C A S T L E F I E L D
Castlefield
INSIGHTS Spring 2021 Issue 2
SPRING INTO NEW BEGINNINGS Springtime is a favourite season for many people, as it signifies new beginnings, warmer weather and a sign of brighter days to come. Since our last Insights newsletter it’s fair to say that many new beginnings have started to become apparent. Britain entered into a new agreement with Europe, as the transition period came to a close at the end of 2020. The UK went into another national lockdown as a new strain struck and we saw the mass rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Newly elected US president Joe Biden also launched one of the boldest climate plans in US history “carbon-free electricity by 2035” as he re-signed the Paris Climate Agreement. You can read more about how these global forces have affected investment markets
in our latest Investment Monthly Reports, available on our website. You can also test your own carbon footprint knowledge, with the chance to win a prize, as Carbon Literacy expert Helen Tandy launches our first quiz on pg.8. It was Benjamin Franklin who once said that “nothing was certain except death and taxes”. To claim that these are celebrated at this time of year may be a slight overstatement, but Easter and the end of the tax year both broadly cover these. Partner Olivia Bowen offers a few tax tips as she explores ten ways to reduce your tax bill on p.3. Make sure you check out our website shortly for our thematic review on palm oil - often a confectioner's favourite ingredient within Easter eggs. It’s worth
observing too, that March is FREE wills month, as many law firms offer to draft free wills to mortals who don’t want to rely on resurrection as a way of ensuring their assets are passed on according to their wishes. As we plan for brighter days ahead, you may be interested to hear that our charity news for this issue is the announcement of the newly formed ‘Give Back Group’. A team of co-owner volunteers who will focus on organising charitable fundraising events and goodwill initiatives for the upcoming year, featured on pg. 4. We’re delighted that environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is growing in popularity, with many new funds launched in recent months, but we (continued on next page)
CARBON LITERACY QUIZ
FREE WILLS MONTH
EXCLUSIVE OFFER
Think you know your stuff when it comes to carbon literacy? Take our quiz to be entered into a PRIZE DRAW for a chance to win a year's subscription to Ethical Consumer magazine. -p.8
March is 'Free Wills Month' and to help promote this excellent initiative we've released an article full of useful tools to help you plan your will. -p.3
Have you seen E-LIFE the documentary? No? We're offering our clients free viewing codes! We're also hosting a Q&A with the director so we can ask him your questions. -p.5