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Go back a few decades and the average family unit consisted of Mum, Dad and 2.4 children. 2.4 Children also being a popular comedy TV series in the 1990s about an average family. In this actuarially average family Dad was three years older than Mum, and Mum was expected to live three years longer than Dad. Mum would therefore be expected to live six years on her own without Dad, but those 2.4 children would be there to support her. She would not be on her own.
Interest rates are now at their highest level since February 2009 when they were cut from 1% to 0.5%. The Bank cut the base rate to 0.25% in August 2016 before raising it back to 0.5% in November 2017. In its meeting, the MPC agreed that the economic dip in the first quarter was temporary, with momentum recovering in Q2.
The FCA is in discussions over plans to introduce a basic savings rate (BSR) to tackle price discrimination in the cash savings market. The regulator says it is concerned that the interest rates that longstanding customers receive on easy access cash savings products are generally lower than those received by customers who shop around.
It can sometimes be easy to miss socio-economic factors which may not have an immediate effect on your business but can have a huge bearing on the future of the mortgage market as a whole. Within the mortgage market we are often consumed with products, pricing, competition, service and tech advances – all of which are massively important in our day-to-day working lives. Although when taking a step back, these would all amount to far less if housing stock was to significantly dwindle. So, let’s spare a moment to consider the housebuilders and developers, and how the current market is affecting them. As, in time, this will have a knock-on effect on us all.
Out of the 32 countries taking part in this year’s World Cup, Australians are the most adequately prepared for retirement. The research ranked the pension systems of the 32 countries against 10 categories, including employee and employer contribution rates, the proportion of over 65s receiving a pension, population growth statistics, and international economic competitiveness. According to the index, Australia has the best system with England coming third behind second-placed Denmark.
