Uncategorized

Is innovation the future of UK manufacturing?

July 08, 2015 by TIna

Category: Economy & financial planning & Uncategorized

UK manufacturing executives say that their strategic focus going forward is one that is innovation led, supported by attractive UK corporation taxes like the Patent Box, according to the latest KPMG Global Manufacturing Outlook. The report found that nearly half (48%) of UK manufacturers said that their company’s strategic focus is on innovation and that only two per cent felt that UK taxes are a challenge to their business in the next 12–24 months.

Wave and pay to speed you on your way?

July 07, 2015 by TIna

Category: Lifestyle & Uncategorized

A new publication by the British Banking Association (BBA) has estimated that consumers taking advantage of contactless cards have together saved over 90 years of time since they were introduced! The publication says that on average it takes half a second to “wave and pay” by contactless card, while it takes seven seconds to pay by chip and PIN. Figures from the UK Cards Association show there were 452,912,149 contactless transactions from the period that contactless payment was introduced, up until the end of 2014. The figures mean that 93.6 years have been saved when paying over this period!

Housebuilding gathers momentum

July 06, 2015 by TIna

Category: Economy & Housing & Uncategorized

According to the Home Builders Federation (HBF), official statistics released in late May show that 40,340 new homes were started in England in Q1 of 2015, the highest quarterly number since 2007. The figures show that the momentum from 2014, which saw 137,310 new homes started, up 10% on 2013 and 60% on the trough in 2009, is gathering speed.

Connected rather than protected?

July 03, 2015 by TIna

Category: Lifestyle & Protection & Uncategorized

Brits consider an internet connection and mobile phones to be greater financial priorities than protecting mortgages and incomes, according to new research in the latest Scottish Widows Protection Report. Only 39% considered providing financial security for their family in the event of death as essential – which has dropped from more than half in four years – compared to eight out of 10 (80%) who considered broadband and mobile phones (71%) essential for daily living.

Latest ‘Retirement Readiness’ report shows the UK still has a major savings problem

July 02, 2015 by TIna

Category: Lifestyle & retirement & savings & Uncategorized

New research in Spring 2015 from Aegon UK reveals that just 7% of the UK population are on track for the retirement they aspire to, exactly the same percentage as in April 2014. Aegon’s third UK Readiness Report – the latest in a series of reports that looks at attitudes towards retirement – has a particular focus on levels of engagement with workplace pensions. It finds that the nation’s ‘readiness score’ has actually fallen over 12 months from 52 to 47. The people surveyed said that they wanted to retire at age 63, contributing to the falling score, as people’s expectations about the amount of money they hope to retire on each year rose from £35,000 to £42,000, despite the fact that this would require a saving pot of more than £1m, a sum higher than the new pension lifetime allowance.

July Market Commentary

July 02, 2015 by TIna

Category: Market commentary & Uncategorized

An essential part of writing this bulletin each month is making daily notes on the main business and stock market news. This month we have comfortably broken our record – more than six pages of notes. And as you might expect, about half of those pages are about Greece and its debts.

Is innovation the future of UK manufacturing?

Wave and pay to speed you on your way?

Housebuilding gathers momentum

Connected rather than protected?

Latest ‘Retirement Readiness’ report shows the UK still has a major savings problem

July Market Commentary

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