SLAIYBURN NEWS
SUMMER 24
ELECTION SPECIAL
July 2024
The effect of the General Election on You and Your Money
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The UK financial markets have shown a remarkably calm response to the unexpected announcement of an early general election. Despite the potential for political upheaval, the main financial indicators such as The Pound, the 10-year gilt yield (Government Bonds), and the large cap markets (FTSE 100 companies such as M&S, Prudential, BT, British Gas, British Airways etc) have all experienced minimal changes.
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Market resilience to political events
This subdued market reaction can be attributed to a combination of factors: the markets’ growing resilience to political events and the absence of major policy changes proposed by the major political parties, largely due to inflation’s impact on public spending. Consequently, the markets have maintained a ‘business as usual’ stance amidst the election news.
HOUSING MARKET
Housing is the fourth most important political issue according to YouGov, with areas such a deposits for first time buyers, increasing the threshold for when stamp duty becomes payable to £425,000 for first time buyers and tax breaks for landlords if sell to sitting tenants.
Also on the agenda is numbers of new houses being promised, the mortgage guarantee scheme being made permanent and utilising more greenbelt land for house building.
All of these issues are to help stimulate the housing market.
INTEREST RATES
& INFLATION
This month, the Bank of England has kept interest rates at 5.25% even though the inflation rate of 2% has been hit. This is not unexpected with a General Election happening, as making a change now could be seen to influence voters. Although this isn’t good news for borrowers it is good for savers.
SLAIYBURN TEAM NEWS
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Our family of advisers and clients continues to grow, leading to us being able to help even more families and businesses with their financial goals. We now have 7 advisers, a recent increase of 2, with Richard and Jake joining the team, meaning we now have advisers in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire.
They all bring an enormous amount of experience with them plus we can now offer Equity Release advice, meaning those clients who have lots of equity in their homes, can utilise this to supplement their income, as part of their retirement plans.
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Please remember that we are only a phone call or email away, so if you don’t understand anything that’s been sent to you or something that you’ve seen in the press, please don’t hesitate to contact us below.
Don’t forget there are no stupid questions!