News

Global equity markets had a difficult week as markets reacted to tensions between the United States and China.

The situation between the United States and China has been brewing recently.  Tensions have been on the rise in relation to Hong Kong as the Chinese government is tightening its control over the region.  Last week, the US government closed a Chinese consulate in Houston, and as a response, the Chinese government ordered the US consulate in Chengdu to close.

Last week, most global equity markets had a positive week despite it being like a a rollercoaster at times with often a positive day followed by a negative one.  This is because the week started strongly as results of a promising early trial for a vaccine against coronavirus boosted investors.  Whilst US biotechnology company, Moderna’s, success is still at an early stage, it raised the probability that the virus can be vaccinated against.

However, the on-going US-China tensions […]

We wanted to keep in touch with you to let you know about some of the products and services that we offer advice on at Karrek Chartered Financial Planners. We understand that times are very different at the moment but we can still help assist you with your financial goals and needs.

It is in times like these that the importance of sound financial advice is most apparent so here are some of the areas of […]

Last week was a tale of two halves for global equity markets.  After a strong first part to the week which saw the FTSE 100 index break through the 6,000 barrier for the first time in eight weeks, most global equity markets fell back sharply on Thursday and Friday as a result of weak economic data, Royal Dutch Shell announcing their first cut in the dividend since World War Two and Donald Trump restarting the trade war rhetoric with […]

As you would expect when trying to manage through a global pandemic like coronavirus, there are a lot of positive and negative reports that create volatility in global equity markets and last week was no exception.  After sharp falls were experienced earlier in the week following a report by the International Monetary Fund on the global economic impact, markets rallied at the end of the week on a report that a COVID-19 treatment showed promise and some […]

The 2020/21 tax year started at the stroke of midnight between the 5th and 6th of April.  While many individuals leave tax planning to the end of the tax year, you can look to maximise the benefits by using your personal tax allowances* and reliefs straight away.  Please get in touch to take advantage of one or more of the following:

Income Tax

• The tax free personal allowance remains unchanged at £12,500.
• Basic rate tax of 20% will be payable on income […]
  

Given the current market conditions Prudential confirmed on Friday 27th March 2020 that they are applying downward Unit Price Adjustments (UPAs) to some more of their PruFund funds due to the current extraordinary market conditions as follows:

PruFund Investment Plan, PruFund Investment Plan Mark 2 & Mark 3

I know that many of you have experienced downward UPAs before. However, for those that haven’t, it is worth noting that this is how the product/fund […]