On March 27, 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her Spring Statement, aiming to provide stability for the economy and security for working people. This statement continues the theme from Labour’s first Budget in the Autumn.

This shiny metal always glistens most brightly when it has just risen in value. In the past 12 months, the price of gold has nearly doubled. Recency bias and the fear of missing out (FOMO) always results in ‘should it be in my portfolio?’ type questions.  Somewhat bizarrely, investors tend to get excited about assets that have already risen in value.  If one is going to play a market timing game – generally not advisable as even the pros do not have any real track record in being able to do so consistently – a long-term investor should surely be more excited about an asset that has fallen substantially in value, not risen.

In a recent decision, the Bank of England (BoE) has opted to maintain interest rates at 4.5%, a move that comes amid mounting global uncertainty and growing trade tensions sparked by Donald Trump's tariffs. This decision was reached with an 8-1 vote by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), with one member advocating for a 0.25 percentage point cut.

With the 5th anniversary of the UK's first COVID lockdown on March 23rd, it's a poignant moment to reflect on how the investment markets reacted during this unprecedented time. The S&P 500 and the FTSE All Share serve as prime examples of the market's volatility and resilience during the pandemic.

On January 20, 2025, the United States welcomed back a very familiar face to the Oval Office, Donald Trump. And with him came Elon Musk, making his political debut in a way only he could. Love it or loathe it, the spectacle has been impossible to ignore. But let’s set aside politics and focus on what really moves the needle for investors: the markets.

As the UK tax year draws to a close, it's crucial to ensure that your financial affairs are in order. Here are the top 7 things you need to complete before April 5th, 2025, to maximise your tax benefits and avoid any last-minute stress:

Inheritance Tax (IHT) can often be a complex financial issue for many families to navigate, especially with the upcoming changes set to take effect from next month. To help demystify these updates and their potential impact on your family, here are the four significant upcoming changes to IHT expected to take effect in the next few years:

Managing family finances can be challenging, but with careful planning and smart strategies, you can ensure a secure financial future for your loved ones. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help families plan their finances, including saving for education, managing household expenses, and planning for emergencies.

The concept of Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in the UK was established under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and came into effect on 1 October 2007. LPAs replaced the former Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA), which were narrower in scope. The primary purpose of LPAs is to meet the needs of individuals who foresee a time when they may lack the capacity to manage their own affairs.

In a bold move to address low growth and increased pressure to spend more on defense, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to launch a £24bn tax raid this year. This decision has sparked significant debate and concern among economists, policymakers, and the general public.

In a move that could impact millions of state pensioners, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly planning an extended income raid in her upcoming Spring Statement on March 26. This decision comes as Reeves struggles to balance the books following her controversial autumn Budget.

Having retired many people over the years, in the strictly “non-mafia” sense of course, I typically find it takes clients 24 months to adjust to a regular pattern of spending as they acclimatize to this next, hopefully long and fulfilling phase of their lives. Determining how much people should realistically expect their spending to be in retirement has always been a challenge.

In the 2010 US drama Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps directed by Oliver Stone, Shia LaBeouf turns to Josh Brolin and asks him “what’s your number?” to which Brolin’s character, Bretton James, famously responds with “more”!

Meanwhile back in the real world of financial planning, we can be a little more scientific, particularly with the use of planning tools such as cashflow modelers. In this world, your “number” really is the age at which financial independence is attained, meaning the point beyond which you continue working is through choice rather than necessity.

In this blog, we’ll explore a typical approach to determining your “number.”

Risk profiling has become a cornerstone of modern investing, if not an industry in its own right but is it really serving investors' best interests? I argue that risk profilers should be banned.

In Indian folklore, a minister and wiseman called Sessa, apparently invented chess for his King, and in return asked for payment in grains of wheat: one grain on the first square, two on the second and doubling each square thereafter. The King laughed at him, for asking for such a small prize, obviously not realising that on the 64th square it would be 263 (i.e. two to the power of 63, or 9,223,372,036,854,780,000) grains of wheat! It was Sessa who got the last laugh.

Most investors are concerned about the future returns of their portfolio, despite the expectation that a well-structured, globally diversified balanced portfolio should yield positive returns after inflation over most 10- and 20-year periods.

When an investor withdraws money from their portfolio regularly, such as to fund their retirement lifestyle, the sequence of portfolio returns they experience can significantly impact financial outcomes, even if the average return is as expected. This phenomenon is known as 'sequence risk’. However, if no withdrawals are made, the order of returns does not affect the outcome, because 3 X 2 X 1 yields the same result as 1 X 2 X 3.

Why does withdrawing money from a portfolio make a difference?

Investment opportunities exist all around the globe, but the randomness of global stock returns makes it exceedingly difficult to figure out which markets are likely to be outperformers. How should investors deal with this kind of uncertainty?

One of the concerns arising from tariff talks is the possibility of stagflation, or the combination of rising inflation and an economic contraction. But should investors act on this concern with their investments?

Being an investor is not easy. We must contend not only with the erratic and unpredictable nature of markets but also with the sometimes erratic and irrational ways in which we are tempted to think and behave. Today’s many and varied temptations include Bitcoin, the ‘Magnificent Seven’ tech stocks in the US, and gold.  All are at our fingertips at the press of a button on our phones. As Benjamin Graham, one of the great investment minds of the twentieth century, famously stated (Graham and Dodd, 1996):

The Chancellor is reportedly preparing to announce significant changes to the rules governing Cash ISAs, aiming to reform financial services and boost economic growth. Rachel Reeves, who confirmed last month that she is considering new curbs on Cash ISAs, believes that encouraging savers to invest their money elsewhere, such as in the stock market, could be more productive for the UK economy.