STRAIGHT TO THE POINT
CAN you clarify what the Eurotunnel share price is?
Y. D., by email LAST week, we said Eurotunnel shares were worth around 11 cents each, but, in fact, this should have read €11.
today, they are around €10.36. Converted into sterling, that is around £7.77 a share.
If you had 3,300 shares, they would be worth £25,641. COULD you tell me by how much the pound has been devalued since quantitative easing began?
Q. S., Notts. It’S likely it hasn’t been. the pound was weak in 2009 to 2012, when quantitative easing was carried out, and has since rebounded.
Bank of England research suggests the first £200 billion of quantitative easing pushed down the pound by 4 pc. But Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at accountants PWC, says the effect was only temporary. I RETURNED from a holiday in France and my hold luggage was damaged when I collected it from the carousel at the airport. Can I claim compensation?
B. L., E. Yorks. YES, you have a legal right to claim for damage to checked-in luggage under the Montreal Convention, so contact your airline.
You are likely to need photographs of the damage, cost estimates and copies of your luggage labels and boarding card.
Most airlines only accept claims made within seven days, and the payout will probably be small. If your travel or home insurance covers luggage, it may be better to claim through that. I AM a pensioner who recently sold some investments, making a £1,100 profit on the gain. Should I be paying tax on it?
D. J., via email PROBABLY not. Capital gains tax is paid at a rate of 18 pc or 28 pc — depending on your income — on profits over £11,100 for this tax year. Your profit from this sale is below this — assuming that’s the only profit you took in that year.
As long as you haven’t made other profits this year that might take you over the limit, you will not have to pay tax on the gain. I HAVE a £56,000 pension which I want to cash in under new freedoms. But I’ve been told by my pension company that this is not possible without taking financial advice, which costs thousands of pounds because of small print in my pension.
Is this correct? C. C., Weston-super-Mare,
Somerset. YES. Under rules laid down by City regulator, savers with pensions worth over £30,000 and small print in their contracts that offer a certain level of payouts must take financial advice before being able to take advantage of the freedoms.
As your pension pot is worth more than the £30,000 limit and your contract contains one of these payout promises — known as a guaranteed annuity rate — you will have to take advice before being able to take your pot.