US Presidential Election 2016: Clinton vs Trump – whose economic policy is better for markets? April 27, 2016 It is a momentous time in terms of geopolitics. A plethora of major events with potentially significant investment consequences will take place this year. They range from the Brexit hurricane in the UK, to tectonic shifts in the oil economy abroad. Even ostensibly local conflagrations, such as political deadlock in Brazil, may impact wider markets. But [...]
Hidden fees are a stealth tax on all our savings: This is no free market April 27, 2016 Do you know how much your pension costs? How much the folk looking after your money are charging you? No? It’s not easy to find out. I didn’t until I demanded the information. It wasn’t just the management fee they’d advertised but many times that. Small percentages that really added up. I became suspicious when I received [...]
Retirement is popular – but surviving the pensions crisis means encouraging work April 27, 2016 The Queen’s 90th birthday quite rightly dominated the media last week. Her Majesty continues to break all sorts of records, spending longer on the throne than Queen Victoria and being our oldest ever reigning monarch. But longevity should no longer give cause for surprise. The oldest participant in the London Marathon this year was 88, [...]
This is how many people there are retiring this year who have no pension savings… April 27, 2016 One in seven people who are retiring this year will be doing so with an empty pension pot, research released today has found. According to the study by Prudential, many soon-to-be pensioners will be left leaning on the state pension for support, despite this being £27.33 a week less than the Joseph Rowntree Foundation recommends as a minimum [...]
We’re now more on track with our pension plans, but don’t celebrate just yet April 27, 2016 Good news! We're now better prepared for a comfortable retirement than we were this time last year. But, before you get the party started, you might want to take a closer look at the figures. One in ten (12 per cent) are now on track to afford the lifestyle they want during their retirement, up [...]
Inflows and funds under management up for St James’s Place, and new mortgage products announced April 26, 2016 St James's Place revealed what it called a "strong" set of results today, as well as formally announcing the launch of a new mortgage offering. The wealth manager reported group funds under management of £62bn for the three months ended March 2016, up from £55.8bn the year before, while gross inflows increased to £2.5bn, up [...]
Executive pay: Focus on remuneration packages is distracting from the real issues April 26, 2016 April hasn’t been a good month to be on a remuneration committee. Earlier this month BP came under fire for awarding their chief executive a £14m deal; last week the Investment Association stated that boardroom pay practice “isn’t fit for purpose”. Anyone with responsibility for setting executive pay could be forgiven for keeping their heads below the [...]
The bucket list? Here are the top 10 things new retirees are desperate to do – and how much they cost April 26, 2016 For many, the nine-to-five slog is made just that little bit more bearable by dreams of a sunny and stress-free retirement. With warnings left, right and centre about how we're going to be working into our seventies or how nobody is saving enough for a pension, The Share Centre has issued a timely reminder for those hoping [...]
Morning Wire Unregulated podcast: Episode four – Does The Divide mean capitalism has failed? April 26, 2016 Unlicensed and off-the-leash, this is Morning Wire Unregulated. A no-holds-barred, uncensored look at the stories breaking the news and the markets across the globe. Unregulated dives straight into one of capitalism's biggest debates this week: as The Divide, the documentary looking at the story of seven people as they strive for a better life, is [...]
End of tax year investor rush drives positive fund sales in March April 25, 2016 Net retail investor sales shot up to £379m last month as punters rushed into fixed income, mixed asset and targeted absolute return funds. Cautious investors backed out of equity funds, however, with an outflow of £459m, according to the the Investment Association's monthly statistics release. Investors are still nervous after worldwide share issues slumped to a seven-year [...]