POUND NOTES

RESORT WITH DICKENS CONNECTIONS IS SEASIDE PROPERTY HOTSPOT

BROADSTAIRS in Kent, pictured, has been identified as Britain’s top seaside property hotspot in 2017.

With its vintage, family-friendly charm and close connections with author Charles Dickens, average property values in Broadstairs have surged by 10.45% in the past 12 months and overtaken neighbouring Margate, which topped the league last year, according to research from Zoopla.

Margate was pushed into fifth place in this year’s study.

HOW FAR WILL THE POUND TAKE YOU THIS SUMMER?

HOLIDAYMAKERS could be in for a shock when they add up the final cost of trips abroad this summer.

Chris Saint, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Currency Service, said the pound’s slide against the euro means a family could pay £141 more to get the same amount of euro they would have obtained a year ago for £1,000.

The Turkish lira is one of the few currencies where the UK pound goes further than in June 2016, he said.

TAX BILL FOR RETIREES NEARLY A THIRD OF ANNUAL INCOME ON AVERAGE

RETIRED households handed over £7,400 typically in tax last year – the equivalent of nearly a third (30%) of their annual income, according to analysis.

The total annual tax bill for the UK’s 7.1 million retired households was £52.7 billion from direct and indirect taxes, according to Prudential’s analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the 2015-16 tax year.

Retired households’ tax bills mount up from direct taxes, such as income tax and council tax, averaging just over £3,050 in 2015-16, and from indirect taxes, such as VAT, insurance premium tax and vehicle excise duty, averaging £4,360 during the same period, Prudential said.