Insights

April marked the start of the second quarter of 2014, however the sluggish performance of markets so far this year continued.

The end of the tax year offers a natural opportunity for individuals to take stock of their financial position and make plans for the coming years.

One way to improve tax efficiency is through careful planning and use of allowances.

The tax year end offers a good chance to review investments and conduct a spring clean of any portfolios with careful consideration placed upon the following points.

As with investments, it is important to review your pension contributions before the end of each tax year to ensure you make the most of your allowance.

Strong economic growth in 2013 represented perhaps the first genuine signs of a worldwide recovery since the major set-backs in 2008.

In the past, it has been very expensive to produce marketing materials to promote a charity’s activities to the wider public.

In an age of government cuts, charities have been increasingly dependent on alternative sources of funding, one of these being charity shops.

Today, the Chancellor, George Osborne delivered an upbeat and more political Budget as he promised to nuture a ‘resilient economy’, upgrading his growth forecasts of GDP from 2.4% to 2.7% this year and from 2.2% to 2.3% next year. He also highlighted the decline in unemployment and a target to eliminate the budget deficit by 2019. However, he cautioned that ‘the job is far from done’, as the UK is half-way through an austerity programme of tax rises and spending cuts stretching to 2018.

Following a sharp equity sell off towards the end of January, February saw a welcome return to growth in the markets. Global economic data for the first two months of 2014 has been largely positive and in line with expectations.

Following a market rally throughout December, there was widespread optimism regarding market sentiment for 2014. The majority of broker reports seemed to indicate the FTSE100 would break through 7000 points for the first time and some even suggested 7500 may be possible by this time next year.