The US stock market set a new record for the longest-ever bull market in August. S&P 500 Index Performance Wednesday 22 August 2018 saw the S&P 500 drop – by less than 0.1% – after 3,453 days, making it the longest-ever bull run (a period of rising share prices) for the index, which is used by professional investors’ as a yardstick for the US stock market. The previous record was set between 1990 and 2000, a period that saw the dot-com boom, followed shortly after the start o

The rates charged on student loans rose at the start of September. The revised terms for interest on, and repayment of, student loans were published in August, along with the A level results for the year. From 1 September, the main interest rates for Plan 2 loans, taken out by students and recent graduates in England and Wales, are: Plan 1 student loans, taken out by students in Scotland and Northern Ireland (and students in England and Wales whose course started before 1 Sep

A paper published in August by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) casts new light on life expectancies in the UK. Life expectancy has been increasing in the UK for a long time, as the graph shows. In 1980, the average life expectancy at birth was 70.6 years for a man and 76.6 years for a woman. In 2016 this had increased to 79.2 years for a man and 82.9 years for a woman. What the graph also reveals is that the rate of improvement in life expectancy has been slowing dow

2017/18 produced record inheritance tax (IHT) receipts according to HMRC data published in July. The latest release of the annual statistics revealed IHT produced £5.228 billion for the Exchequer in 2017/18, an increase of two thirds over just five years. As the graph shows, IHT revenue has been rising rapidly since Treasury receipts hit a low in 2009/10, owing to the impacts of the financial crisis and the introduction of the transferable nil rate band. The Office for Budget

The Bank of England increased the base interest rate in August to 0.75% – the second increase in 12 months. Source: Bank of England August 2018 The Bank’s decision to raise the rate to its highest level in nearly nine and a half years was no great surprise to the investment community. Of more interest to the experts were the comments the Bank offered on the long-term trend of base rates relative to inflation. The Bank gave a theoretical estimate of the base rate needed to mai