Eventful few months for our Money

Rosemary Gallagher | Greg Macvean Photography

Looking back, we’ve had the UK General Election bringing Labour to power and an unprecedented build-up to their inaugural Budget. The shockwaves of the statement from Rachel Reeves are still being felt – including outrage among farmers about changes to inheritance tax.

While the downward trajectory continues with UK interest rates, with the Bank base rate now at 4.75 per cent, mortgages are still more expensive than they were and cost of living pressures continue. We’ll find out on Thursday if rates will be cut any further this year.

We’ve also just had the bad news that the UK economy shrank for the second month in a row in October. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show a 0.1 per cent fall. This is the first time we’ve seen two consecutive months of decline since the pandemic.

But, as always, our Scotsman Money expert commentators are here to guide you through complex, and sometimes worrying, financial situations.

Tom Ham of Calton puts forward the view that “lifestyling” – de-risking a pension portfolio as an individual reaches retirement – is “distinctly unstylish, ill-fitting and outdated”.

In our Q&A, Kevin Mackenzie of Acumen Family Wealth discusses the ins and outs of IHT.

Stuart Lamont of Waverton Wealth suggests a game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? this Christmas. He says grandparents should consider gifting money rather than presents to help the younger generation start saving.

The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has stated that if a parent or grandparent had invested a one-off £1,000 in the average investment trust for a child 18 years ago, it would now be worth £4,631, equivalent to an annualised return of 7.9 per cent.

However, if they had made investments of £50 a month instead, their total investment of £10,800 over 18 years would have trebled and now be worth £32,128.The AIC described this as “a hefty pot that could help with a deposit on a first home, further education costs or buying a car.”Kids and grandkids may not thank you for a reduction in toys this year, but I’m pretty sure they will when they’re trying to get on the housing ladder.

We’ll be back with another Scotsman Money in January 2025. Happy holidays!

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