Worldwide Financial Planning

Last week's budget didn't reveal any real surprises as much of it was leaked. In this week's column, Peter McGahan looks at the good bits such as the lifetime allowance being scrapped, the extension of free childcare, the increase in funding for nurseries and more.

While the market is easily fooled by headlines so too, unfortunately, are central banks. The true state of the economy won’t be clear for months so policy makers have to make do with the data they have, while the impact of today’s decisions won’t be apparent for another year.

The outlook hasn't really altered but investors are expecting both inflation and interest rates to remain higher for longer.

So start with learning from the past. Why didn’t other resolutions work and why did some actually succeed.

The imposition of new security laws on Hong Kong by China has eroded the territory's independence and looks set to end the 'one country, two systems' approach.

The purpose of this note is to help you understand and cut through noise to keep your sanity in such extraordinary times.