@Dangermouse The current indication is that beneficiary pensions within a DB scheme will be classed as outside the estate. Given that they are paid as income and taxed in the hands of the recipient as income there is already tax claimed on this benefit. It is also likely that an annuity with ongoing beneficiary payments after death would also be treated as outside the estate. The main "target" is unused pension pots that at the moment pass as a tax free lump of cash on death before 75. Cheers

Just to round this off….it was 9 days from placing order to receiving money with Fidelity Happy with the Cobens timeframe

Morning, Air time is driven by: Weight or our position vs the market position. We were contrarians with SMCI (still are). SMCI drives a lot of opinion! The significance of the company vs the sector Companies driving change/innovation (driving news) My personal interests-and what I think others find interesting-esoteric sectors Cobens has 20k clients and we managed 3X more assets than IM before the rescue I appreciate that we talk about Tech a lot and a couple of holdings in particular. The fact is Nvidia drives/is a barometer of the wider sector(and the market) and what is good/bad for Nvidia impacts other big names.

Hi All. Aggregating threads/data from third-party sources is not really within the scope of this forum. However you can accomplish this quite easily yourself with an RSS reader. Feedly is probably the easiest and most popular option, free to use up to 100 feeds. However, there are plenty of other free and paid options. Most forums, including this one; have multiple RSS feeds you can subscribe to (look for the [image: 1726570922525-screenshot-2024-09-17-120153.png] icon). If you want to further customise your experience you can do so from your user profile.

@nilamac said in Is there plans to improve the forum structure?: @Renmure-Jim I hope this never happens. Or that the moderators block/remove them ... Can’t believe you can have a serious forum about pensionzzzzzz and investmentzzzzz and savingzzzzz without a few cats thrown into the mix for a bit of balance. Hey ho.

@dingg said in Fed rate cut 50bps: Yes, today will be stellar, show on tomorrow's read out Friday is opex, going to be volatile, closing just positive (he says optimistically) You are of a more optimistic mindset than me! Or (much more likely) you simply have different portfolio allocations. For me, Thursday (i.e results shown on Friday) was decent but not huge. And Friday (results shown on Saturday) was slightly down. Hoping for big things on Monday (Tuesday's results), but then I hope for that every day!

Hi-it was 45%

Today Alphabet announced its quantum-computing team delivered a verifiable quantum advantage via its “Willow” chip and “Quantum Echoes” algorithm running ~13,000× faster than a classical supercomputer. This isn’t just hype — the hardware, software stack and experimental validation all align. On top of that, Alphabet remains one of the most profitable companies in the world: it reported a net income in excess of US$100 billion in its latest full year. In the battleground of mega-cap tech, alphabets like Nvidia Corporation, Microsoft Corporation and Apple Inc. grab the headlines — but Alphabet quietly leads in profit, while trading at a discount to them. Why that matters: It shows Alphabet is not just a search and ads company — it’s positioning for the next frontier of computing (quantum, AI infrastructure, cloud). It gives it a solid financial base: when profit margins are strong and cash flows healthy, you have the flexibility to experiment and pivot. OTHER BETS It may mean the market is under-estimating Alphabet’s upside: if these emerging bets pay off, the valuation gap could shrink. Yes, hurdles remain (commercialising quantum, cloud dominance, regulatory headwinds), but dismissing Alphabet now would overlook its smart strategy and deep pockets.

@Renmure-Jim said in Remaining ISA allowance bug in the system?: I’ve taken advantage of the flexible ISA a couple of times for significant purchases within a tax year and found the withdrawing and repaying to be pretty simple and intuitive. I'll second this. Most ISA providers don't offer flexible ISA's (my previous ISA provider didn't even know what one was.) This was a major factor in me moving my ISA to IM a few years ago.

Dan Ives had the following to say in an investors note and raised their PT (price target) to $310 (which hinges on their AI strategy imo. To date it has been none existent : Entering the iPhone 17 cycle, we anticipated a strong but not exceptional upgrade cycle. However, a significant pent-up consumer demand, with our estimate of 315 million out of 1.5 billion iPhones globally not upgraded in the past four years, combined with notable design enhancements, has driven a robust start, according to Ives and his team. The analysts suggest that Wall Street’s projection of approximately 230 million iPhone units for fiscal year 2026 may be conservative, with estimates now ranging between 240 million and 250 million units based on current momentum.“Demand in China will be pivotal to the iPhone 17 upgrade cycle, as the negative growth trends of recent years are expected to reverse into positive growth in FY26,” the analysts observed. Although the iPhone Air faces delays in China due to regulatory approval for its eSIM, the analysts anticipate resolution within the next month, enabling its availability in stores and online. They noted that Apple must intensify efforts to drive growth in China, where domestic competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi present significant challenges. “The critical issue remains Apple’s understated AI strategy. With a global installed base of 2.4 billion iOS devices and 1.5 billion iPhones, now is the time for Apple to accelerate its AI initiatives through strategic partnerships,” Ives and his team stated.Following the recent victory for Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Apple in Google’s antitrust case, which restricts “exclusive deals” for search, the analysts believe the groundwork is laid for Apple to maintain its existing agreement. They expect Apple to deepen its AI collaboration with Google Gemini, integrating it into the iPhone ecosystem (a positive for both).The analysts estimate that AI monetisation could contribute $75 to $100 per share to Apple’s valuation over the coming years.“No ‘AI premium’ is currently reflected in Apple’s stock price, making it an attractive large-cap technology investment heading into year-end and 2026,” they concluded. I personally think if Apple can offer AI as a service which add utility and they probably will, there will be very wide adoption given their installed base. A true assistant that can navigate across the Apple ecosystem would add considerable value.

Hi D, Netflix is set to drop its Q1 2025 earnings after the market shuts on 17 April. Analysts expect earnings per share (EPS) will hit $5.74, up 8.7% from $5.28 last year, with revenue expected at $10.54 billion, a 12.5% jump year-on-year. That’s pretty close to Netflix’s own forecast of $10.46 billion in revenue and an operating margin of 28.2%. They’ve got a history of smashing EPS forecasts, beating expectations in all four of the last reported quarters, like Q4 2024 when they pulled off $4.27 against $4.20 expected. That said, it's hard to know but their numbers should be solid. Everyone’s eyeing their ad-supported memberships, which made up 55% of sign-ups in ad markets last quarter, and their content line-up, with several content hits. They won’t disclose subscriber numbers anymore, focusing on revenue and margins instead.

Email sent to Nik

Thanks from me also!

Thanks Adam

Minor update: remember that token £1 which I moved to Schwab's UK bank account? It arrived back in our UK bank account yesterday, with a message saying something like "Transaction bounced". I guess something went wrong somewhere so I'll chalk this one up as 'one of those things' and have another go (perhaps). Perhaps with £100 this time, which is hopefully enough not to get lost. Thanks for your help.

You aren't wrong O! How can the West compete when, for example, we have min wages/conditions, limits on fossil fuel use and regulations which others may even sign up to but simple ignore them. It's not a level playing field. We could go on however this is a great job for DT to get stuck into And fishing vessels that catch more fibre optic cables than fish

We will be making two changes to the portfolios next week(2 new stocks)-not sure of exact timing. Treat this as aheads up of an impending rebalance across Lifestyle/Tech

Earlier week at the Open AI summit, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman said their next advancement(Model) released in 2025 will be more disruptive than most people expect. 'The industry will see the first examples of AGI in 2025 and will use different tools to achieve complete it. Alman added that initially the impact on humanity will be minimal but in time will become intense. 'In 2025 we will have systems that people will say 'wow, this changes what I expected'. Altman added that in time AGI will bring significant human job displacement. It will be transformative to economies.

Thanks for the super quick response Adam