Dublin’s investment in mutual funds

Risk and reward, these two words are correlated heavily with the trading of stocks and bonds. Individual stocks and bonds tend to have higher personal risk, but also higher possibility for rewards. Mutual funds are another type of lower risk investment where you and other people have the opportunity to invest money or capital in a collective fund. This group of people’s money is then invested by a fund manager in a diversified array of stocks, bonds, futures, currencies, treasuries and money market securities that they believe will do well. 

By investing with other people, you are reducing the amount of risk that will be on your own assets. Although this is positive, the payouts tend to be smaller because they are distributed across all of the investors. 

There are many benefits to investing in this product. For one, this type of fund offers built-in diversification of investment portfolio; you are not putting all of your eggs in one basket, which can offset possible downfalls in one category with growth in another. Another being that these funds are chosen by …

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Sizing up the UK’s economy

 The UK’s largest independent producer of unbiased statistical data, the Office for National Statistics, has recently released a new report claiming that through their investigations they uncovered that the economy was £26 billion larger than previously indicated. 

This nation’s economy is the fifth largest in the world, behind the United States, China, Japan and Germany. Their economic output usually comes in each year at around $2.8 trillion/ €2.5 trillion according to statistics published by the International Monetary Fund. 

Additionally, the annual gross domestic product growth has been shown to have increased by 0.1 more than what was expected every year since 1997. This 21 year lag in the updating of GDP growth has been a huge factor in the sudden uncovering of the £26 billion in addition funds. 

Although these statistics seem promising, the Office for National Statistics only included data up to a few months after the initial process of Brexit. The data that came after this most likely would have drawn down these figures, making the GDP expansion less significant than previously. 

In recent years, Britain’s GDP has …

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Recent currency conversions

One of the hardest parts of traveling outside of the EU, or any area that uses the same currency as your own is dealing with exchange rates. Many people traveling from Ireland for business or pleasure to their neighboring country, the United Kingdom, many times find themselves exchanging their hard earned euros for a lesser amount of British pounds.

As of late, any person traveling from the EU to the UK may have noticed a decline in the value of the pound compared to that of the euro. Within the last month and a half, the pound has hit record lows since 2009; the exchange rate is 88.92 pence per euro.  

This low extends to the exchange rate associated with the United States dollar. One pound sterling is currently exchanged for $1.268. In just the beginning of May 2019, the rate was $1.32/pound. This is a significant loss in value over one month’s time.  

This fall is heavily due to the instability of the economy that rests on the shoulders of the October 31 Brexit decision. The …

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Irish economy projected to make gains

According to a report posted by Ernst & Young (EY), one of the Big Four accounting firms, the Irish economy is seemingly on the rise. This multinational company with HQ in London, England, United Kingdom has been investigating the health of the Irish economy.

Through their research, the company found insight that allowed them to project how the Irish GDP will grow within the current year. As of now, they have estimated that the economy is to grow by 4.1%. This number is consistent with that of the Central Banks, who projected growth of 4%.

These numbers are based solely on the first three months of 2019, and are bound to change with more and more information collection. As of now, their predictions are based largely on substantial corporate tax returns and the addition of new jobs into the market.

Although there are significant positive projections associated with these findings, there are many possible repercussions. One of the most prevalent issues would be the lack of resources available within the Irish economy, but especially around Dublin, to be …

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Ireland tourism rates rise leaves no trace on total spending

During the first quarter of 2019, it seemed that tourism spending has fallen by 4%. What is odd about this number is the fact that the rate of travel to Ireland has risen by 5.5%. After further investigation, data showed that although the frequency of traveling to Ireland increased, the amount of time that a tourist was to stay in the country has decreased by 3.2%.

With tourism number usually around 12.5 million people over 3 months time, this 3% decrease has left only 11.64 million. 3pc can make a huge impact in total income, especially with the high number of visitors per year.

Tourism is a main form of income in Ireland, especially in the city of Dublin. With a significant decrease in the number of people spending in very tourist oriented areas, there may be a significant amount of competition.

This competition will occur all throughout the city, causing stores with similar products to decrease prices so that they can stand out from their competition. The problem with this tactic is the fact that price …

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Mortgage update on the UK: First-time buyers average deposit is rising

In the UK, the average price for their first-home has hit a record high at £207,693. As well as nearly half of all buyers of homes are first-time buyers. Within the first six months of 2017, the number of first-time buyers are at 162,704. This is only 15 percent below the peak of 2006.

On average £33,000 are needed for deposits for first-time buyers.

London we see even worse housing increases at an average deposit for first-time buyers at £106,577.

Northern Ireland is hitting the lowest spot at an average of £16,457 of deposits, Wales at £17,193, and Scotland £21,565.

Like our Help-to-Buy scheme in Ireland with tax rebates of up to 20,000 euro, the UK has a program similar. Their Help-to-Buy scheme with the low mortgage rates gave first-time buyers a push to buy. That could …

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