What is the cheapest Holiday destination from the UK? 

The summer may be over in the UK but that doesn’t mean you can’t escape the rainy gloom and jet off to a new destination or look forward to your next summer holiday. If finding the cheapest destination, which can also give you all the holiday fun, is a priority then we have just the places. 

 Data from GoCompare helps us to see which destination is the most expensive for UK travellers and which are the cheapest, so we know where to plan for next.

What are the Cheapest destinations?  

India – For UK holidaymakers India ranked as the cheapest with an average price per night of £62.73. This is equal to £878 for two weeks in India, this does not account for the price of the flights which may make this a more difficult destination to afford. A country with great history and culture, there are various areas that draw in the travellers. The Taj Mahal, a pearl-white marble monument is often high on the list, but there is even more to see. The city of Mumbai offers a bustling modern feel as the home to Bollywood stars and a selection of great street food. You can stick around and find an excursion to the Sanjay Ghandi National Park and try to spot the wildlife that lives there. The South of India is where you will find the luscious greens and a laid-back style of travel away from the busy cities.  

The best time to visit is between October – March when there is little rain, and you can avoid the extreme heat which begins around April. From January to March, you can get lucky and witness some of India’s best festivals. If you plan to travel to the Himalayas, then you should plan this from June to November as the monsoon season hits the beaches, the mountains can offer you refuge within a resort.  

Poland – The cheapest destination in Europe for UK travellers was found to be Poland by Go Compare data. The average price per night was £72.02, equaling £1,008.34 for two weeks. Visit cities like Warsaw and Krakow for restaurants, bars and more entertainment. Learn about the history and culture through visits to Auschwitz – a day to reflect and truly see the history Poland. Warsaw, the city you see today, was built mostly after 1945 and so has a modern feel with a pretty Old Town too. You can find various museums in the city as well as great restaurants and bars for the evening. Krakow, this city again was rebuilt after 1945 but maintains its culture and architecture. During December you will find their Christmas Markets bustling with traditional food stalls as well as handmade souvenirs to take home. You can also find cheap flights in the winter months, and you will experience a snowy winter here, so pack your gloves.

A trip to Poland isn’t complete without a trip to the mountains. No matter what time of year you visit, the scenes will impress. The mountain village of Zakopane is around 2 hours from Krakov with the option to go for a day or to stay over in a B&B or chalet. In the Winter you will see the Ski lifts and jumps in action and the town covered in white snow. Take a walk through the mountain valleys before heading to the thermal baths to warm up.  

Turkey – The third cheapest country for UK holidaymakers at £85.51 per night and using Skyscanner you can find flights for under £100 per person. As we head into our colder months, the temperature in Turkey is perfect for city exploring at around 20 degrees Celsius in November on average. This is perfect to escape the cold here and be able to go sightseeing in Turkey without struggling too much with the heat. Turkey has beautiful coastlines as well as great mountain regions. The famous activity – the Cappadocia hot air balloon ride, a romantic and fun way to witness Turkey from above.  

The most expensive destinations for UK travellers 

It might not surprise you to learn that the Scandinavian countries are named the most expensive destinations to visit on holiday. Iceland ranked as the most expensive with the average price per night being £200 and £2,890 for two weeks. Iceland is a popular destination with amazing natural sights; however, it may take some saving to get there.
Switzerland was ranked the most expensive destination outside of the Nordic region. Here, the average expenditure is £173,56 per night.
These destinations are harder to do on a budget, due to the high costs within the country. 

Investing for beginners  

Looking to start investing but not sure where to start and how much to start with? This guide can help you get started and be confident about investing because everyone deserves to understand how to grow their money. You can turn £100 into £1000 over time by understanding your personal risk tolerance, whilst leveraging the power of compound growth. You can use a compound interest calculator to see how this tool can help.  

Can I start Investing with £100 or less? 

Yes! You don’t have to start with a huge sum of money, gambling away your hard-earned cash to invest. Investing is more accessible than before and with technology, user-friendly platforms anyone can start. To start, all you need is to learn the right approach for you, and the sooner you start, the more time your money grows. Small investments can grow into substantial amounts of money when managed correctly and with patience.  

Set yourself clear financial goals and know your personal risk tolerance so you don’t get ahead of yourself.  

Simple steps for beginners 

To start investing you will need to know the different types you can invest and choose which one will work best for you.  

• Exchange traded fund (EFTs) 

This can provide a low-risk investment with a diverse portfolio and a low potential for loss. With an EFT, you get a bundle of assets you can buy and sell, investing in multiple companies helps to keep the risk low as you aren’t relying on only one company to do well.  

This is when you invest in one business at a time. There is a bigger risk as you need the one investment to do well in order to succeed. However, with individual stock you could be offered a bigger return as you would have put everything into it. If you start with £100, the total amount would be invested in one company. If the value of the company increases, you can watch your investment grow before drawing it out. 

This is one of the best ways to invest for beginners, these accounts allow you to invest up to £20,000 per year, any profits you make are also tax free. This means you get to keep more of your return.
Platforms such as Hargreaves Lansdown offer easy access to a Stocks and Shares ISA ideal for beginners. With HL you can open an account with as little as £100 and choose from a range of investments including those mentioned above. As a beginner, these accounts can also give you a ready-made portfolio managed by professionals which will stick to your goals and risk tolerance you set up. This means you won’t have to decide where to invest your money.  

Tips for Beginners 

• Understand your personal goals

By understanding and knowing what your goals are then you can determine your risk tolerance and know what is best for you in investing.

When you begin investing and you are starting with a small amount due to not having a lot of disposable income it might be a good idea to set your risk tolerance low, which means investing in a diverse portfolio (EFT). Understanding why you are investing, is it for a particular purchase such as buying a house, or to generally allow your wealth to grow?

If you can, it will benefit you to invest regularly as consistency can yield significant returns due to compounding. This can be £20 per month or more. 

• Focus on long-term growth 

If you are investing with a small amount to begin with then you should focus on long-term growth and not quick profits. The market trends upward over time so playing the long game can often be a safer bet. 

• Choose beginner friendly platforms 

Online trading platforms like Hargreaves Lansdown or eToro make investing easy and simple for beginners. They often provide resources and more to help you understand and manage your portfolio and take out the guess work. Many of these will allow you to start with as little as £100. You can find more trading platforms here. 

Turning £100 into £1000 through investing 

Investing can sound scary and if you don’t know where to start then make sure you do your research first. Using trading platforms can help you to set up and manage your portfolio easily. Using these steps, you can see your wealth grow. 

The countdown to the Labour government’s first Budget on 30 October is well and truly on, meaning it’s time to get your clients’ houses in order ahead of expected tax changes.

With rumours already circulating on what chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce, the first port of call will be reassuring clients that they should not be making any rash decisions.

Though Reeves has confirmed tax changes are on the table, we cannot know exactly what they will be or how much people will be impacted, so it is important not to try to play a guessing game.

The best course of action will be to ensure clients are making the most of what is on offer to them now, so their tax bill is no higher than necessary.

Inheritance tax

 While Labour has committed to maintaining its manifesto pledge not to hike National Insurance, VAT or income tax, inheritance tax (IHT) may not share the same fate. Make sure clients make the most of the allowances on offer to them now.

The annual exemption remains at £3,000 for the 2024/25 tax year, and your clients may wish to carry forward any unused annual exemption from the prior tax year.

Similarly, the gifts out of excess income rule means they can gift as much as they wish as long as the payments are regular and do not impact their usual quality of life. If your client is intending to make any gifts this year, be that a one-off gift or setting up regular payments, it is worth making them sooner rather than later to make the most of the current IHT gifting rules.

If the rumours are to be believed, we may see the removal of business property relief, or possible reduction in the nil-rate band, bringing more estates into the IHT net, or perhaps an increase in the IHT headline rate of 40%.

If we assume a client dies leaving £300,000 subject to IHT:

A 10% increase could lead to a potential increase of £210m tax (10% x £2.1bn IHT tax receipts at June 2024). However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reported last September that the removal of a number of ‘poorly justified reliefs’ would raise £4.5bn, assuming the wealthier clients do not respond by reducing the size of their estates.

Capital gains tax

Labour’s manifesto lacked clarity on capital gains tax (CGT) and, with confirmation that tax rises are on the cards, there is a chance we could see further changes in this area.

In recent years, CGT allowances have been slashed to help plug the fiscal black hole the UK is suffering, with the annual tax-free allowance for capital gains reducing from £12,300 to £6,000 in 2023 and again to £3,000 from April 2024.

This has heavily impacted those looking to sell shares, other assets or second homes, and the rumoured changes, such as removing the £3,000 allowance completely or increasing the rates to be in line with income tax, could result in a need for swift changes to clients’ financial plans, which may already have had to be adjusted.

While no changes have been confirmed yet, it is always wise to work closely with your clients to ensure they are making the most of the financial planning techniques to mitigate CGT that are currently on offer.

This may include transferring assets to a spouse, maximising contributions to Isas and, for specific investors, considering enterprise investment schemes (EIS), though this carries significant risk and is therefore only suitable for some.

The annual Isa allowance of £20,000 represents a highly tax efficient way for clients to grow their savings and, should CGT face changes at the Budget, it will be all the more important that as much of their money is held in a tax-free environment as possible.

Pensions

Similarly, for most people up to the age of 75, who can earn tax relief on pension contributions up to 100% of their earnings, with total tax relieved contributions limited by a £60,000 annual allowance, topping up their pension will be one of the most highly effective ways of mitigating their tax bill in the lead up to the Budget.

Pension contributions will be particularly advantageous for those clients who are higher and additional rate taxpayers as, at present, they can receive up to 40% or 45% tax relief on their contributions, respectively, making pensions an efficient way to save for retirement while also reducing their current overall tax liability.

It is important to help your clients understand and make use of the various allowances available to them. Carrying forward and using any unused pension annual allowance for the last three tax years, or utilising the marriage allowance where applicable, can help shield more of their household income from tax and ensure they are making the most of the current allowances ahead of any potential changes.

Rachael Griffin is tax and financial planning expert at Quilter

Conventional wisdom dictates how an expanding presence on the market and ever-higher quarterly returns embody a company’s growth. While these are its most direct outward indicators, growth, especially the sustainable kind, is about more than short-term monetary gain.

A growth-oriented workplace is people-centric. It’s the kind of workplace employees genuinely enjoy returning to, as their value is recognized and their capabilities are challenged. In a workplace like this, better results appear naturally and continuously due to drive, innovation, and professional pride, not fear and unhealthy competition. Do you want your company to become such a workplace? Then, put the following tips into practice: 

1. Embody the Changes You Wish to Implement

Creating a growth-focused company culture and environment starts with decision-makers. You can’t expect employees to want to grow and do so effectively without providing the necessary support. That means being an engaged leader who actively listens to concerns, doesn’t micromanage, and involves employees in decision-making. After all, they likely know more about certain aspects of your product or how to complete a task better than you do.

2. Define Actionable Goals

Fostering growth for its own sake is aimless and ineffective. Instead, channel such efforts into achieving concrete, attainable goals in a reasonable amount of time. This will help clarify which growth strategies to pursue while eliminating employee confusion and lack of direction.

It’s a mistake to assume that growth and increased productivity are the same. A team member can spend extra time performing an outdated procedure and achieve better results. Yet, these can still be worse than learning and implementing an improved version of that procedure. Focusing on productivity rather than growth can actually be detrimental, leading to higher job dissatisfaction and turnover while not meeting goals. 

3. Offer Learning Opportunities

Employees worth nurturing are happy to learn and continuously improve. It’s the leadership’s job to encourage them to engage with diverse learning opportunities, preferably ones that align with employees’ strengths and career pursuits. Certification, coaching, mentoring, and even exchanging knowledge in group settings are invaluable growth-fostering tools you should use liberally to benefit everyone. 

4. And an Experimentation-Friendly Environment

Fear of failure is one of the most common pitfalls when pursuing personal and professional development. Yet, failure is also a major source of inspiration and growth potential. Savvy managers realize this and strive to create environments where employees can experiment and fail without reprimand.

This may drastically boost innovation since removing the fear of failure encourages employees to try new approaches and keep working through problems even when faced with initial setbacks.

Encourage others to question current ways of doing things and devise better alternatives. Recognize their efforts and adopt beneficial changes discovered this way to boost productivity organically. 

5. Don’t Neglect Data Safety & Privacy

Maintaining a safe and stable working environment that is resilient to compromise is among the main prerequisites of any growth-oriented company. After all, how can you pursue betterment if data breaches, malware, and other threats undermine your trustworthiness and financial security?

Controlled and secure access to various services indispensable for business operations is crucial. Password managers offer a cost-effective and streamlined approach to account security since they can create, store, and reinforce any number of unique and complex passwords with multi-factor authentication. Whether your organization is a startup or nonprofit, password managers are essential for keeping your business.

However, when selecting a password manager, you need to be diligent about the provider. Select one with a good track record and reputation. In addition, make sure to keep an eye on the additional features your team should have. Check reviews and the famous password manager comparison table on Reddit to find the best option for your business.

Maintaining backups of mission-critical files and systems is a must, as is investing in employees’ continued cybersecurity education. Strict compliance with industry standards is a given, especially now that privacy concerns have come under public scrutiny. Ensure that you collect as little data as possible without impeding operations.

6. Implement a Feedback System

Measuring growth depends on unrestricted two-way communication. Employees need to find you approachable enough to exchange ideas, and they’ll also be more amenable to receiving feedback. That’s how you help align their performance with company goals and expectations.

Creating feedback opportunities and guidelines gives people the guidance they need to correct potentially sub-optimal actions before they become issues. If you professionally present feedback and frame it as a learning opportunity, the recipient is far more likely to learn and adapt without feeling disheartened or pressured.

Conclusion

Fostering growth is something you, as a leader, can do at any stage of your company’s development to create a thriving, innovative, and contented workforce. Don’t lose sight of the above tips, and your growth strategy is sure to pay off!

The Platforms Association launches today to represent and provide a voice to the £1trn investment platform sector.

The launch marks a step change in how the platform industry will engage with regulators and policymakers.

It aims to bring a united voice to co-ordinate and promote industry interests.

Several high-profile investment platforms including Abrdn, Aegon, Fidelity, Quilter, Seccl, SS&C are represented on the board and leadership council

Membership will be open to UK and European regulated firms whose primary activities are the settlement, custody and safe keeping of retail investor assets.

It will also be open to regulated sub-custodian firms providing dealing and safe-keeping services to organisations acting on behalf of retail investors.

The Platforms Association has already developed a roadmap of priority issues to be tackled covering evolving platform requirements, regulatory expectations and operational efficiencies and improvements.

These three broad areas will be overseen by a leadership council comprising representatives from across the industry.

Related financial and professional services firms including Alpha FMC have also been appointed as independent strategic partners to the association.

The trade body will be headed by industry veteran Keith Phillips as CEO, formerly an executive director at TheCityUK, British Bankers’ Association and The Investment Association.

David Moffat, senior director at SS&C will act as chair, and will draw on expertise from a board made up of leading figures in the industry.

Moffat said: “Given a background of increased economic uncertainty and regulatory scrutiny, the UK platform industry now needs its own dedicated forum and representative voice.

“The Platforms Association will look to co-ordinate collective action and agree best practice to the benefit of platform operators, financial advisers and underlying investors.”

Keith Phillips, CEO, The Platforms Association added: “The investment and fund industry has been transformed and democratised over the past decade with millions of customers now interacting directly with their financial futures through a platform.

“It’s another example of where the UK is a world leader in financial services. It’s also clear that as the industry, technology and customer demographics have evolved, sector-wide co-ordination should now be fully realised for the benefit of all.”