Financial news

• Everyone’s bound to be caught in Hammond’s tax rise net | Phillip Inman

  21-07-2018 18:22 via theguardian.com
  The chancellor needs to fill lots of holes in public services – and it will take big moneyPhilip Hammond, under pressure to ease austerity, must spend the summer preparing the ground for sweeping tax rises that catch everyone in their net.A tax on the rich is not going to be enough to meet the demand for £20bn extra on health spending by the end of the parliament, let alone the cost of extra police officers to tackle a significant rise in crime, higher social care funding and a boost
  
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• TRADE WAR: China devalues yuan after Trump threatens tariffs in HUGE threat to US

  21-07-2018 17:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE TRADE war raging between China and the United States shows signs of spilling over into a battle over currency after Beijing’s central bank devalued its yuan against the dollar.
  
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• Netflix has revolutionised television. But is its crown starting to slip?

  21-07-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Below-par subscriber numbers last week were bad news for a service that must keep growing to survive. How will it respond?The rise of Netflix has torn up TV schedules and destabilised Hollywood, but last week it was the streaming service’s turn to be shaken. Shares in the maker of Stranger Things and The Crown suffered their biggest drop in two years on Monday after a surprising failure to hit subscriber targets.A torrent of Netflix-produced content – 700 original TV shows and 80 fil
  
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• Fraser stores in legal battle

  21-07-2018 11:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  A GROUP of landlords has launched a legal challenge against a restructuring of House of Fraser which would see over half its department stores closed and rents reduced on others. In the first challenge in the Scottish courts to a company voluntary arrangement , a petition was filed on behalf of certain creditors.
  
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• Smart meters to save UK households only £11 a year, report finds

  21-07-2018 09:49
  Report by MPs and peers says predicted benefits of £11bn scheme to install 53m devices are ‘likely to be slashed even further’Government predictions of the savings smart meters will generate for consumers are inflated, out of date and based on several “questionable assumptions”, a group of MPs and peers has said.They also said the rollout of smart meters risks going over budget, is past its deadline and must be reviewed immediately. Continue reading...
  
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• Where to move for… avoiding traffic

  21-07-2018 08:59
  You could move to a field in Orkney, although you’ll still get stuck behind a tractorThe age of the privately owned vehicle is O-V-E-R. Teenagers aren’t buying cars, towns are banning them, and autonomous vehicles will soon cart us around. Nobody, though, has told the poor souls queueing for the Blackwall tunnel each morning. There were 38m vehicles on our roads at the end of last year. We have never owned more cars and vans. Solution? Move to the quietest spot in the middle of a fie
  
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• We should follow Royal Mail in delivering fairer pensions for all

  21-07-2018 08:00
  Here’s a solution that splits the difference between cushy final salary and shares-based pensionsIs this how we can bridge the absurd gulf between the (mostly) public sector workers who have great final salary-based pensions and the lousy stock market-based pensions for private sector workers? Royal Mail is ditching its final salary scheme, but rather than do what virtually every other privatised company has done and leave its workers at the mercy of under-funded stock market-based pension
  
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• The ‘monster’ mortgage is back – is it a risk?

  21-07-2018 08:00
  A leading bank has begun offering first-time buyers loans of 5.5 times their income – and they only need a tiny depositAfter the financial crash struck in 2008, loans to first-time buyers were immediately slashed. There would be no more jumbo-sized mortgages of five times income or more. There would be no more 95% or 100% loans. Buyers would need a large deposit. But this week Clydesdale Bank said it will grant first-time buyers mortgages of 5.5 times a borrower’s income and lend up
  
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• Student holiday jobs: it’s pay tax now and reclaim later, after rules change

  21-07-2018 08:00
  Special tax-free status has ended - now temporary staff will be taxed like any other workerStudents taking short-term holiday jobs this summer face paying income tax and national insurance after a little-known change in the tax rules a few years ago, accountants have warned.Those starting temporary jobs as waiters, bar staff, cleaners and fruit pickers in the coming days face being taxed as any other worker if they earn more than £987 in a single month, tax advisers Blick Rothenberg said t
  
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• My garden is a dried-out dustbowl – should I recycle water?

  21-07-2018 08:00
  My partner won’t get the hose out and has suggested using bath waterEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.Our garden is starting to resemble a dried-out dustbowl, but my partner refuses to get the hose out, insisting our water bills are high enough already. He’s suggested recycling the bath water, but can you do this? I’m already co
  
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• Holidays: Europe’s cheapest and costliest destinations revealed

  21-07-2018 08:00
  Britons are struggling to find good-value holidays – but there are still bargains to be hadTurkey is the best value holiday location in Europe this year, but the Costa del Sol is the cheapest in the eurozone, with prices in most Spanish resorts little more than half those charged in France and Italy, according to research by Post Office Travel Money.Although sterling has been weak against most international currencies, it has risen strongly against the Turkish lira over the past year. In s
  
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• Danny Curran: ‘I don’t get paid by the BBC, but make about £150,000 a year’

  21-07-2018 08:00
  The Heir Hunters star has prospered from property and investing despite not caring much about moneyI’m the founder of Finders International, which tracks down family members of people who die without a will, and feature a lot on BBC One’s Heir Hunters programme.The heir hunting market isn’t massive; the UK market is probably worth less than £50m and ours is one of the biggest companies with a turnover of about £5m. I pay myself a salary of £120,000 and also di
  
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• Why Barcelona is a street crime hotspot – and how to beat the thieves

  21-07-2018 07:59
  After Patrick Collinson’s tale of mugging, we look at how robbers get away with it, and readers share their experiencesMuch as Barcelona would love to shed its reputation as the bag-snatching capital of Europe, it is not in the gift of the city authorities to do much about it. Under Spanish law, if you steal something worth less than €400 (£357) it’s a falta (misdemeanour), not a delito (crime). If you are caught, you will be fined, probably around €50, but however ma
  
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• Gifting moms vacation days is cute - but could we give them rights instead?

  21-07-2018 03:53
  American women aren’t guaranteed paid maternity leave – and colleagues plugging the gaps is nothing to celebrateIt’s a tough time for believers in American exceptionalism, but patriots should take heart. In one area at least, America remains stubbornly unique: as the only country in the industrialized world that doesn’t mandate that employers offer paid maternity leave.America is also the land of innovation, however, and women with approaching due dates will be tickled to
  
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• Gina Rinehart company revealed as $4.5m donor to climate sceptic thinktank

  21-07-2018 00:05 via theguardian.com
  Billionaire’s company gave significant donations to the Institute of Public Affairs in 2016 and 2017Australia’s richest person, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, has been revealed as a key funder of the rightwing thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs – a consistent promoter of climate science scepticism.Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, donated $2.3m to the IPA in 2016 and $2.2m in 2017, according to disclosures made to the New South Wales supreme court. Continue r
  
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