Archive for November 2020
Company cars – rolling downhill?
New HMRC data show the popularity of this traditional perk could be waning. There was a time when the company car was the fringe benefit that every employee wanted. You had ‘made it’ once you had the keys to a car with no worries about servicing, insuring or, sometimes, even fuel costs. It could also make plenty…
Read MoreChina: ever larger, ever changing
The Chinese stock market broke the $10 trillion barrier in October. The total value of China’s stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen surpassed $10 trillion in October. For comparison, the UK market was worth about $4 trillion at the end of September 2020. However, this was not the first time that Chinese markets had reached the $10…
Read MoreCan you afford to retire if you’re self-employed?
New research shows the majority of the self-employed are not saving for retirement. Here’s a quick quiz: Are you self-employed? If so, have you contributed to a private pension in the last year? The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) examined the answers to these two questions and found the probability of answering yes to both is…
Read MoreSome light in the dividend payments tunnel
A recent report on UK dividend payments suggests the worst of the cuts may be over. First, the bad news: In the third quarter of 2020, total (regular and special) dividend payments from UK companies were 49.1% lower than in the corresponding quarter in 2019. Two thirds of UK companies either cut or cancelled their dividends…
Read MoreExtended self-employed support measures under new lockdown
With the second lockdown now in place, the Chancellor has been forced to return to Parliament and announce extended job support measures. Two further grants under the SEISS were announced in September and have now been updated. The government’s new package of support measures laid out in the Chancellor’s Winter Economy Plan have been either…
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