Read the latest news and articles from the Gem & Co team
As the old saying goes, investing is simple but not easy. It is simple to look back at market data today and wish that we had, for example, owned more US equities and less UK and emerging market equities over the past ten years, given their annualised returns of around 14.5%, 5.0% and 6.5%, respectively.
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As a parent, your child facing an illness could affect your finances just as much as becoming ill yourself. Appropriate financial protection could offer you a safety net when you need it most, including if you need to take a long period off work to care for your child. Read on to find out how
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Embarking on a holiday is about more than simply sightseeing – it’s also your chance to experience new and tantalising local dishes from around the world. An increasing number of people worldwide enjoy exploring exotic flavours during their time abroad. Acorn Tourism Consulting states that food tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing
Read moreThe month got off to a gloomy start, especially if you are a Guardian reader. Five signs the global recovery may be an illusion was the headline on one of its main analysis articles, which pointed out that the world of 2014 was not very dissimilar to the world of 2004 – when (we now
Read moreCompany directors and owners of SMEs make plans and do forecasts all the time. Cash flow forecasts, SWOT analyses, plans for renewals and refurbishment; there’s hardly a day when they’re not eyeball to eyeball with a spreadsheet. So why do so many of them fail to plan their own retirements properly? In our experience company
Read moreThe average UK household overall is 26 days from the breadline, but this reduces to just 11 days for those of working age (18-64 years old). People estimate their savings will last them 72 days – almost three times the actual deadline to exhausting reserve funds. Wales and the North East have the shortest deadlines
Read moreIf you are lucky enough to have a pension pot or a pension plan that works out your savings as being worth more than £1.5 million, then when you take your benefits, it is likely that you will have to pay a lifetime allowance tax charge on the excess. The existing fixed Lifetime Allowance (LTA)
Read moreVirtually all the headlines surrounding George Osborne’s recent Budget were about the changes to the pensions rules. Rightly described as the biggest changes to pensions legislation for a hundred years, they will have far-reaching implications for the financial planning of many of our clients. With all the attention devoted to pensions, it was easy to
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