Venture Capital Trusts were once considered ‘niche’ investments, but recent events have put them on the radar of a much greater number of UK investors, explains Stuart Lewis of Octopus Investments.
ISA or pension – which is better? What a question. The answer to this will depend on you, but as these products work in slightly different ways, we’ll cover a few of the advantages to these products in this article.
Retirement used to be black and white, one day you were at work and the next you were a pensioner. Today “retirement” is more of a phase, particularly since 2015 when pension freedom was launched. Pension funds can now be accessed from age 55, allowing a gradual retirement before fully giving up work.
Saving for retirement ahead of all the other daily pressures on finances can be tough. The challenge can be particularly difficult for women who take time out of work to raise a family. Research suggests that only 50 per cent of women in their 30s work full–time, compared with 81 per cent of men of the same age.
The next time you move house, you could let out, rather than sell, your old home so that the rent covers the mortgage interest and other expenses. When you eventually sell this property, the proportion of the gain relating to the period when it was occupied as your main home will be exempt from tax. [...]