The UK is set for the return and major expansion of buy-to-let in the housing market after plans were unveiled for tax cuts on bulk purchases of residential properties. The Coalition has identified buy-to-let as a way of solving Britain’s housing shortage and wants to attract investment into residential property by major institutions, such as pension funds, and landlords.
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is to relaunch index-linked savings certificates pegged to the retail prices index (RPI). NS&I withdrew the certificates last July after they became over subscribed. Currently they are only open to clients who have certificates that are maturing.
Employees could see their retirement pushed back at least 12 months every two years after the Chancellor, George Osborne announced plans to link the pension age to rising longevity. The Chancellor announced a mechanism to raise the state retirement age automatically in line with life expectancy. The pension age is already due to increase to 66 by 2020.
Fuel duty
The planned rise in fuel duty, expected to add 5p to a litre of petrol from 6th April 2011, was postponed and instead the Chancellor announced a 1p reduction. Individuals and small businesses will find this helpful although it seems contrary to the commitment to increase environmental taxes. But fuel duty is already significantly in excess of other fuel taxes in terms of the price it places on carbon dioxide emissions.
There was also encouragement to help small companies raise finance, with the Chancellor proposing a significant increase to the venture capital tax reliefs, by increasing the tax relief available, and raising some of the size limits for qualifying companies. The increase in the maximum amount an individual can invest in a qualifying Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) company, has been doubled from £500,000 to £1m, and should be particularly helpful to companies raising funds from business angel investors.
Pension transfers can be complicated and you should always seek professional financial advice before proceeding. Much will depend upon your individual circumstances and objectives.
Every business has key people who are driving it forward. Many businesses recognise the need to insure their company property, equipment and fixed assets. However, they continually overlook their most important assets, the people who drive the business – a key employee, director or shareholder.
Investing offshore may appeal to anyone who plans to live overseas, travels extensively, or wishes to look outside of their ‘home’ country for investment opportunities. Depending on where you reside, there will be various options available to you. Perhaps you already have money offshore and are looking to receive a better return; or you maybe you are planning to move abroad.
Deciding how to take your pension benefits is one of the most important financial decisions you’re ever likely to make. As part of the new 2011 retirement rules, from 6 April this year the pension annuity rules will change, meaning that UK pensioners will no longer be forced to use personal pension funds to buy an annuity.
During these difficult economic times, one of the tools available to the Bank of England to stimulate the economy is interest rates. Lower interest rates mean that it is cheaper to borrow money and people have more to spend, hopefully stimulating the economy and reducing the risk of deflation. This is why the Bank of England has aggressively cut them.