Ambitious sellers beware!

Selling a house is the biggest financial deal many people will ever make. Understandably, sellers want to get the best possible price; new research1 has cautioned, however, that aiming too high is not without risk.  Discount dangers  Analysis by Rightmove of sales over the past five years has revealed the risks associated with pricing your […]

Buy-to-let market update: Trends and insights 

The UK buy-to-let (BTL) market has seen notable changes recently.  The number of new BTL mortgages granted has decreased sharply. This decline is largely due to higher interest rates and stricter taxation measures, which have served to cool investor enthusiasm.  Additionally, the overall size of the BTL mortgage market has contracted. Investors are encountering more […]

Why should you care about correlation

If you want your investment portfolio to strike a good balance between risk and return, it’s worth knowing how correlation can impact your investments.  If two different investments are perfectly correlated, their value will rise and fall by the same amount, at the same time. Investing in highly correlated assets can increase your losses, because […]

A third of Gen X think they will never retire

Recently released research1 suggests a significant proportion of working age people are no longer planning a traditional ‘hard stop’ retirement, with 45 to 54-year-olds most likely to feel they will continue working beyond pensionable age.  Work work work  According to the survey, more than a fifth of working age adults think it unlikely they will […]

Economic Review November 2024

Interest rates set to fall more gradually  Last month, the Bank of England (BoE) cut interest rates for only the second time since 2020 but also warned future reductions were likely to be more gradual due to the prospect of inflation creeping higher next year.   Following its latest meeting, which concluded on 6 November, the […]

Self-employed? Remember your pension

Over one million individuals have entered self-employment since 20201, so it is important to ensure you are still planning for retirement by making regular pension contributions.  A growing sector  In 2023, there were 4.2 million people in the UK’s solo self-employed sector – 3% higher than the previous year. Overall, the solo self-employed contributed £331bn […]