bit closer and you’ll find some ETFs are not quite what you think are.

A traditional equity fund contains a portfolio of different...

22 May 2025

Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased the main rates of capital gains tax (CGT) to 18% and 24% in her maiden budget on 30 October 2024. The rate for trustees and personal representatives also rose to 24%.

But the mid-year change means some people filing self-assessment tax returns for 2024/25 risk underreporting and underpaying any tax they owe.

That...

21 May 2025

If you do a quick search on the internet of how to invest your money, you will likely end up with millions of answers and many that seem to contradict each other.

In short, no one can tell you with certainty what investment will give you the best returns. But if you have specific questions about your finances, or are looking for where to start...

16 May 2025

Financial scams are depressingly common, particularly following a period of high inflation and rising interest rates which stretched millions of household budgets to breaking point. Economic turmoil is like blood in the water to scammers, who are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to fleece people of their hard-earned pensions and investments...

15 May 2025

How you choose to invest your money is an important decision, but it doesn’t need to be a time consuming one.

While choosing individual stocks can mean close monitoring to decide when to buy or sell, many other types of investments offer a much more hands-off approach at minimal costs.

In fact, choosing your investments and then giving them time to...

9 May 2025

Workplace pensions can be incredibly powerful savings vehicles. Your contributions are topped up by additional money from your employer and the government that can double the value of what you put in before it’s invested.

It’s also probably the simplest way to invest. If you work at a company, are aged 22 or older, and earn over £10,000 per year...

8 May 2025

The Bank of England has cut UK interest rates to 4.25% and this has a major impact on personal finances. It is the lowest level for rates in two years.

The cut is good news for anyone looking to buy a house or flat as mortgage rates should come down, although many rates have already fallen in anticipation of Bank of England base rate cuts.

Investor...

6 May 2025

If you want one figure to sum up the apathy of the UK’s savers, it’s the fact that £280 billion is sitting in accounts earning absolutely no interest, at a time when interest rates are north of 5% for some savings accounts.

The latest Bank of England data to the end of March shows that there is a mountain of cash paying no interest, which has...

1 May 2025

The finance industry is often associated with Wolf of Wall Street and finance ‘bros’ whose main interest is talking up crypto. You might think investing is only for these types of people, yet it is something that most individuals can do, and without much effort or knowledge.

At first glance, investing can look complicated from a practical point of...

29 April 2025

The way individuals responded to the market sell-off depended on their own personal circumstances. However, there were clear trends among AJ Bell’s DIY investors who felt confident enough to buy in the week after Trump’s big speech despite stock markets falling by a considerable amount in the first three trading days after the event.

With so much...

23 April 2025

When equity markets experience turbulence, people have historically held tight to their bonds in the hope they provide a cushion for portfolios.

Even though some value may be lost on equities, the value of bonds would often go up, offsetting some of the losses. But earlier this month, both shares and bonds sold off together. The yield on a 10-year...

22 April 2025

After an extended period of high returns, the stock market took a tumble in the past month that has rattled some investors.

Despite the fall, those who are not new to the market are still likely to be well in the green with their finances. If you’d invested in the MSCI World index five years ago, as of 11 April, you would have still increased the...

17 April 2025

Investors have flocked to money market funds in recent years, attracted by the high rates on offer after the sharp rise in interest rates since 2022.

Despite the Bank of England cutting base rate from a peak of 5.25% in August 2024, the current 4.5% rate is relatively high compared to the 0.5% that prevailed during the covid-19 era and, indeed, the...

29 November 2024

NS&I has joined the troops of other savings providers cutting interest rates, as the savings market cools after a bonanza couple of years. The government-backed provider will cut the rates on several of its savings accounts, including the hugely popular Premium Bonds.

It’s not alone in cutting rates, but how are they cut and who could still benefit...

25 September 2024

The Government has urged people aged 18-22 to come forward and claim their share of £1.4 billion stashed in matured Child Trust Funds. Government data released last week showed that around £10 billion is sat in Child Trust Fund accounts, with £1.4 billion in unclaimed accounts and £7.5 billion in accounts still held by under 18s.

When someone...

28 August 2024

There are over 2,500 independent schools in the UK, educating over 620,000 pupils. With inflation-busting increases to costs in the last few years, and the VAT exemption for private schools ending from January 2025, parents who are thinking about private school need to get started on their plans to fund it.

Average fees for a non-boarder are £18...

5 November 2023

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5 November 2022

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15 February 2022

Your choice of share class could affect your overall return.

Most open-ended investment companies (OEICs) and unit trusts are available in both income and accumulation share classes. The main difference between them is the treatment of income, but there are other less obvious factors that you need to recognise.

Each fund receives income throughout...

24 January 2020

Funds are an increasingly popular choice for investors looking to build their portfolio. They offer a simple way to pool capital with other investors, giving quick and straightforward access to diversification and the services of professional asset managers.

When researching funds, it won’t be long before the terms ‘open-ended’ and ‘closed-ended’...

3 September 2019

One of the simplest questions faced by an investor is also one of the most important; how long should you hold an investment for?

An oft-cited statistic about stock markets is that they deliver, on average, returns of around 7-8%. This isn’t guaranteed, of course, since the future is unknowable by anyone, but it’s what history has told us we should...