How worried should we be about the price of food?
Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, made an apology last month. Not for inflation heading towards 10%, but for sounding ‘apocalyptic’ about the price of food. The possibility of more increases in food prices was a ‘major worry’ for the UK economy, he said, as he warned…
How Planning for Retirement Can Boost Your Health and Wellbeing
Retirement is one of those major life events that can throw up all sorts of emotions, from excitement to blind panic. But your reaction to this looming milestone can depend largely on how you deal with it in advance. If you’re prepared for retirement and have taken the right advice,…
What Will Rishi Sunak Say in his Budget?
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is expected to deliver his Spring Budget on March 23rd, in which he’ll outline his view of the country’s fiscal position. Mr Sunak has long been keen to stress that the money spent on the Government’s coronavirus economic support packages, such as the furlough…
Let Your Head, Not Your Heart, Guide Your Investment Decisions
Many of us will have spent the last two years longing for the time when most of the UK population had a good immunity against Covid-19, and pandemic restrictions were either being eased or completely dropped. And although the pandemic isn’t over, these wishes have come to pass, and we’re…
Could Ukraine Crisis Force National Insurance U-Turn?
“Events, dear boy, events.” This famous quote is often attributed to former prime minister Harold Macmillan after being asked what could knock his government off course. This could be a timely quote right now, as the horrific events in Ukraine look set to impact on consumers and businesses across the…
Working from Home: is your Boss Spying on You?
Two years ago, working from home was a rare luxury: something you might do as an occasional one-off or as you recovered from an illness. Then came the pandemic and suddenly WFH – it soon became an acronym – went mainstream. As the vaccine roll-out accelerated people gradually returned to…
Who Was the Richest Person in History?
According to the latest Forbes Rich List, the richest person in the world is Jeff Bezos, founder and, until recently, CEO of Amazon. Forbes estimates Jeff Bezos’ wealth at $177bn (£133bn), which puts him ahead of those other well-known billionaires, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. These days it…
The Charters Annual Summary – 2021: A year of uncertainty
As the calendar year nears its conclusion and the festive period gets underway, I hope you will have the chance to spend quality time with family and friends. 2021 has without question been another eventful and demanding year, with the move towards normality continuing to be disrupted by the emergence…
No Chips – so No New Car?
If you have read the headlines recently, you may well have seen some along the lines of ‘Car Chip Shortage to last until 2023’. What exactly is the ‘car chip shortage’ and – as the headlines suggest – if it does last for another two years, what does this mean…
What is ESG? Will it matter more than the bottom line?
There have been a thousand-and-one articles written since the pandemic on people’s changing attitude to work. Millennials and the generations that follow them – so we are told – want different things from work. Flexibility, the option of working from home and, above all, to work for a company that…