From managing a junior ISA to preparing for upcoming tax changes, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Susannah Streeter offers her advice in today’s Notebook Hindsight can be painful, especially when it comes to your finances. I’d love to tell my twenty-something self to buy more stocks than frocks. Whether I’d have listened is a moot point, but it never pays to stick your head in the sand when economic shifts may be hovering on the horizon.
With rumours whipping around about tax changes in the upcoming budget, it’s worth making sure you don’t look back on 2024 as a year of financial regret. If you are concerned about pension tax relief being cut, make the most of your current pension allowance. There’s been a surge in people maxing out their self-invested personal pension (SIPPS) over the last few months.
There may well be changes to capital gains tax so it’s really worth using current tax wrappers to your advantage. Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) clients have been snapping up stocks and shares ISAs ahead of the budget, with the numbers maxing out their allowance up 31 per cent compared to last year. For anything outside a tax wrapper, make use of your current capital gains tax allowance of £3,000.
What you may rue though is a hasty decision to sell off a big chunk of assets too quickly. Speculation shouldn’t push you into taking big decisions you wouldn’t ordinarily consider. It’s usually wiser to take a long-term view.
I’m currently negotiating a big trade at home. It.