Jeff Lewis. director at RobMac, summarises the most recent economic outlook. Jeff Lewis, director at RobMac The outlook for growth and inflation has improved markedly in the UK and Europe in recent weeks, largely as a result of tumbling natural gas prices. Lower inflation will boost confidence and should mean that Europe’s consumers begin to … Continue reading “Economy outlook update February 2023”
The recent freeze on the inheritance tax (IHT) threshold is seen by many as another stealth tax by the government. Essentially by keeping the threshold the same, while the value of assets continue to rise will mean more revenue for the treasury. Official figures in January showed the Treasury is on course to collect record … Continue reading “Inheritance tax – planning for the future”
Jeff Lewis, director of RobMac, considers what the impact of the reduction in inflation in December might have on the markets. The UK December annual headline CPI inflation was reported at 10.5% down from 10.7% in November and a peak of 11.1% in October. December annual core inflation (excluding food, energy, alcohol and … Continue reading “The impact of inflation reduction”
RobMac has an excellent track record of sponsoring young people who show great potential in their area of interest. We are therefore absolutely thrilled that Charlie Mitchell skipped the winning Under 18 Triples team in the British Isles Indoor Bowls Championship (BIIBC) at the weekend. His team’s win helped Scotland regain the overall BIIBC title. … Continue reading “Charlie Mitchell wins gold in the Under 18 Triples at the British Isles Indoor Bowls Championship”
Jeff Lewis, director at RobMac, looks at what can happen to investments during a market cycle. In this illustration, it shows the difference between riding out the high and lows of market fluctuations compared with realising your cash and potentially missing out. When investments markets are volatile it’s a natural instinct to head … Continue reading “Investing through a market cycle”
RobMac director, Jeff Lewis takes a look at the interest rates and the market outlook and what it means for the overall economy. It’s not all bad. “Last week was a big one for central banks in the US and UK as both raised rates by 0.75 % in a further attempt to combat … Continue reading “Interest rates and market outlook”
Despite the doom and gloom being expressed around the mortgage market in the UK, there may yet be some good news for first-time buyers when the market settles down. Alison Mitchell reflects on the marketplace and thinks it isn’t all bad. “At present, and remember we are only 6 days since the mini budget sent … Continue reading “Every mortgage cloud may have a silver lining”
If you are already a RobMac client or follow our financial commentaries, you’ll know that we always take the long-term view about investments or any form of financial planning for the future. And there is a good reason for this which is, although financial markets fluctuate, they do tend to climb over time. The graph … Continue reading “The Power of Compounding”
You may recall that back in March of this year that RobMac was helping to sponsor Thea O’Sullivan from Edinburgh who was raising funds to finance her planned trip to China where she was going to spend a year teaching and living alongside Chinese children in a remote village. We now have an update from … Continue reading “Update from Thea O’Sullivan from….Ghana”
On 1st August the Bank of England are dropping the affordability test for mortgage lending. Up until now mortgage lenders had to follow the affordability rules set out by the Bank of England. The first of these rules is a stress test to check the house buyers’ finances. Under this rule, house buyers must be … Continue reading “Homebuyers will be able to secure larger loans from today Monday 1st August”
