On 5 April 2026, the current tax year will end, and the new one will start the following day. Making a note of the deadline in your calendar could help you make the most of tax breaks as part of your financial plan.

Here’s why the start of a new tax year might matter to you.

1. 5 April 2026 may be your last opportunity to use 2025/26 allowances

When a tax year ends, many allowances reset. Consequently, the coming weeks might be your last chance to use some of them.

For example, you can add up to £20,000 into ISAs in 2025/26. ISAs provi...

Geopolitical tensions and threats of trade tariffs continued to impact global investment markets at the start of 2026. Read on to find out what factors may have affected your investments at the start of 2026.

Markets experienced highs, but geopolitical tensions continue to cause volatility

On 2 January, the first day of trading in 2026, the FTSE 100 – an index of the largest 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange – hit a new high and exceeded 10,000 points for the first time, getting the year off to a good start for investors...

There’s more to being a successful investor than following the latest market trends and tips. Setting out a strategy that’s right for you could allow you to balance risk against your goals.

Last month, you read about the importance of defining what success means for you. With your goals outlined, you can start to think about an investment strategy. Here are some of the factors you may need to consider. 

The guide to creating an investment strategy that suits your needs

To be a successful investor, you may think you simply need to choose...

You might already know that salary sacrifice can be a practical way for your employees to bolster their retirement funds, while reducing their tax liability.

However, in the 2025 Autumn Budget, the government announced changes to how salary sacrifice is treated for National Insurance (NI) purposes.

From April 2029, a new cap will be introduced, limiting the portion of pension contributions exempt from NI to £2,000 a year.

While 2029 might seem a long way off, this is the ideal time to think carefully about how you and your business migh...

When you take out a mortgage, you pay interest on the amount you borrow, and the bank rate set by the Bank of England (BoE) can affect your repayments. Read on to find out why and how the bank rate could affect you in 2026.

Explained: The Bank of England’s bank rate

The “bank rate” or “base rate” is the interest rate set by a country’s central bank, the BoE in the UK. This is the rate that the BoE pays commercial banks for holding their money, or charges them when they borrow.

As a consumer, you don’t directly pay the bank rate. However...

Every investor wants to be successful. Over the next few months, you can read about ways to improve your investment strategy.

Defining success against the performance of others can encourage a short-term mindset.

What “success” means when investing is different for everyone, and defining what it means for you is crucial.

You might be tempted to measure success by achieving a certain average annual return, selecting the best-performing stock, or beating market averages. While these can be useful indicators of your portfolio’s performance...

From introducing a “mansion tax” to creating a separate tax for property income, the November 2025 Budget included several announcements that could affect landlords. Here’s what you need to know about four key changes.

1. Property income will be taxed at a higher rate from April 2027

The major change announced in the Budget that will affect landlords is that, from April 2027, property income will be taxed separately from other sources.

Income derived from property will be taxed at a rate 2% higher than the standard rate of income tax. F...

AI adoption has rapidly increased in recent years, and it has affected the stock prices of businesses operating in the sector. Find out more about the financial biases that could be driving this boom.

The rise of Nvidia, which provides essential hardware and software for AI development, demonstrates the scale of the AI boom.

In 2023, Nvidia became the seventh US company to reach a valuation of $1 trillion (£0.74 trillion). Just two years later, the BBC reported (9 July 2025) that Nvidia became the first company in the world to surpass a ...

After a year filled with uncertainty and rising trade tensions, markets were calmer in December 2025. Find out what may have affected the performance of your portfolio at the end of the year.

Market volatility eased in December 2025

Markets were downbeat at the start of the month. Most European markets were in the red on 1 December, including Germany’s DAX (-1.2%), France’s CAC 40 (-0.55%), and the UK’s FTSE 100 (-0.13%).

The Bank of England (BoE) carried out stress tests on 2 December, which all major banks involved passed. This led to...