The need to have a diversified portfolio
Thursday 25th January 2024
Katy Baxter
I have long recommended the need for clients to have a well diversified portfolio of investments. Although the last couple of years have had specific geo-political and economic challenges they have certainly not been unique and a look back in history shows how different assets perform in different years. The image shows how each asset class has performed over the last 13 years. It is such a striking image and as they say a picture paints a thousand words. Forecasting is pretty much impossible and the case for diversification cannot be made any stronger. Please click here to view for a bigger view but if you would like a PDF copy of the image please email me. At Montgomery Estate Planning…
Inheritance Tax receipts at record levels
Wednesday 10th January 2024
Katy Baxter
Inheritance Tax continues to be a political hot potato with some commentators predicting it might be reduced or eliminated by the present Chancellor. One thing is for sure - current rates of revenue continue to raise funds for the government to increasing record levels. In the eight months from April to November 2023 data from HM Revenue and Customs showed receipts had totalled £5.2billion. This is a significant amount of income for HMRC and so it's quite hard to imagine this will be cast aside, and with a potential change in government coming this year I would not expect Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to be abandoning this valuable source of tax revenue. Currently 4%, or 1 in…
Quarter 3 (2023) update
Tuesday 21st November 2023
Katy Baxter
As we bid farewell to the third quarter of 2023, let's delve into the financial landscape of the United Kingdom and other countries to explore the key economic developments that have shaped the past three months. There is still a certain amount of volatility in the markets and indices rise and fall almost on a daily basis. Keeping focused on a diversified portfolio of funds over the longer term is without doubt the right way to weather the uncertainties. Katy Baxter Financial market background The main equity regions had a mixed performance over Q3. UK equities rose over the quarter as companies were helped by sterling weakening in comparison with the US dollar and energy companies benefitting from a recovery…
Winners of U25 Trophy at Cowes Week 2023
Monday 7th August 2023
Katy Baxter
We are proud to have sponsored the young sailors competing for the Under 25 Trophy at Cowes Week 2023, one of the UK's longest running and most successful sporting events. The Montgomery Estate Planning Under 25 Trophy was presented to the highest placed Under 25 Crew: Charlie, Harry and Tom White. The Triplets from Wootton, sailing in the Squib class, were extremely proud to have won again in 'Kestrel'. Great sailing against tough competition and weather conditions allowed the IoW based Triplets to retain their 2022 title, another first for the trophy winners. We are also pleased to have been part of the presentation for the Cowes Week Youth Trophy which was presented to Christopher-Joel Frederick, who is a leading…
Record Inheritance tax collected
Thursday 27th July 2023
Katy Baxter
The first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year saw £2bn collected by the Treasury in Inheritance Tax (IHT). The latest figures follow a record-breaking year in 2022/23, which saw a total of £7.1bn raised in IHT. The latest quarter has raised 11% more than the same period last year, which exceeds the previous peak of £1.8bn in Q3 2022/23. In June 2023 tax receipts recorded an income of £795m, which marks a monthly all-time high. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has estimated that IHT will raise £7.2bn in the 2023/24 financial year, with as much as £8.4bn by 2027/28. However, there has been recent media speculation that the Government is considering scrapping the tax ahead of the next general election…
Proud to be sponsoring U25 Trophy at Cowes Week 2023
Tuesday 6th June 2023
Katy Baxter
We are proud to be sponsoring the young sailors competing for the Under 25 Trophy at Cowes Week. We will be supporting them, their families and friends during one of the UK's longest running and most successful sporting events on Wednesday 2nd August 2023. The Montgomery Estate Planning Under 25 Trophy will be presented to the highest placed Under 25 Crew at the Prize Giving on Friday 4th August. Cowes Week has always been popular for young competitors as it provides them with a perfect opportunity to realise their talent and helps to encourage our future sailing stars. Competing for the U25 Trophy gives the most amazing platform for them to compete on equal terms with sailors of all ages and…
Sustainable and Responsible (ESG) investment funds – what’s really under the bonnet?
Thursday 1st June 2023
Katy Baxter
There's much talk these days about ESG in the investment world and as a new advisory business we wanted to be able to offer our clients a range of ESG funds when building their investment portfolios. We know that some clients have strong views on how their investments make the world a better place and this is borne out by recent figures which show that in 2022, UK investments in ESG funds reached a record £91 billion which was up from £56 billion two years earlier. So what do each of these factors actually mean: Environmental factors Natural world factors and the biosphere. Includes the interaction and use of renewable and non-renewable resources (ecosystems, biodiversity, water, minerals) Examples of this are climate change,…
Katy's outlook for UK inflation and interest rates
Tuesday 11th April 2023
Katy Baxter
With UK inflation higher than expected and interest rates now at 4.25% what's ahead? The Bank of England's latest 0.25% increase to UK interest rates takes them to 4.25%. Many hope it will be the last hike of the year but with inflationary pressures persisting, Ian our Chief Operating Officer asked Katy for her outlook on inflation and interest rates. Were you surprised Katy by the BoE's decision? Not really Ian, although 2 out of the 9 members of the Monetary Policy Committee didn't want to increase rates. Whilst the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and concerns over Credit Suisse caused some more volatility in the markets, the impact on the UK banking system was limited. The…
Some good deals ahead.....
Wednesday 1st February 2023
Katy Baxter
It's been nearly two years since the Ever Given container ship blocked the Suez canal semi-paralysing the global shipping supply chain. Even worse, at the time the Ever Given was ploughing into the desert, ports around the world had ships anchoring for weeks before lockdown-hit docks could unload them. People and businesses wanted goods, but they were stuck at sea. Packed into containers floating off the coast, or slogging around the continent of Africa to avoid the Suez Canal traffic jam. That had a major impact in pushing up prices of imports over the past couple of years. Why? Because 90% of all traded goods travel by sea! 11 billion tons of goods, worth $14 trillion per year. Clogging that up creates…
Client webinars - 2023
Wednesday 30th November 2022
Katy Baxter
Our forthcoming webinars on 24 January 2023 and 2 February 2023 between 11am - 12pm will cover the following topics. If you would like to attend please email us at help@montgomeryep.co.uk Inheritance Tax - a stealth tax that is going to affect many more of us - what can we do to reduce the burden for our families? Passing assets and wealth to loved ones - things to think about now, and in the future, to protect value for the next generations 2022 - a year of Big Market Days! What does this mean for the future - find out what the fund managers are saying... How best to invest - the best way to increase diversity but not risk …
Big Market Days
Friday 18th November 2022
Katy Baxter
When we've had a year in markets like 2022, it can be tough to work out how normal/abnormal it has been - or how we should be feeling. One way is to count how many days there have been where the market moved - up or down - by more than 1%. We can call these BMDs (Big Market Days) for lack of a better phrase. The chart shows that count of days. Also highlighted in orange are those days where the move was more than 2%, and red those days where it was more than 3%. (This uses the US equity market because the data is more easily available) Back to the question: "how abnormal has it been?" So far this year we've…
The ups and downs of investing
Wednesday 26th October 2022
Katy Baxter
Over recent months and weeks global stock markets have been volatile to say the least and it's been an uncomfortable ride for our investors. The temptation when the world is laden with bad news is to grab the reigns. To take action or do something/anything in order to feel in control. However, investors who try to do this, to 'time the market' over the course of an investment cycle often suffer whiplash. Looking back at financial history helps us understand why timing the market - abandoning the process - is rarely a good idea. The chart opposite shows bull and bear markets going back to the Second World War (using US equity markets where there's lots of data). Although the…