We've been expecting the introduction of a new wealth tax in the UK for some time. And we have been expecting it to one way or another attempt to capture the huge rise in house prices in the southeast. This isn't easy to do rising council taxes always cause near riot conditions in the UK, the mansion tax idea didn't exactly fly, stamp duty is an appalling tax and pretty much at its limit already and there isn't much appetite (except from me...) for a capital gains tax on primary homes.
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Government launches full review of parental leave and pay – what could it mean for you?The government wants parental leave to be fairer - will its shake-up fix the widespread problem for families?
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Nationwide: House prices see biggest monthly fall in over two yearsUK house prices dropped by 0.8% in June, according to Nationwide. We reveal the top-performing and worst-performing regions
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Our pension system, little-changed since Roman times, needs updatingOpinion The Romans introduced pensions, and we still have a similar system now. But there is one vital difference between Roman times and now that means the system needs updating, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
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We’re doing well on pensions – but we still need to do betterOpinion Pensions auto-enrolment has vastly increased the number of people in the UK with retirement savings. But we’re still not engaged enough, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
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Older people may own their own home, but the young have better pensionsOpinion UK house prices mean owning a home remains a pipe dream for many young people, but they should have a comfortable retirement, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
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How to avoid a miserable retirementOpinion The trouble with the UK’s private pension system, says Merryn Somerset Webb, is that it leaves most of us at the mercy of the markets. And the outlook for the markets is miserable.
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Young investors could bet on NFTs over traditional investmentsOpinion The first batch of child trust funds and Junior Isas are maturing. But young investors could be tempted to bet their proceeds on digital baubles such as NFTs rather than rolling their money over into traditional investments
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Pandemics, politicians and gold-plated pensionsAdvice As more and more people lose their jobs to the pandemic and the lockdowns imposed to deal with it, there’s one bunch of people who won’t have to worry about their future: politicians, with their generous defined-benefits pensions.
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How to have a low-tax retirement in the sunNews Greece is to offer a ten-year tax incentive to foreign pensioners. That’s a pretty good offer, says Merryn Somerset Webb. But it might not last.
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Prepare yourself for a rise in capital gains taxOpinion With the UK desperate to raise more money to cover the massive rise in public spending, squeezing more revenue out of capital gains tax looks like an obvious thing to do.
