News and Views


Keeping you up to date with what matters.

27 Mar 2023
Capital Gains Tax: to pay, or not to pay, that is the question !

Capital Gains Tax: to pay, or not to pay, that is the question !

Shortly after his arrival in 11 Downing Street, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a rather severe haircut to the amount of capital gains individuals can realise before creating a tax liability. Since then, there have been further changes to pension allowances, and this has undoubtedly caught the attention of savers and investors alike. It is the…

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16 Mar 2023
Spring Budget 2023

Spring Budget 2023

The first Budget since October 2021 was widely expected to be an uneventful affair. Five months ago, the then new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, presented an Autumn Statement that was more of a Budget than many formal Budgets. Not only did his Autumn Statement result in a greater increase in the tax burden than most Budgets…

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16 Dec 2022
The Scottish Budget 2022

The Scottish Budget 2022

The Scottish Budget arrived towards the end of a busy week for economic news and the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, set out “four important factors” in arriving at the measures announced in the 2023/24 Scottish Budget. Subject to these major constraints, Mr Swinney set out three priorities for “a different path” from that taken…

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18 Nov 2022
UK Government Autumn Statement 2022

UK Government Autumn Statement 2022

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement came against the background of a Spring Statement and a September ‘mini-Budget’ (which has now been substantially reversed). The overall context is a European recession and high inflation in the wake of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The Autumn Statement was presented as a difficult and necessary…

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6 Oct 2022
Time to be patient

Time to be patient

‘The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient’ – Warren Buffett   With headlines providing a steady stream of less than good news, we are writing to provide some illustrations which we hope will ease any concerns you have, and hopefully frame current volatility in the context of long-term…

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26 Sep 2022
UK Government Fiscal Statement 2022

UK Government Fiscal Statement 2022

Kwasi Kwarteng’s first set piece as Chancellor of the Exchequer was never going to be easy, even before the 0.5% increase in interest rates the day before.  The new Prime Minister Liz Truss revealed much of what we might expect before Mr Kwarteng spoke a word, so we already knew that there would be: a…

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2 Sep 2022
Thorntons Investments shortlisted for Best AIM Portfolio Service

Thorntons Investments shortlisted for Best AIM Portfolio Service

We are delighted to again be shortlisted for Best AIM Portfolio Service at the Growth Investor Awards 2022. For comment from the Growth Investor Awards please see below: It’s been another hugely competitive field of entries for this year’s Growth Investor Awards, hosted by Intelligent Partnership. With the standard so high, it’s impressive to see…

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31 Aug 2022
Charity Quiz

Charity Quiz

Each year our staff choose a charity to support – it’s normally something that has affected a member of the team personally, and this year is no different. In recent years, we’ve supported charities including Scottish Cot Death Trust, Beat Eating Disorders, CICRA (Crohn’s disease) and Maggies Centres. To raise money, we have a regular…

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