BlackStar Wealth News
Editor's note
Welcome to the April issue of BlackStar Wealth News.

This month we take a look China, a country that has been making financial headlines lately and is now the second largest economy in the world. In addition, it has been no surprise that the Chancellor's Spring Statement was overshadowed and almost obscured by other events in March but what can we take from it?

There is also a birthday to mark, as ISAs reach their 20th and with life expectancy still improving this is certainly something to celebrate.
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If you have any questions about any of the content in this month's issue of BlackStar Wealth News please do not hesitate to call or email us.


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China Emerges on to the Investment Stage
The importance of China's stock market is set to quadruple in 2019.
China has been at the forefront of the headlines recently, whether about the protracted trade disput with the US, the alleged dangers of using Huawei's 5G equipment or the first landing on the far side of the moon.

The 'Middle Kingdom', as China is sometimes called, is now the world's second largest economy.

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An Overshadowed Spring Statement
The Chancellor's Spring Statement was almost obscured by other events in mid-March.
Ever since he announced a move to an Autumn Budget in 2016, Mr Hammond has made it clear that he wanted to avoid the Spring Statement counterpart becoming a mini-Budget.

His vision was that in March he would be presenting a brief response to the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The lesson from the loan tax charge
The controversy surrounding the loan charge deadline is a reminder of the dangers of aggressive tax planning.
If you were offered a way of being paid a 'salary' that involved no income tax and no national insurance contributions (NICs), what would you think?

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many contractors and consultants were offered the option of joining schemes, which purported to make tax and NICs disappear.

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Living Longer, but ...
A recent report shows that life expectancy is still improving, but not as quickly as was once expected.
"British life expectancy falls by SIX MONTHS for men and women."

That was on recent headline in response to the latest report of the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. While it was not inaccurate, like many such headlines it was open to misinterpretation.

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Happy 20th Birthday
6 April marked the 20th birthday of the Individual Savings Account (ISA).
When the ISA was introduced in 1999, many thought it to be little more than a rebranding of the two schemes it replace: the Personal Equity Plan (PEP) and Tax Exempt Saving Account (TESSA).

The following 20 years have proved ISAs to be much more!

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