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Archive for ‘Financial industry news’

At a prestigious awards ceremony under the stars in central London on the 19thSeptember, Scottish Friendly was awarded the accolade of best UK Junior ISA Provider. The Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts awards are regarded as one of the highlights of the personal finance industry calendar. It’s extremely tough to even be shortlisted, commended, or highly commended, let alone to actually win one of the…


Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a 16th birthday party with a difference. For a start the venue for the birthday party was impressive – the Terrace overlooking the Thames at the Houses of Parliament no less! More importantly, the party wasn’t for a person, but for a special type of investment – the Child Trust Fund. Child Trust Funds were launched by the…


Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, yesterday announced a 0.25 per cent rise in the base rate, bringing it up to 0.75 per cent from 0.5 per cent. It was headline news on last night’s broadcast news channels and it’s all over the front pages today. Why all the brouhaha about this? 0.75 per cent doesn’t seem very high, does it? And…


“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” How often over your life have you seen or heard this mantra? Probably more than you’d care to remember. And the reason, perhaps, we don’t like to be reminded is that it makes us wince to think of the number of times we have done the opposite and put things off. One of the things…


It’s almost time to say a final farewell to our old faithful paper £10 notes. Last September, the Government introduced a new polymer note. Like the £5 note before it, the paper version is to be replaced by the new and improved polymer version which includes built in anti-counterfeit measures. So, what does this mean for you and your money? To save asking yourself, ‘when…


If the ‘leaks’ to the media over recent days are to be believed, Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget today could see more cash being delivered for housing to help address the nation’s housing crisis, particularly for young people. It has been widely reported that the Chancellor will announce plans to build 300,000 houses a year. If this turns out to be the case, I think it…


If you’re young, today may be the first time you’ve ever witnessed a rise in interest rates. It’s been over ten years since the last increase. At the time of the last increase, July 2007, Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, the first iPhone had just come out and one of the biggest films of the year had just been released – the fifth Harry Potter…


After the ex-Chancellor George Osborne announced last year that a new ISA would be introduced in 2017, the Lifetime ISA is now here. Admittedly, the financial services industry’s response has hardly been enthusiastic but over time, we expect a lot more interest. In the meantime, we at Scottish Friendly have announced our own plans for the Lifetime ISA (LISA) market with our innovative new LISA…


Is this living longer malarkey all it’s cracked up to be? It’s all very well that today’s newly-borns are set to live to an average of 79 and 83 for men and women respectively but, boy, are they going to have to pay for it! Two separate reports for the government point the way to an increase in the age at which workers will qualify…


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