Month: July 2019

Last month several newspapers reported plans by the Labour Party to end inheritance tax and replace it with a gifts tax. The coverage was somewhat creative, as the idea was plucked from a paper prepared for the Labour Party primarily focused on reforming the taxation of land. The gifts tax section covered just half a …

Is this the end of inheritance tax? Read More »

The final few months of 2018 were a dark time for the world’s stock markets, with concerns about US trade policies and the effects of Brexit uncertainty leaving many markets posting an overall loss for the year. The prospects for 2019 did not look bright, with the spectre of the US Federal Reserve continuing to …

2019 world markets defy analysts’ predictions Read More »

Last month we received the excellent news that The RU Group’s application to join the Personal Finance Society’s Pension Transfer Gold Standard was successful.  The Gold Standard is a voluntary code of good practice for safeguarded and defined benefit pension transfer advice, based around a set of nine key principles. It has been set up …

Pension Transfer Gold Standard for The RU Group Read More »

What is a ‘set and forget’ investment approach? Do we advocate it? In most walks of life when you employ a professional or craftsman, you expect a little bit of action for your money. Now is generally better than later, and more is generally better than less. However, this generality does not apply in some …

‘Set-and-Forget’ Investment Approach? Forget it! Read More »

The BBC’s decision to scrap universal free TV licences for the over-75s is part of the larger debate about our growing ageing population. Free TV licences for the over-75s were introduced by Gordon Brown in his 2000 Budget. It was a classic tactical Budget measure, designed to please at a relatively modest initial cost. Fast …

What is the future of free TV licences? Read More »