Zero inflation good or bad?

Inflation is down to zero. We are led to believe it is good news for all of us all but anyone who shops for food or even petrol regularly will know that we need to unpick that. Our supermarket bills are not coming down – whatever they claim – and the petrol costs are already on the way up again. And ‘zero’ has become something of a dirty word with zero hours contracts that give workers uncertain low-paid work, zero % credit cards that can cost us a lot more in the long run and zero calorie drinks that still […]

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Pensions and annuities – the new extreme sport?

For years pensions and annuities were just plain boring. The money invested in a pension was out of reach until you reached retirement age, when you would be railroaded into an annuity paying as little as the pension industry could get away with. From April 6 that all changes. Not only is the pensions industry getting ready to sell us products we did not know we needed, but the scammers and the con artists are out in force and the tax man is also liable to benefit – unless we keep our wits about us. From April 2015 the rules […]

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2015 Budget – don’t forget to breathe

The 2015 Budget didn’t contain that many surprises as information had been leaking for days and at least some of it had been heralded as far back as the Autumn Statement in 2014. But it’s less about what and more about what to do next… In terms of the man and woman in the street, the key elements include: 1. Personal tax These include how much you can earn before tax and when the higher rate of tax kicks, promises of more to come. But that assumes this government and its promises stay in power. You may want to look […]

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Squaring up to the tax man – disputing taxes

Disputing taxes Some 900,000 people will have been sent letters in the last week or so threatening them with a £100 fine plus a further fine of £10 a day over three months. The letters from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are to people who did not fill in a tax return by the January 31 deadline. Many thousands of other letters are sent by the tax collectors to people they believe owe tax on savings accounts, pensions or other income. And it is up to the recipients – if, indeed, the letters are sent to the current, correct address […]

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