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Unbiased •

What you need to know about Child Tax Credit

Child Tax Credit applies a credit to the income taxes of people with dependent children under the age of 17, potentially earning them a refund on their federal tax return. It’s important to note that a tax credit is different from a tax deduction. Whereas a deduction reduces your taxable income, a tax credit lowers how much you actually owe in taxes.

The Child Tax Credit doesn’t count as a universal benefit, so not everyone is eligible to receive it. To claim the credit, you must meet several c...
Unbiased •

What is a tax loophole and how can it reduce your tax liability?

A tax loophole usually arises from an omission, ambiguity, or exception to a certain aspect of the tax code, the set of rules that dictate how much money you are due to pay the government each year.Exploiting tax loopholes is not unlawful. However, because loopholes tend to be quirks resulting from the unintended consequences of legislation, they are not guaranteed to exist forever.

This means that loopholes can always be amended or closed, which would shut down any benefits that had previously...
Forbes Advisor UK •

How To Invest In Stocks & Shares

Investing is the process of buying an asset with the aim of making a profitable ‘return’ from that purchase over a period of time.


The return might come in the form of income, such as rent (in the case of a property purchase), or from dividend payments (in the case of shares, see more below).


There may also be the potential for capital growth. For example, when the value of a property increases, or when a company’s share price rises compared with the asset’s price at the initial time of pu...
Forbes Advisor UK •

Meme Stocks: What Are They and How To Buy Them

If you’d watched the news in early 2021, you’d have been hard-pressed to avoid the name GameStop.


Late the previous year, an online community of retail investors rushed to buy shares in this struggling video game retailer – GameStop – causing its share price to surge. This demonstrated the collective power of retail investors, and led to the coining of the term ‘meme stock’.


Here, we take a look at what makes a meme stock and, once you’re aware of and accept the risks, explore how to inves...
Forbes Advisor UK •

Our Pick Of The Best UK Funds

The Forbes Advisor editorial team is independent and objective. To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive payment from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Advisor site. This comes from two main sources.

First, we provide paid placements to advertisers to present their offers. The payments we receive for those placements affects how and where advertisers’ offers appear on the site. This site does not inclu...
Forbes Advisor UK •

National Insurance Contributions: What Are They, And How Can You Check Yours?

As part of his Budget speech earlier this year, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said he would cut National Insurance (NI) by two percentage points.The change, which reduced the main rate of NI from 10% to 8%, took effect from 6 April 2024, the start of the new tax year and providing a boost to the pay packets of millions of workers.From 29 April 2024, a new online tool launched by the government should also make it easier for customers to check their NI record and, where necessary,...
Forbes Advisor UK •

How To Invest In The Nasdaq

The US-based Nasdaq – National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations – stock exchange was launched in 1971.


In 2023, with a market capitalisation of around $24 trillion, it is the world’s second-largest stock market behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Nasdaq offers investors a platform to trade thousands of US companies, including global titans such as Microsoft, Apple and Tesla.


Here’s a look at how the Nasdaq works, how it has performed, and ways for retail invest...
Forbes Advisor UK •

Stock Market & Investment Outlook For H2 2024

Investors started 2024 expecting that a slowdown in economic activity would prompt central banks to begin cutting interest rates as early as the spring.


But the prospect for a reduction in borrowing costs has been pushed back as the US economy, in particular, has proved more resilient than most market watchers had predicted.


Other risks remain. Geo-political tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East, for example, threaten to de-stabilise industrial sectors such as energy and international fr...
Forbes Advisor UK •

How To Buy NVIDIA (NVDA) Stocks & Shares

On 18 June 2024, NVIDIA, the artificial intelligence (AI) chip and software company, leapfrogged technology sector rivals Microsoft and Apple to become the world’s most valuable publicly-listed company. However, following some profit-taking by shareholders, its share price fell back. It is now the third-largest company once more.


NVIDIA is organised into two segments: Graphics and Compute & Networking. The Graphics segment includes GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streami...
Forbes Advisor UK •

How To Invest In Japan

Japan’s stock market hit a record high earlier this year, reaching 40,942 and surpassing the previous summit of 38,915 attained in 1990.


The news rekindled interest in the country as a potentially worthwhile destination for UK retail investors following an extended fallow period in its appeal characterised by several ‘lost decades’ of economic stagnation and corporate underperformance.


Here’s why Japan is once again catching investors’ attention, plus a look at the potential headwinds the...
Forbes Advisor UK •

Share Dividends – How To Get The Best Returns

Company share dividends are a crucial part of the stock market landscape.


Dividends have traditionally been a key component both for income seekers and as part of retirement planning strategies, but they endured a rocky period during the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when UK payouts fell dramatically. Since then, however, they’ve bounced back.


Here’s a look at what dividends are, why companies pay them, and what would-be investors may want to consider.

A dividend is a dist...