Worldwide Financial Planning

Inflation running in double digits since September is very bad news, and when you add a strong employment market and private sector wages rising at more than 6% a year it is easy to see why markets are predicting further interest rate rises. Gilt yields extended their recent rise as investors now see rates increasing to 5% this year. But there are already strong signs that the UK’s economy is slowing down.

When you use a high street lender, you miss out on thousands of available rates, flexibilities and competitive fees available to a mortgage broker, that are just not available as you pop into the local bank.

The chancellor has given an indication that the UK could be voting in a general election this time next year. In an interview at the International Monetary Fund conference in Washington, Jeremy Hunt said the government would call an election when the economy was starting to improve.

Bank safety is vitally important to an economy, in that confidence in deposits provides our floor, both politically and economically. The issues in SVB and Credit Suisse were specific to them, not to the UK banking sector. But are there any risks there to you and your savings? Here's this week's column.

Peter McGahan continues with his focus on banks by asking the question - are banks really in trouble? Last week's column, and today's column, are examples of understanding an investment before you go anywhere near it.

Bank shares have yet to recover, but broader US and European markets are back to their level seen at the beginning of March as investors have settled on a view of where interest rates are headed. The view that we are very close to the peak of the hiking cycle received further support as headline inflation in the EU fell significantly - although core inflation actually rose.