Vivian Slattery

There’s been a bit of buzz lately about the FTSE 100 potentially breaking the 10,000 mark. At the time of writing, it hasn’t quite reached that point, with its highest close so far being 9,911.42 on November 12th — but hopefully, by the time this article has been read, it will have crossed the line.

The FTSE 100 is considered the UK’s flagship stock market index, tracking the performance of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalization, such as HSBC, BP, Unilever, and AstraZeneca. It offers a snapshot of market trends without having to follow hundreds or thousands of individual stocks.

Launched on January 3rd, 1984 with a base level of 1,000 points, it now reflects decades of growth and change. Although it’s a UK index, over 70% of FTSE 100 companies’ revenue comes from outside the UK¹, making it sensitive to global economic shifts and currency changes.

Indexes act like scorecards for economies or sectors—a rising index often signals investor confidence and growth, while a falling one can indicate uncertainty or downturns.

Indexes are also used as benchmarks to compare investment performance; for example, if the FTSE 100 gained 7% but a UK equity fund rose only 4%, that fund would have underperformed the market. Products like trackers and ETFs are designed to mirror an index’s movement, but it’s worth remembering the FTSE 100 isn’t the only UK index—others include the All Share and the FTSE 250, so if you are looking to invest in trackers it’s important to understand the difference.

I also think it is essential to understand firstly what you are invested in and how this is performing against its sector.

If you would like to receive some help in understanding your own investments why not pick up the phone and book a free without obligation consultation with us today.

¹ Admiral, 21st Aug, 2023

As the year draws to a close, I always feel it’s an appropriate time to review the events and developments of the year. Although I’ve just said we should review events, these sort of discussions can evoke strong emotions and this can be done better if you look at it objectively.

The Dow Jones, which is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on the stock exchange in the USA, opened this year at just over 42,000¹ and currently stands at approximately 46,000². Nevertheless, the market has experienced significant volatility this year, with the index falling to nearly 37,000³ points in April, following President Trump’s announcement of a “Liberation Day,” during which he imposed large-scale, world-wide trade tariffs.

Interestingly, Europe has emerged as the standout investment destination for 2025. The EURO STOXX 50 Index, which tracks 50 stocks from 11 countries in the Eurozone, is currently up 14.95%⁴. The FTSE has also performed strongly this year⁵.

The Bank of England’s base rate decreased from 4.75% to 4% in September, despite inflation continuing to climb. The core CPI annual inflation rate for 12 months ending in December 2024 was 3.7% and for 12 months ending in August 2025 was 4%⁶.

Changes to stamp duty that took effect in April now require home buyers in England and Northern Ireland to pay tax on properties over £125,000, compared to the previous threshold of £250,000. First-time buyers are now subject to stamp duty on homes priced above £300,000, whereas prior to April this year, the exemption extended to properties under £425,000. Going forward this may have an impact on property values.

I think that all these factors reveal that when it comes to investing it is very hard to predict where the best returns could come from, and this is why we recommend a diverse portfolio. If you want to review your holdings why not pick up the phone today and book a free without obligation consultation.

¹ Opened 2 Jan: 42,660.09
² Opened 14 October: 45,871.89
³ Opened 9 April: 37,387.91
⁴ Barons.com
⁵ Opened 2 Jan: 8,260.09 and opened 15 October: 9,427.83
⁶ ONS

There’s no denying that we’re living in a remarkable era when it comes to technological advancement– my own role has been completely reshaped since I first started, and it’s only when you pause to reflect that the scale of change becomes apparent.

The banking sector, in particular, has been profoundly influenced by technology. The sharp decline in high street branches is a clear indication of this shift. Today, there are fewer than 5,000 high street branches across the UK (in 2023, there were 5,100 bank branches open in the UK)¹, a dramatic drop from more than 21,000 in 1986 (14,689 bank branches and 6,954 building society branches²). The main banks still maintaining a physical presence include HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Santander, Nationwide, and Metro Bank.

In recent years, we’ve witnessed the emergence of ‘neobanks’—digital-only fintech firms offering banking services exclusively via mobile apps and websites, with no physical branches. In 2024 a survey showed that over half (86%)³ of UK adults have used online banking, reflecting the rapid expansion of digital banking.

Monzo, is currently the largest neobank in the UK, it has exceeded 13 million customers as of August 2025⁴, meaning about one in five UK adults now has an account⁵. This milestone highlights Monzo’s impressive market footprint. Interestingly, only 9% of adults are using a neobank such as Monzo or Starling as their primary debit card provider.⁶

As for how this technology will impact my work, I believe that while digital tools continue to transform how financial advice is delivered, the need for personalised guidance remains. Clients will still require someone to guide them through the complex financial decisions, knowing the right questions to ask, and providing tailored support will always be an essential part of the job.

So if you would like personal financial guidance why not pick up a phone today and book a free without obligation consultation.

¹Source: finder.com
²House of Commons briefing paper Number CBP08570, 17 May 2019
³vervitech.com
⁴thedigitalbanker.com
⁵Finextra, 17th April 2025
⁶paymentscardsandmobile.com

According to the Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service Global Financial Literacy Survey conducted in 2014, only 33% of adults worldwide were found to be financially literate. Although this survey was carried out several years ago, and is global, rather than just here in the UK, I think many would agree that more financial education is needed.

The government has brought out a service to help with this which includes the following:

● MoneyHelper is an independent service, set up by the government to help people make the most of their money. They offer free and impartial guidance on managing your money and pensions.

● Pension Wise, derived from MoneyHelper, is a free, government-backed service offering clear, impartial and specialist guidance on your retirement options. If you’re aged 50 or over, this service is available to you.

We value these services because they introduce the subject and highlight issues before decisions are made and help people gain a basic understanding of what’s available to them. However, it’s important to distinguish between financial guidance and financial advice. Financial guidance does not provide personalised recommendations or tell you the best course of action for you as an individual.

Consulting a financial adviser is particularly important when experiencing changes in your financial circumstances, such as retirement, to gain a clear understanding of the options available to you on a personal level. Certain decisions may be irreversible once made, necessitating careful consideration. Prior to engaging an adviser, obtaining financial guidance can help you become informed about the choices at your disposal.

We do offer a free without obligation consultation so that if you have any impending financial changes or you are approaching retirement, why not pick up a phone today and book a free without obligation consultation.

Where will property pricing in Purley go next?
I believe that nobody can really answer this question. According to Rightmove, house prices in Purley have had an overall average of £595,138 over the last year, with detached properties being sold for an average price of £896,136, semi detached homes for £636,942 and flats for £301,608.

Overall, the historical sold prices in Purley over the last year were 7% down on the previous year and 7% up on the 2022 peak of £555,805.¹

According to the Land Registry data in January 1995 the average house price in Surrey was £103,569 for all property types and £88,414 for semi detached homes.² But do you think we will see this same growth in the next 30 years?

Although Purley has seen a decrease in property values, in the last year places further afield are still seeing good growth, in fact it has been reported in Scotland that growth in property value has risen by nearly 28% in five years.³ The question is will this keep on increasing now that flexible working is possible for some?

In recent years we have seen the bank rate fall, it had risen sharply from 0.10% in March 2020, to 5.25% in August 2023, since then it has come down to 4.25% in May this year, but at the same time we have seen an increase in stamp duty so it is difficult to predict how both of these factors will affect the housing market.

However, I find that people often forget that when you buy a property you are also buying a life for yourself, buying a property in Scotland will give you a very different life from buying one in Purley and this should be your starting point, deciding what kind of life you really want.

If you would like to discuss this further why not pick up a phone and book a free without obligation consultation.

¹ Rightmove online, 15/07/2025
² Home.co.uk, 15/07/2025
³ Property118.com, 6th March 2025

There will be many people reading this article who are already aware that over the last few years many funds invested in the US should have seen a good return, and at the beginning of this year saw a lot of market volatility.

A quick way to see the returns is to look at the performance of the ‘Standard and Poor’s 500’, more commonly known as the S&P 500. This tracks the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. Over the last 9 years the index has risen significantly, opening at 2091.75 on the 13th June, 2016 and closing on the 12th June, 2025 at 6039.72. This means if you invested in a tracker or passive fund that tracks the S&P 500, this is the growth you should have enjoyed before charges.

But I think this is where many people make mistakes and tend to forget what I believe are the fundamental principles of investing which include, never have all of your eggs in one basket, and not to encash when the market is low. I am not saying you should not invest in this area but consideration needs to be given with how much. Recently we have seen individuals with large US holdings, who encashed their holdings when they were low, due to the volatility.

The S&P had the fifth worst start to the year in the S&P 500 history and was down 10.2% in the first 73 trading days¹. Although it has now recovered², it did fall to 4982.77 on 8th April, 2025 after reaching a record high on 19th February of 6144.15, a drop of nearly 18.9%.³

So before investing in this sector or any sector, I think you have to ask yourself, mentally could you cope with a drop in your investments like this and what percentage of your investment would you want subject to this? Nobody can be sure that the market will go back up and even how long it could take, in fact 2000, 2001 and 2002⁴ the S&P had negative returns.

As I have said previously, I always see our main role as a sounding board and we are able to hold clients’ hands through the difficult times. If you would like to review your investment, why not pick up the phone today and ask for a free without obligation consultation.

¹Voroni 1st May, 2025
²Open 2nd Jan, 2025, 5868.55 closed 12th June, 2025, 6039.72
³CNN Business News
⁴Slick Charts.com

The value of investments can go up as well as down and you may receive back less than your original investment. Past performance is no guarantee of future results

I have talked previously about the last Autumn Budget which made history as being the first delivered by a female, and a major tax raising budget, including changes to Inheritance Tax. For many individuals reading this article, two items in the budget that may affect them are:

1. The allowances, both the Nil Rate band and the Residential Nil Rate band, being frozen until 2030.
2. From 6 April 2027, the proposed change that most unused pension funds will be included within the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax purposes, and pension scheme administrators will become liable for reporting and paying any Inheritance Tax due on pensions to HMRC.

Although the latter is only a proposed change my understanding is that the consultation paper on this has dealt with how to implement it rather than whether to proceed.

So what is Inheritance Tax? It is a tax paid on a person’s estate when they die. This is on most items they leave behind including their house, personal items and savings, and, although there are exceptions, the normal rate charged is 40%.

We do have a Nil Rate band allowance of £325,000 and may qualify for a resident Nil Rate band allowance of £175,000 if the home we leave behind is closely inherited, i.e. children and grandchildren.

If the thresholds are not fully used when the first person in a marriage or civil partnership dies, the unused part could usually go to the spouse of a civil partner.

When any change comes into play, I believe it’s important to see how this affects you and I think a good starting point is to look at what your estate would be worth if you had died yesterday, and to what allowances you may be entitled. Armed with this information you can then consider if there are ways you could reduce it.

Inheritance Tax is a complex area and there are rules and exceptions that need to be taken into consideration. We offer a free consultation where we can look at your own personal circumstances and what your potential liability is.

The content included on this page is based on our understanding of the UK tax law at the time of publication. It may be subject to change and may not be applicable to your circumstances.

The last six months have been very interesting indeed, including Rachel Reeves biggest tax-raising Budget on record: OBR watchdog’s database shows that the Chancellor hiked the tax burden by £41.5bn, more than Norman Lamont’s notorious 1993 raid.^*1

This was followed by the US election which saw Donald Trump being elected for a second term. Since January 20, 2025, the day in which Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States of America, the 100th day of his second presidency will end on April 30, 2025. As of April 2025, President Trump has signed 124 executive orders, 29 proclamations, 27 memorandums and he has signed the Laken Riley Act, a continuing appropriations act, and miscellaneous pieces of legislation revoking Biden-era rules.^*2 His tariffs on overseas trade have, I think, made the most headlines. Tariffs are taxes on goods from other countries, and companies bringing the goods into the country pay the fee, typically a percentage of the goods’ value, to the government.

Trump announced a 10% “baseline” tariff on imports to the US. This is what the UK will face. But 60 countries will be hit with higher rates of up to 50%, including China. Countries in the European Union face a 20% tariff.^*3

But what has this meant to financial markets? In recent weeks we have seen a lot of volatility. Sometimes it is important to look at the facts unemotionally: the FTSE 100 is the UK’s best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on the London Stock Exchange, and this closed at 8219.61 on October 29, 2024, the day before the UK budget. On April 14, 2025 (when this article was written) it closed at 8134.34. Similarly the Dow Jones, which tracks thirty of America’s biggest and most established companies, closed at 43729.93 on November 6, 2024, the day before the President was elected, and on April 14, 2025 it closed at 40524.79.

I think by listening to the news you would expect that markets would have fallen a lot during these periods but in reality there has not been much movement, although there has been a lot of volatility during this time.

Don’t forget if you would like a financial review or to discuss your investments, why not pick up the phone today and book a free without obligation consultation.

^*1Mail online, 15 November 2024
^*2Wikipedia
^*3BBC News, 3rd February 2025

As I write this, we are approaching the end of a tax year which means we have spent the last few weeks helping people use up their personal allowances. We keep in mind the saying ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves,’ which of course means that if someone takes care not to waste small amounts of money, they will accumulate capital.

Although Income tax has been around for many years, introduced by William Pitt in 1842, who became the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the age of 23, and Prime Minister at 24, we are still meeting many individuals who do not have a full understanding of how it all works and how we can reduce our tax bill.

The rules are always subject to change with the new budget to be announced on March 26th, 2025, but currently we all have a personal allowance of £12,570 (An amount you can earn without paying tax on). In fact this has remained unchanged since April 6th, 2023 and is planned to remain frozen until April of 2028.

If you don’t have more income than your £12,570 allowance, you can earn £5,000 of interest that you do not have to pay tax on and this is the Starting Rate for savings income. This is reduced by £1 for every £1 you are above your Personal Allowance.

In addition to this you may also receive up to £1,000 of interest and do not have to pay tax on this, depending on which Income Tax band you’re in. This is your Personal Savings Allowance. For basic rate tax payers it is £1,000, the higher rate is £500 and for additional rates it is zero.

We often see clients who are choosing not to take Pension benefits but are not yet receiving state Pensions and are not utilising these allowances.

Personal allowances reduce by £1 for every £2 you earn over £100,000. The tax you either pay or save is key to financial planning.

If you want a deeper understanding of this and how it corresponds to your own circumstances why not pick up a phone today and book a free without obligation consultation.

The content included on this page is based on our understanding of the UK tax law at the time of publication. It may be subject to change and may not be applicable to your circumstances.

* _{The content included on this page is based on our understanding of the UK tax law at the time of publication. It may be subject to change and may not be applicable to your circumstances.}

Last week I watched with interest, the BBC Panorama programme, ‘Should We Still Be Working from Home?’, and it made me realise just how much Covid has changed our working life and the knock-on effect this has had on our lives.

Homeworking was relatively rare in 1981 when only 1.5% of those in employment reported working mainly at home, but by 2019 it had tripled to 4.7%. As of May 2023, 39% of workers in Great Britain had worked from home at some point in the previous 7 days, with 73% of British workers saying they had travelled to work in the previous week.¹

Working from home can have many benefits, including more flexibility, a better work-life balance, and increased productivity. At the same time I understand that it may not be right for everyone. I also think that you could argue that some of the growth of home delivery and tech companies can be attributed to the rise of people working from home.

However, there have been a few knock-on effects, as the rise of people working from home has impacted shops, with the decline in footfall in city centres as fewer individuals are commuting to work. This has led to reduced sales and has forced retailers to adapt new strategies such as enhancing their online presence, offering convenient delivery options, and creating more experience-driven, in-store visits to attract customers who are now shopping closer to home during the working day. 

There are also financial gains to be recognised from working from home, as this should also save individuals money, reducing travel costs and eating and drinking outside the home.

With these thoughts in mind, if you are looking for some ways to invest any savings and would like advice, why not pick up the phone and book a free without obligation consultation.

¹The Home Office Life