Contact

News & Insights

Are better Interest rates on their way at last?

Good news may be on the way for savers now though, as, for the first time in nearly 10 years, the monetary policy committee (MPC) had a split decision of 5-3 in favour of leaving interest rates as they are when the vote was made on whether to increase interest rates last week.  It was believed the MPC would vote 7-1 to maintain the rate at its post-Brexit referendum level of 0.25%.

Members of the Committee, Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders joined outgoing rate rise advocate Kristin Forbes in supporting an increase back to the post-crisis level of 0.5%.  It was the closest the MPC has come to supporting a rise since 2007 because it currently has only eight members following Charlotte Hogg’s departure in March.

In the minutes of the rate-setting meeting, the Bank said it now expected inflation to exceed 3% by the autumn –  higher than it had forecast a month ago – having reached an annual rate of 2.9% in May.

This announcement had an immediate effect on the Pound/Euro rate.  The levels were dropping alarmingly low again to the 1.1 level but this announcement saw the rate rise immediately back to 1.4.  This is very positive for the Pound as it would indicate that it would become stronger should the interest rates go up, which in turn could provide Expat retirees with some welcome extra cash in their pockets on two fronts (better exchange rate and better interest rates).

Other News

Blacktower View – Learn from the Mistakes of Others by Keith Littlewood

StrategyThere is a lot I have learned over more than three decades in the financial services industry and while this period of managing client investments was made possible by my education and enthusiasm, the years have taught me that there is no substitute for experience. There is a big difference between knowing something theoretically and having first-hand, practical experience of it.

However, another side of my experience has been as a financial planning “firefighter”; learning, after the event, from the experiences of others, typically those clients who come to me a little crestfallen or embarrassed as a result of losses or stagnation caused by regrettable investment decisions.

Read More

Will I outlive my retirement savings?

Golden Piggy BankThe Office for National Statistics puts UK life expectancy at 79.4 years for men and 83.1 years for women. Today, a 65-year-old man can expect to live for 18.5 more years, while a woman would typically have 21 more years left in her. Of course, life expectancies are averages – so this won’t hold true for everyone. Your lifestyle, diet, genetic make-up and wealth could all affect how long you will actually live for, with luck also playing a big role. Obviously, living a longer life is a good thing in theory, but from a retirement savings perspective, it can pose a real challenge. In fact, 60% of baby boomers admitted in a recent Allianz study that they’re more fearful of outliving their savings than of dying. This sentiment is shared by 43% of workers surveyed by Transamerica, who say that outliving their savings is their greatest retirement-related fear.

Read More

Select your country

Please select your country of residence so we can provide you with the most relevant information:

You are currently viewing the Blacktower Financial Management EU website.

You may be looking for the Blacktower United States website.

Blacktower United States > X Stay on this site

Or choose your country.