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“‘Investors ignore geopolitics at their own risk'”
‘What about all this in the Middle East?’, I’m often asked in words to that effect, ‘what’s that going to do to my investments? And China? And Trump?’
“‘Millennial clients require a different style of advice'”
Don’t we all love to pigeonhole, about as much as we hate to be pigeonholed. It’s fair to say that the majority of financial advisers’ clients fit in the ‘Boomer’ hole, those born between 1946 and 1964, with an increasing number of 1965 to 1980 Ten X-ers, who are either at-retirement or reaching the age when it’s suddenly imminent.
“FCA to take action against Neil Woodford and WIM”
It’s ten years now since Neil Woodford launched his own fund management company. He was seen as a miracle-working fund-management guru in our business for many years, running highly successful equity income funds with Invesco, formerly Invesco Perpetual.
“LSEG report: Most active funds are underperforming their benchmarks”
So-called ‘tracker’ or ‘passive’ funds have become very much more sophisticated in recent years, largely facilitated by technology. The originals, you may remember the Virgin UK Index Tracker, launched nearly 30 years ago, mimicked the FTSE index and, as they don’t need anyone to manage them, were and are very much cheaper than ‘active’ funds.
Economic news
“US labour market continues to show resilience with 303,000 jobs added in March”
Good news is not, of course, always good news. The US economy is doing well, higher interest rates haven’t led to unemployment and more jobs are being created rather than lost.
“UK inflation falls to lowest level since 2022”
We have been or are, depending on your point of view or choice of statistics, in the midst of a recession. The faint glimmer at the end of a long tunnel is that the economy apparently grew in January, although 0.2% isn’t exactly storming ahead.
“Is the UK recession over? Latest UK GDP stats show growth uptick in January: investment experts warn against complacency”
We have been or are, depending on your point of view or choice of statistics, in the midst of a recession. The faint glimmer at the end of a long tunnel is that the economy apparently grew in January, although 0.2% isn’t exactly storming ahead.
“Do not expect America’s interest rates to fall just yet”
As rehearsed many times on these pages, the next move onwards and upwards for your investments depends largely on the decisions of various bankers and economists in what would once have been ‘smoke-filled rooms’.
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Financial Services
“Advisers fearful of further compliance and regulation”
We know, of course we know, that regulation is, or at least should be a ‘good thing’. If those who need or should seek advice can be confident that they’ll be told the right thing, that someone has looked at those ’too good to be true’ investments before they’re allowed to take your money; or, in the case of a Woodford, while they’re raking it in to make sure it’s going where it’s supposed to.
“New mums have enough on their plate without dangerous ‘advice’ to contend with”
The ‘dangerous advice’ in question here is not what you might hear from almost any properly authorised and regulated financial adviser.
“Is the AI hype machine losing steam?”
Many of the reviving rises in stock markets, particular in the US in the last year or so have been driven by AI. Not those buy-and-sell computerised algorithms we’ve heard so much about for years now; but the share prices of the big tech companies ‘at the heart of the AI revolution’.
“FCA plan to publicise investigations sparks industry concerns”
Of course everyone wants to make sure that any financial services companies likely to cause ‘forseeable harm’, to use the current vernacular, are tackled and excluded. Making public details of any one under investigation, however, is surely not the right way to go about it.
“Britain has lost 435 financial advice firms since 2022”
Headline figures, there were over 200,000 financial advisers at the end of the ’90s, there are around 30,000 now and our numbers are continuing to reduce.
Stockmarket
“Global stock markets fall sharply amid fears over inflation and China slowdown”
Diesel at my local filling station now costs over £7.50 a gallon (kids etc.). Not my problem these days, but I’m sadly old enough to remember the furore in the 1970s when the price went up to 50p a gallon.
“Coping with a correction – will stock market falls continue?”
There haven’t been any ‘markets plummet, £billions wiped of the value of your savings’ headlines this year. I guess there’s been other stuff going on to keep the headline writers busy. However, markets have fallen, the FTSE World index is down by more than 8% since...
“Asset managers ‘largely failing’ on ESG voting, research suggests”
If you own shares, you’ll know it’s pointless voting at shareholder meetings as it’s only the big fund managers who own big chunks of companies that can make things happen. It seems that, although they’re launching green funds left, right and centre and telling us...
Will the new Roaring ’20s end in a Crash?
The Great Gatsby was one of my favourite books, and I even had a soft spot for the Robert Redford movie (really don’t bother with the new one). All the fun and glamour was doomed to end, and we know how badly it ended, Gatsby in the swimming pool (spoiler),...
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