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There was a BIG announcement yesterady.

A VERY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

Labour announced their first ever budget in 14 years, a you bet they didn’t hold back.

Was it as bad as everyone expected?

But one thing we can agree on…

It was long.

VERY LONG

1 hour 30 minutes of finance is more than most can take, it’s more than I could almost take.

So to save you some, time I’ve distilled as many of the IMPORTANT points into this week’s newsletter.

The things that actually affect the money in your pocket.

Your welcome.

🔴 Labour’s 2024 Budget 💼

🧍‍♂️Personal Taxes

Income Tax Band Thresholds - Expected for the freeze to extend till 2030, but remained unchanged (currently frozen till 2028). The sooner these unfreeze, the better!

Capital gains - For lower rate tax payers, this is up from 10% to 18%, and for higher rate, its up from 20% to 24%. However, it is unchanged for additional properties. This is not great news, BUT not as bad as many feared!

Inheritance tax thresholds - Expected it to get worse, but the freeze on the allowance was actually extended a further two years until 2030 (pretty good). The bad news however, is that from 2027, unspent pension pots will also be subject to inheritance tax (pretty bad).

Farmland inheritance - Quite technical but getting a lot worse from 2026.

👨‍💼 Business Taxes

National Insurance - Companies now have to pay 15% NI (up from 13.8) on salaries above £5000 (up from £9,100). This means on the average UK salary of £35,000, a business has to pay almost £1000 more! This will either results in jobs lost, wages reduced or prices raised

Employment Allowance - The amount which small businesses can reduce their NI liability is going up from £5000 to £10,500. This is good news for little businesses with on a few employees as they won’t be affected by the NI rise.

Corporation Tax - main rate to stay at 25% until next election.

💷 Wages

Minimum Wage - For over 21’s, this is going from £11.44 to £12.21 per hours. For 18-20’s, this is going from £8.60 to £10. For apprentices, this is going from £6.40 to £7.55. All of these are ABOVE inflation and are good for the lowest paid people, but again will hit business hard!

🚗 Transport

Fuel Duty - 5p cut in fuel duty extended for one more year. No rise in fuel duty in general

Single Fare Bus Cap - Was £2, set to rise to £3 in January. However, this won’t happen in Greater Manchester and London.

Air Passenger Duty - Up by £2 for short-haul and £12 for long haul economy flights. For private flights, this is going up by 50%!!!

🏠 Housing

Right to buy scheme - reduced discounts for social housing tenants to buy their own property

Stamp Duty (second homes) - Surcharge paid on second homes to go up from 3% to 5%

Stamp Duty (First homes) - Stamp duty kicks in at £125,000 rather than £250,000

First Time Buyers - You will now start paying stamp duty at £300,000 rather than £425,000 and will get the discounted rate up till £500,000 rather than £625,000

🍺 THE BIG NEWS

Alchohol. Tax on non-draught alcoholic drinks to increase by the higher RPI measure of inflation, but tax on draught drinks cut by 1.7%. PINTS ARE 1p CHEAPER

🤔 MY THOUGHTS

Okay so this budget was huge and there and you will probably sit in one of two buckets.

• Indifferent

• Pissed off

There wasn’t a huge amount of positive changes made, and a lot of tax rises.

BUT

Over the past few weeks, the predictions for the changes have been WAY WAY WORSE. Maybe this was a purposeful tactic by Labour to look good, and if it was, it worked.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO GET AHEAD:

• If you are in the process of buying a house, sort it out before April, otherwise you WILL pay more on stamp duty

• If you run a small business, make sure you’re aware of your employment allowances.

• Move your money into TAX EFFICIENT ACCOUNTS (e.g. ISA’S) to avoid the rise in capital gains

One way you can do that is by moving your investments into a STOCKS AND SHARES ISA, and your savings into a CASH ISA, as you won’t pay ANY tax on the profit your make.

And if you want to know the one I recommend (and use), keep reading.

P.S. How about free share when you open the ISA as well. Not too shabby? 👇

📈Getting Started With Investing

The no.1 question I always get asked about investing is:

“What is the best platform for beginners?”

Over the past few years, I have tried EVERY major player in the game, and I can safely tell you that I have hands down found the best one that ticks every single bucket when it comes to investing for beginners (plus it’s where I invest right now).

TRADING 212

In fact, I rate them so highly, that I reached out to them asking if I could gift my newsletter audience something special when they sign up!

AND THEY SAID YES

Any guess who the platform is yet?

So…

If you sign up for a Trading 212 Investing account or a Stocks and Shares ISA through:

THIS VERY SPECIAL LINK

or use code GN when you sign up, you can get a free fractional share worth up to £100 when you deposit JUST £1.

Remember that when investing, your capital is at risk and your investments may rise and fall. T&C’s apply.

p.s. They also have a cash ISA paying 5.15% DAILY!

Whenever you're ready, there are ways I can help you.

1. ​Hit reply to this email: I try to respond to every single question I get from these newsletters, so please don’t be shy!

2. ​The Budgeting Template PRO: Most of you have probably tried the lite version, but the PRO is what I use in my day to day life. (use the code ‘letstalkmoney’ for 30% off)

3. Remember to get your FREE fraction share worth up to £100 worth up to £100 when you sign up to Trading 212 with THIS LINK

^{DISCLAIMER: None of the above is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly education and should not be taken as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and always do your own research.}