What caught my eye this week.
A regular listener to the ThisIsMoney podcast, I’ve been waiting for Simon Lambert and his team to get stuck into the election manifestos for three reasons.
First, they’ve been trailing it for weeks and they were clearly ready to go.
Second, I am as curious as any other concerned citizen / consumer / tax-payer / wage slave.
But most importantly, I said I wasn’t going to opine about this election. I wanted to give myself – and Monevator – a break from politics.
Well, I’m half back-pedaling that today. (Hey, that’s politics.) It keeps coming up in the Weekend Reading comments, and, well, it’s obviously something of a big deal.
But I’m still not going to write about it… because ThisIsMoney and the Financial Times have done the job for us:
- The general election and your finances [Search result] – FT [1]
- What the general election means for your money – ThisIsMoney [2]
Both papers do deep non-partisan dives into the various manifestos. Read them and you’ll quickly get up-to-speed on the personal finance angle of the general election. For me that’s a sideshow with this vote anyway; your view may vary.
What’s that? You want some spice?
Well ThisIsMoney editor Simon Lambert takes on [3] the strange anomalies on the tax bands that produce very high marginal rates:
Labour plans a new 50 per cent ‘super rich rate’ of income tax above £125,000 but high earners will have to pay an even higher rate of 67 per cent before they get there.
A combination of the 45p tax rate threshold dropping to £80,000 and the removal of the personal allowance means that those earning £100,000 to £125,000 would effectively pay 67p in income tax for every extra pound they earn.
Despite outlining a radical revamp of income tax, Labour confirmed to This is Money that it would not remove the quirk in the tax system that sees the marginal rate of tax rocket for those lucky enough to see their earnings go above £100,000. […]
An income tax system where the marginal rate goes 20 per cent, 40 per cent, 60 per cent, 40 per cent, 45 per cent is clearly daft.
Clarifying and simplifying the tax system shouldn’t be controversial, but back in the real world it’s radioactive. Labour told Simon they have no plans to change the system, while the Conservatives didn’t even bother to give (or risk?) a reply.
Meanwhile over at the FT the still mostly wonderful (Brexit cheer-leading!) Merryn Somerset-Webb notes that before we soak the rich, we need to figure out who they are.
Yes, Merryn has [4] plenty of sympathy for the devil – aka £80,000-man:
In fact, his take home earnings are not as much higher than the average as a first glance suggests.
The top quintile of earners in the UK are on an average of about £88,000.
The bottom quintile are on more like £7,900. Add in tax and benefits, and those numbers fall to about £65,500 and rise to £19,000.
That means the top fifth take home, on average, 3.4 times as much as the bottom fifth. That’s significant, but much less significant than the 11-fold difference in pre-tax pay.
It’s a point well-made. With that said, as I wrote a half-a-dozen times last week, I’ve no problem with anyone advancing the argument that he’s taxed enough already.
My despair was over his Blimp [5]-ish reality distortion field. I think it was a man earning £80,000 shouting “liar!” at an MP while claiming he was in the bottom 50% of earners on his £80K that set people off, not the technicalities of wealth distribution.
This is the Weekend Reading to debate the financial aspects of the election, if you’re so-minded. But please keep it civil and as constructive as possible, and ideally focused on personal finance. Have a great weekend!
From Monevator
Help! Analysis paralysis is stopping me from investing – Monevator [6]
The lifetime allowance for pensions – Monevator [7]
From the archive-ator: How to live off investment income – Monevator [8]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view you can click to read the piece without being a paid subscriber. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing if you read them a lot!1 [9]
Last-minute surge in help-to-buy Isa applications reported by banks – Guardian [10]
House price growth has been running below 1% for the past year, says Nationwide – BBC [11]
HMRC warns over failing to declare annual allowance charges on self-assessment forms [Search result] – FT [12]
City investors urge leading UK firms to pay workers living wage – Guardian [13]
Contemporary art delivers returns to rival bonds, says Citigroup report [Search result] – FT [14]
UK ‘has particularly extreme form of capitalism’, says author of British Academy report – BBC [15]
[16]
How Europe’s installed capacity per energy-related technology is forecast to grow – Octopus IPO prospectus from AJ Bell [17] via DIY Investor [18]
Products and services
Paragon Bank is now the fifth firm to launch a cash Lifetime ISA; interest rate is 1.15% – Paragon Bank [19]
European investors have been slower to move to passive than US counterparts, McKinsey finds – Institutional Investor [20]
Ratesetter will pay you £100 [and me a cash bonus] if you invest £1,000 for a year – Ratesetter [21]
The Royal Mint is selling a 1g gold bar as a £65 ‘stocking filler’ – ThisIsMoney [22]
American Express teams up with Vitality to offer 3% cashback to the fit and active – ThisIsMoney [23]
Five homes for upside down living [Gallery] – Guardian [24]
Comment and opinion
All-time highs are both scary and normal – A Wealth of Common Sense [25]
Is the growth of passive investing increasing volatility? – The Evidence-based Investor [26]
The best investment you can make – Of Dollars and Data [27]
Monte Carlo Analysis: Understanding what you’re dealing with – Oblivious Investor [28]
One-year and ten-year FIRE anniversaries – Retirement Investing Today [29]
Passive investors, are you destroying your children’s world? – Simple Living in Somerset [30]
30 selected quotes from 30 of Morningstar’s Long View podcasts – Morningstar [31]
Naughty corner: Active antics
Looking for opportunities? Here are four bear markets you can buy today – Fortune [32]
Capital Gearing Trust: playing ultra-defensive – IT Investor [33]
Cryptocurrency will not die – GQ [34]
“Are we there yet?”: General Election and Brexit
YouGov polls predicts 68-seat majority for Conservatives in general election – Mirror [35]
Brexit MP questions economic nous of economics professor in European Parliament – Channel 4 via Twitter [36]
A late surge in registrations hints at general election ‘youthquake’ – Wired [37]
In the wake of Brexit, Amsterdam is the New London – Fortune [38]
How does Boris Johnson not melt with shame? – Marina Hyde [39]
Kindle book bargains
How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age by Dale Carnegie & Associates – £0.99 on Kindle [40]
The Wealthy Retirement Plan by Vicki Wusche – £0.99 on Kindle [41]
Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean by Kim Scott – £0.99 on Kindle [42]
RESET: How to Restart Your Life and Get F.U. Money by David Sawyer – £0.99 on Kindle [43]
Off our beat
How online troll factories work to distort our view of the world in 2019 – Rolling Stone [44]
This 32-minute morning routine can make your day more happy and less stressed – Country Living [45]
Elastic thinking for a constantly changing world – Farnham Street [46]
Climate emergency: World may have ‘crossed tipping points’ – Guardian [47]
An artificial intelligence predicts the future – The Economist [48]
The bus ticket theory of genius – Paul Graham [49]
And finally…
“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.”
Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos [50]
Like these links? Subscribe [51] to get them every Friday!
- Note some articles can only be accessed through the search results if you’re using PC/desktop view (from mobile/tablet view they bring up the firewall/subscription page). To circumvent, switch your mobile browser to use the desktop view. On Chrome for Android: press the menu button followed by “Request Desktop Site”. [↩ [56]]