Monthly Newsletter – May 2026

Saving for a child’s future early gives investments time to grow, turning small, regular contributions or individual lump sums into a meaningful fund. It’s not just for parents, family and friends can all contribute toward future milestones like education, a first home, or buying a car. Please see illustration below for reasons why people save for children/grandchildren’s future:

1. Junior ISA (JISA)
A tax-free savings and investment account with a £9,000 annual limit. Funds are locked until age 18, allowing for long-term growth. Contributing the full amount annually from birth could grow to around £260,000 by 18 (assuming 5% growth, excluding fees and inflation).

2. Pension
A pension for children, with contributions up to £2,880 annually, topped up to £3,600 with tax relief. Starting early can be powerful—this could grow to ~£100,000 by age 18 and potentially ~£1 million by retirement if left untouched. Funds are inaccessible until pension age.

3. Trusts
Trust investments can be set up for children or grandchildren and place money or assets into a trust managed by trustees on the child’s behalf, with a Bare Trust being one of the simplest forms where the child is the beneficiary from the outset. The main advantages are flexibility over amounts that can be contributed, control over investment decisions (especially useful for grandparents), and potential tax and inheritance planning benefits, as assets may fall outside the donor’s estate. However, there are drawbacks: the child usually gains full control at age 18 which may not align with the donor’s wishes; tax rules can be complex and once assets are placed in trust, they are generally irrevocable, meaning the donor cannot take them back.

If you would like to give your child or grandchild a better start in life, please contact the office to arrange an appointment to discuss your available options.

Darren Fuller – Clear Senior Paraplanner

So why is the UK so different? What’s so special about 6^th April starting things off?
In the Middle Ages, New Year fell on the 25^th March. That marked the start of the planting season, and sat exactly nine months before Christmas. Year-end and tax-year end lined up neatly.

But then, in 1752, the UK adopted the Gregorian calendar which moved New Year to the 1^st January and (for complicated mathematical reasons) 11 days vanished altogether! This was a problem for the government just coming out of an expensive foreign war, it could not afford to lose 11 days of tax revenue. To maximise the tax take, 25^th March became 6^th April.

So the answer is a mixture of accident, fudging, and government greed (that’s basically all of history, to be fair). Now the pressure is off for about 11 months.

TACO – Spot the pattern
TACO-Trump Always Chickens Out.

With the Tax Year End at fever pitch, you might have missed the more short-term rhythm that’s developed since the US-Iran conflict began, explained in the following graphs:
This chart shows the daily moves in the S&P (Standard & Poors)  500 since the first bombs dropped. Can you see the rhythm?

Easier to spot…same chart, but grey bars are the weekends.

Easier still, the average return by day of the week over the past five weeks:

Signs of progress/de-escalation on Monday, hope fades throughout the week, and then stress over the weekend. Rhythm on repeat.

It’s not advisable to set your clock by it, but something worth watching over the next month or so.
Source: 7IM

But did you know that not every pound printed will adopt the new design. Because, yet again, the UK has a wonderfully weird way of doing things!

In most countries, there’s one currency, printed by one central bank, except Hong Kong and Macau who have an arrangement with China.  In England and Wales, that is true – only the Bank of England issues banknotes. But in Scotland and Northern Ireland, several commercial (i.e. high street) banks print pound sterling notes with their own designs and logos. This is how money used to work.

Historically, banknotes were originally just a promise to pay, backed by the issuing bank’s reputation and balance sheet. But by the mid‑1800s, England had hundreds of private banks – many were poorly funded, often failing, and regularly undermining confidence. This is not ideal if you’re trying to finance an Industrial Revolution!
So Parliament stepped in. The Bank Charter Act of 1844 began the very long process of centralising note issuance under the Bank of England.

However, Scotland and Northern Ireland were treated differently as their banking systems were judged to be more stable due to fewer banks, better capitalised, and less prone to collapse.
Surprisingly, more than 150 years later, there are still six issuers outside the Bank of England,who are quite literally making money:

Royal Bank of Scotland,
Bank of Scotland,
Clydesdale Bank,
Bank of Ireland,
Ulster Bank,
and interestingly …Danske Bank.

Yes… A publicly listed Danish bank printing ten and twenty pound sterling banknotes. Only in Britain!

Danske Bank bought the Northern Bank in 2005 and in 2013 changed the branding. The notes are backed by assets held at the Bank of England and although not technically “legal tender” anywhere in the UK, they are legal currency in Northern Ireland and are generally accepted across the UK.
Source:7IM