Whow what a day!

We have become used to seeing the market yo-yo about over the last 12 months but today's drop is quite something. We will have lost 15% of the FTSE since last October which is bad news if you need to sell your holdings at this point in time. But, and its a big but if you have the nerve and the appetite for risk it is possibly a good time to buy equities.

Positive Outlook from the Elephant Man

My prize for the person with the most positive outlook on life in 2007 goes to Mr Merricks. No not that celebrated elephant man but our very own chief Financial Ombudsman, Mr Walter Merricks, who must be the only person who has seen a silver lining in the Northern Rock fiasco. In his latest Ombudsman news bulletin he has gone on record stating that there was a considerable silver lining in Northern Rocks problems. He was expecting lots of complaints but was surprised that he received none.

He goes on to say "In response to the news about Northern Rock, people whose entire life savings had languished for years in low-interest current accounts – people too inexperienced, too uninformed, or perhaps just too busy or bored, to shop around for a better rate or better account – were suddenly making decisions and taking control of their finances in the most dramatic and empowered way."

It should not take a another run on the Bank to get us looking at how our finances are performing!

Inheritance Tax Planning - AIM Investment

According to Trustnet we should not be surprised if the current concession of exempting Alternative Investment Market (AIM) shares from IHT if held for more than 2 years disappears at the next budget. I doubt if this would be made retro active, and anyone thinking about this should do so before the main budget.