In this week’s episode, Charlene Young and Laith Khalaf mull over the latest numbers from the UK banking sector after Barclays, NatWest and HSBC have posted their full year results. [1:30]

There’s also been a slew of UK economic data over the last week, so we’ll be taking a look at the jobs figures and a big jump in inflation back up to 3%. We’ll also be asking whether we should be celebrating 0.1% growth in the economy. [6:23]

Cash has also been making headlines, as NS&I changes its rates, and a record amount is reported sitting in bank accounts paying no interest. Meanwhile rumours are flying that the government might consider cutting back the cash ISA allowance. [15:42]

The activist investor Saba is back with a new plan for its foray into the investment trust sector. Laith brings us up to speed with what’s going on. [25:20]

Saba’s strategy isn’t unique; in fact, it’s the same one adopted by Migo Opportunities trust, yet the way Saba has gone about calling for change is different to Migo’s approach. Dan Coatsworth caught up with Migo’s co-manager Charlotte Cuthbertson to explore the differences. [28:55]

Finally we’ll be asking if Elon Musk’s political affiliations might be starting to hurt his business interests, as protestors gather outside Tesla showrooms in the US. [40:10]

In this week’s episode, Charlene Young and Laith Khalaf mull over the latest numbers from the UK banking sector after Barclays, NatWest and HSBC have posted their full year results. [1:30]

There’s also been a slew of UK economic data over the last week, so we’ll be taking a look at the jobs figures and a big jump in inflation back up to 3%. We’ll also be asking whether we should be celebrating 0.1% growth in the economy. [6:23]

Cash has also been making headlines, as NS&I changes its rates, and a record amount is reported sitting in bank accounts paying no interest. Meanwhile rumours are flying that the government might consider cutting back the cash ISA allowance. [15:42]

The activist investor Saba is back with a new plan for its foray into the investment trust sector. Laith brings us up to speed with what’s going on. [25:20]

Saba’s strategy isn’t unique; in fact, it’s the same one adopted by Migo Opportunities trust, yet the way Saba has gone about calling for change is different to Migo’s approach. Dan Coatsworth caught up with Migo’s co-manager Charlotte Cuthbertson to explore the differences. [28:55]

Finally we’ll be asking if Elon Musk’s political affiliations might be starting to hurt his business interests, as protestors gather outside Tesla showrooms in the US. [40:10]

Welcome to the first episode of the AJ Bell Money & Markets Deep Dive podcast. This is a new series which will take a long look at some of the key issues in markets and personal finances. First up we’ll be diving into a subject which will affect almost everyone – taxes. Personal taxes are on the rise and we’ll be looking at some of the main ways you can save tax on your savings and investments.

The tax burden is on course to reach a historic high of 38.2% of GDP by 2029. Laith Khalaf speaks to Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies about how we got here, and whether more tax rises are on the way. [11:05]

ISAs have been a hugely successful savings and investment account since their launch in 1999. Laith Khalaf and Charlene Young discuss the merits of ISAs and whether people in the UK are holding too much cash. [30:08]

Tom Selby, Director of Public Policy at AJ Bell joins the pod to discuss another important tax shelter: pensions. We ask him whether a pension is better than an ISA, and if the government might look to take away some of the generous tax relief currently attached to pensions. [40:02]

There are other ways to save tax too. Laith and Charlene discuss family finances, VCTs and the 60% tax trap. [59:08]

In this week’s episode, Charlene Young and Danni Hewson look at what’s happened since the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee cut the base rate to 4.5% last Thursday. Expectations for a cut were high so has the reaction from markets and mortgage lenders been unsurprising too? [01:30]

Danni gives the low down on the latest results from McDonald’s and BP. Does activist investor Eliott taking a stake in BP mean there is a reset on the horizon for the struggling energy giant? [11:57]

Elon Musk is back in the news again. Donald Trump’s right-hand man and head of DOGE has led a bid for OpenAI, the company he co-founded with current CEO Sam Altmann before their big fall out over the future of the ‘mission’. [17:46]

Charlene gives us a preview of an exciting new AJ Bell Money & Markets project.

Tom Sieber from Shares Magazine joins us to talk about defensive stocks. He explains what a defensive stock is, examines the traditional defensive sectors and reveals which metrics identify ‘defensiveness’. [23:17]

Dan Coatsworth interviews Guy Gittens, CEO of estate agent Foxtons to get his thoughts on where the property market could go next, the issues facing people who rent, and whether flaws in the Lifetime ISA are causing issues for prospective buyers in London. [28:46]

Welcome to the latest episode of the AJ Bell Monet & Markets podcast.

Tariffs have been on everyone’s minds this week and they’ve caused some big movements on the markets and dominated the discussion for many companies. Danni Hewson runs through the key points and how they relate to investments. [04:06]

Tom Sieber and Ian Conway from Shares magazine explain why tariff issues have cast a cloud over Diageo and the key takeaways from its latest results. [13:04]

A government consultation on Lifetime ISAs closed this week so Dan Coatsworth explores the pros and cons of the account and the changes AJ Bell hopes to see in the near future. [26:06]

Rachel Vahey talks about new figures on changes to the UK population and how this links to pensions. [29:05]

Danni and Dan take a look at the latest numbers from Alphabet, Disney, Estee Lauder, GSK and Mattel. [37:17]

Dan also chats about how certain activist investors are getting what they want, with major changes announced at Smiths Group and YouGov. [49:35]

Investment trusts have been all over the news as activist investor Saba targets seven companies with the hope of gaining control and becoming the investment manager. Herald (HRI) shareholders have already voted Saba down and we’re about to find out the fate of the other six investment trusts. Laith Khalaf brings us up to speed on the key events. [01:32]

Dan Coatsworth talks to James Carthew from research group QuotedData about what he thinks could happen next with Saba, and about the role of activist investors in general. [11:03]

Ian Conway and Steve Frazer conduct a deep dive into Law Debenture (LWDB) investment trust [26:40] and Dan talks to Nicholas Weindling, fund manager of JPMorgan Japanese (JFJ) about what’s going on in that part of Asia. [37:30]

In this week’s episode, Dan Coatsworth and Laura Suter discuss the recent selloff in US tech stocks, and what sparked the market turmoil [01:32]. They also look at WHSmith’s potential sale of its UK business [06:27], and Diageo denying rumours about selling Guinness [09:17].

Laura looks at the frustration taxpayers are facing with HMRC’s long call wait times, as some new data is released showing how hard it is to reach the taxman [12:09], while Tom Sieber looks at attending a company AGM in person at SRT Marine Systems and why investor engagement matters [16:55].

Plus, Dan interviews Chris Tennant of Fidelity Emerging Markets to explore Donald Trump’s impact on emerging markets, why you might want EM exposure in your ISA or pension, and what’s next for China [24:26].

On this episode of the AJ Bell Money & Markets podcast, Dan Coatsworth is joined by AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould to discuss how markets reacted to Donald Trump’s return to the White House [00:02:14]. From halting the TikTok ban to confusion about the President’s plans for tariffs, it’s already been a wild ride.

Dan is joined by Danni Hewson to assess what’s behind the FTSE 100’s good run. The pair also consider what might happen next for UK interest rates given the latest economic data gives the Bank of England a lot to think about. [00:11:12]

Government borrowing costs have shot up again but was that already priced into gilt yields and with pressure mounting on the Chancellor to spell out her plans for growth. [00:13:49]

Dan and Danni discuss the role of regulators with a former Amazon boss now heading the CMA and plans from the FCA to relax mortgage lending rules. [00:17:21]

Plus, Netflix hikes prices as subscriber numbers soar [00:31:38], why two brokers have very different views on Greggs [00:37:16] and James Flintoft, head of investment solutions at AJ Bell, updates us on asset allocation in AJ Bell funds [00:46:43].

The AJ Bell Money & Markets podcast team start this week’s episode with some good news as UK inflation took a surprise dip in December to 2.5%. Does this mean the chances of a February rate cut have jumped? Rachel Reeves has fought back in a Commons speech to defend her growth plans and although UK housebuilders have had a boost, other big companies continue to issue their own warnings. [01:02]

Danni Hewson and Charlene Young discuss how the UK isn’t the only country facing increased borrowing costs after recent bond yield hikes, and they also chat about what higher gilt yields mean for personal finances. [08:37]

Updates from BP, JD Sports and PageGroup painted a gloomy outlook but good news from Permission gave UK housebuilders a boost, even before a second bounce arrived following the inflation news. Charlene stays with housing, with a new IFS report on how more young people are residing in the Hotel of Mum and Dad. [23:10]

Donald Trump will be back in the White House next week, so Danni spoke to Yoojeong Oh, manager of the Abrdn Asian Income Fund, to find out how tariffs might impact Asian markets and where opportunities for income generation lie [27:56]. A TikTok ban in the US is also due next week, but is there any hope for a reprieve? [41:53]

Charlene finishes up with a timely reminder of the looming self-assessment deadline. [46:52]