We have all read in the press recently about the demise of BHS, but the most worrying part of the story is how this will impact UK taxpayers and BHS pensions.
UK taxpayers will have to cover the statutory redundancy pay of the company’s 11,000 staff. Based on previous failures, such as Comet, City experts believe the bill will top £40million.

At the same time, every worker in the UK who is a member of a company pension scheme will have to help fill a black hole estimated at £571million in the BHS pension scheme. This is because the Pension Protection Fund, which steps in when businesses collapse, gets its money through a levy imposed on all company schemes.

The Euro has given up some of its recent gains against both the pound and the US dollar over the course of the week. Both currency pairs have seen very little volatility with the price ranges contained within one and a half cents.

The week started off reasonably positive for the Eurozone with Germany’s manufacturers reporting uplift in new order activity, up 1.9% in March from the month before.

400 years of Shakespeare and we are still pondering over the question!

I recently returned from London, more specifically the City of London, and was rather perplexed to find out that the financial sages were still in a state of flux, arguing over the theoretical economical fall out, on the day after of the fast approaching “In or Out” referendum.

Every year, thousands of Britons buy or sell properties overseas. Whether it’s the realisation of a long-held dream to own a place in the sun, or selling up abroad to move back to the United Kingdom, you will need to move large sums of money between different countries and currencies.

But while you might bag a bargain property or use your best negotiating skills to get a good sale price, you may not give much thought to what kind of deal you’ll get when you actually transfer money to pay for the property.

On Thursday 23rd June, there will be a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the European Union (EU). A referendum within two years was promised by David Cameron in the Conservative Party's manifesto for last year's general election.

The single currency started the week on a firm footing as the markets digested the changing fortunes of the European Union vs that of the UK and the USA. Now that Europe’s economy has overtaken the growth rate of the UK and the USA, the Euro has certainly found some short-term favour. 

Remember the old adage, ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’? Many investors have been guilty of casting their nets too close to home when it comes to getting a good return on their investments.

Despite the low-growth world, many companies are still able to offer their shareholders positive ‘guidance’ on future earnings – via dividends. So it has become very popular to invest a large proportion or all of your money in UK and large multinational companies that are offering good dividends, but sometimes you can get your figures burnt.

The Euro has gained favour over the course of the week, partly on improving Eurozone economic conditions but also by default as the US dollar declined to an 11 month low against a basket of currencies.

The US Federal Reserve left rates steady at 0.25% - 0.50% with the wording of its policy statement suggesting that it is now more relaxed than a few months ago about the state of the global economy. With the American economy clearly slowing down, prospects for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in the near term have weakened.