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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

So, another New Year has just begun, which I always get excited about and as I always find, it is a time to start afresh. Many people celebrate the start of the New Year, in fact research shows that in the USA 360 million glasses of champagne and sparkling wine are consumed at this time, according to research carried out by Wallethub.

Celebrating the New Year has been happening for centuries, the earliest records show that the Babylonians celebrated the New Year 4000 years ago with an 11-day festival, which involved a different ritual on each day. The festival was called Akitu, and it celebrated a victory of the sky god, Marduk, over the evil sea goddess, Tiamat¹.

But it’s not just a day of celebrations it’s also a day when many of us set our resolutions, which involve some form of change, such as exercising more and saving more, apparently these were noted to be the most popular in 2024². According to research by Forbes the trend of setting New Year’s resolutions was expected to be more widespread in 2024, as their research reveals that in 2023, less than one in five people (19%) set resolutions³.

When reading this article, your New Year’s Eve has probably passed by, but this doesn’t mean you can’t set yourself goals for the year ahead. If you are unsure where to begin, why not look back at last year or your current position and ask yourself how you would like it to be different and then make that your goal to go forward.

Following this, sit down and write out the steps on how you see yourself achieving your goal, this should make it much clearer and help you to focus on it. We do receive an influx of calls following the New Year probably due to the fact that saving more is a popular resolution.

So if you need help with setting financial goals why not pick up the phone today and book our free without obligation consultation.

^*1 twinkl.com
^*2 Statista.com
^*3 Forbes Advisor UK

Following weeks of speculation Rachel Reeves delivered the budget on the 30th October, this was not only her first budget but also the first budget to ever be delivered by a female. It was also the first budget for Labour in nearly 15 years and one of the longest budget speeches, which lasted 76 minutes and included £40bn worth of tax hikes¹.

These included:
• Immediate Raises in rates of Capital Gains Tax
• Raise in Employers National Insurance contributions
• Raises in the Stamp duty surcharge on second homes
• Carers allowance increase
• VAT on School fees
• Inherited Pensions subject to Inheritance tax.

These are just a few of the changes but how does this all affect you? There are a range of calculators available online which you can access to see how the budget changes will impact your finances. We are finding that we are being asked to review many of our clients’ financial plans due to this budget.

Over the years I have seen many individuals worrying about financial matters unnecessarily. For example, currently fewer than one in 20 estates, that’s just over 4%, pay inheritance tax. This means that tax is paid on about 27,800 estates a year. However, many more people than this believe they could be liable. A YouGov poll for The Times newspaper in July 2023 suggested a third of the UK population thought inheritance tax would need to be paid on their assets when they died². The number paying inheritance tax should increase by the budget changes, but as I have said previously, I feel it is important to treat your income like a business and see how all the changes affect you.

We offer a free without obligation consultation so if you want advice on the budget changes why not pick up the phone today.

*¹ This is Money, 1st November 2024
*² BBC, 30th October 2024

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.

It has been a while since I have written about the financial markets so I thought this month it would be good to provide a brief overview of recent events.

Last year, 2023 was a better year for investors with both fixed interest and equities bouncing back after one of the toughest years in 2022. We saw inflation starting to come down, although it was still above its targets, with central banks still using interest rates to try to bring inflation back down¹.

However, in the early part of 2023 we saw confidence being shaken yet again by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and several others, however the crisis was relatively contained and the Equities market began gradually edging up². We then saw a lot of hype following the launch of AI’s Chat GPT 4 model. This was evident in the strong price increase of the largest technology companies, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, Microsoft, and perhaps the biggest AI beneficiary of all, NVIDIA. This group drove markets upwards in 2023 and they were named the ‘Magnificent Seven³.

However, it was not all good news, as although Cash was another sector to gain in 2023 due to the interest rate rises, it also meant that the property sector suffered, and we saw the market fall in China.

In 2024 we have seen the rise in the US and UK equity markets continue. Although the Japanese equity market had a blip in the summer, the Nikkei is up from the start of the year, and I think it is fair to say that the Gilt sector has had a better performance in the last 12 months.

I have written previously about the importance of having a diverse portfolio as I feel it’s hard to predict the winners and losers for each year. I also think that it is important to measure a fund’s performance by comparing it against others in the same sector, comparing like with like. If you do hold investments and want to discuss them why not pick up the phone today and book a free without obligation consultation.

*Please note that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results
¹Statista
²FTSE 100, closed 6th Jan 23 7699.49. 14th Apr 23 7871.91
³Mellon, Feb 2024

The date has been set for the end of October and Labour has already said there will be some difficult decisions. Previously I have written about the Budget but as this was some time ago, I thought it would be interesting to revisit, especially with all the history that surrounds it.

The Budget dates back to the 1720’s and was created to try and help public confidence at the time.¹ The Budget is when the Chancellor of the Exchequer unveils their plans for the upcoming fiscal year, including the details of the Government expenditure and expected rates of taxation.

The briefcase in which the statement is carried from the Chancellor’s residence to the Houses of Parliament also has a long history. The very first was made of wood, in 1860 for William Gladstone, it was covered in red leather and lined with black silk, and although other briefcases have been used, this one had its final outing in 2010 under George Osborne and is currently exhibited in the Cabinet War Rooms.²

The only time alcohol is allowed to be consumed in the House of Commons is when delivering the Budget speech, although recent Chancellors, both Gordon Brown and George Osborne opted for mineral water, others such as Ken Clarke have used this privilege³. Apparently, in 1868 Chancellor George Ward Hunt left the Budget at home and ended up delivering one of the shortest Budget speeches in history after delaying Parliament for some considerable time.⁴

Proposed tax changes can come into effect straight away at 6pm, however any new taxes must be debated and can also be rejected.

There is always a lot of speculation in what the Budget contains but its secrecy is respected and it’s not until the speech is delivered that we can be sure of its content. Even after this it can be difficult to understand the implications of the speech on our own personal finances. So if you do want clarification of what the proposed changes mean to you after the Chancellor’s Budget speech, why not pick up the phone and utilise our free without obligation consultation.

¹History Hit, 26th October 2021
²The Sun newspaper, 2nd March 2021
³The Sun newspaper, 25th Sept 2023
⁴History Hit, 26th October 2021