The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement:

The Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement realised the nightmare scenario that most economists and pundits alike had predicted.

Are Eurobonds the answer to the Eurozone’s woes?

Maybe the issue of Eurobonds could help ease the funding crisis gripping the Eurozone at the moment, but will the politicians let it happen?

Investing in difficult times

Remember, just like a free lunch, in investment there is no such thing as “a sure thing”. Here we look at investment fundamentals in precarious markets.

The Bank of England to the rescue ?

How effective will the Bank of England’s latest round of Quantitative Easing (QE) be at boosting the UK’s economy, or will it prove to be a hard pill to swallow?

Is Inter-family lending a good idea?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that – perhaps unsurprisingly – inter-family lending is on the increase in the UK, is it a good thing?

Protecting investments

There is no such thing as a risk-free investment, but you can take steps to minimise the risks associated with saving for the future.

Deferring state pensions

According to Money Management magazine (quoted in The Sunday Times 3/7/11) deferring the state pension by five years would increase annual income from £5,311 to £8,072.

VAT crackdown

In an effort to raise more revenue, HMRC is cracking down on businesses that should be registered for VAT but have not yet done so.

Junior ISAs

Thanks to financial constraints imposed on the country by the credit crunch and recession, Child Trust Funds (CTFs) are no longer available for children born after 2nd January 2011.

Career average pensions

One of the recommendations made to the government by Lord Hutton was that public sector pension schemes should be altered from ‘final salary’ to career average. But what does this mean?

Working for the taxman?

According to the Adam Smith Institute, we have to work, on average, 149 days to pay our taxes this year – that is three days longer than in 2010. That made “tax freedom day" – when we started working for ourselves and our families instead of the taxman – almost the end of May.

Are you saving enough?

According to research undertaken by part of the Royal London insurance group, while 44% of working women are responsible for family financial decisions, more than a quarter of all working women have no savings accounts in place.

Default retirement age

From the end of September this year, it will no longer be possible to enforce retirement at the age of 65. Concern that this might cause difficulties for employers between now and then has been allayed by a further government statement.