The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) has been with us since 1993 and no one can deny that it has had a major impact on the willingness of individuals to support high risk, but potentially very high reward small and medium-sized companies. When HMRC totted up the figures for a report published in May 2018, around…
Most of us set goals for ourselves – some short term, others based on priorities and objectives that will deliver the desired outcome five, ten or twenty years down the line. Many of those goals will require little or no financial planning, but others certainly will. Whether, the objective is to start a business, retire…
The United Kingdom’s December began with yet more political drama in the shape of Parliamentary deadlock over the agreement paving the way for withdrawal from the European Union and a subsequent vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister. The vote failed and Theresa May resumed her attempts to win support for her exit deal….
The Christmas and New Year period traditionally represents a time when we reflect on the year that has almost passed and look ahead to the coming twelve months. Often it is a time to make plans for the future – or at the very least, resolve to ring some changes. When it comes to…
Platform lending has been with us for around eight years now – ever since the launch of Funding Circle, in fact – but for many investors, it remains an untried concept. Yes, this corner of the financial services industry has grown rapidly since 2010, in terms of those who lend and borrow through the available…
The annual party conference is usually an occasion for broad brush strokes of policy. Nothing too detailed. Nothing that is likely to cause controversy in the media or divisions among the party faithful. This year’s conference season in many respects conformed to that template. Dominated by Brexit, superhuman efforts were made at both the…
Much has been written and said about the imminent arrival of a new phase in the ongoing technological revolution – a phase that will see robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics joining forces to replace many of the jobs that are currently carried out by humans. But the truth is that the future is…
The tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers has been marked by a predictable and perhaps also very necessary round of stock taking on the part of commentators, policymakers and the great and the good of the financial services industry. A decade on, the question that is mainly asked is: ‘could it all happen…
