UK consumers have the 10th most valuable pensions, bank deposits and securities in the world September 23, 2014 Global debt has been growing again since the crisis while financial assets have reached a new high of €118tn. According to the Allianz Global Wealth Report, the world has seen the biggest asset growth since 2003, with the UK sitting pretty as the fifth-fastest growing country listed. The newly-preserved union comes in at 10th on the [...]
Gimme 5: Startups crowdfunding this month September 22, 2014 Rollasole Target: £150,000 for 7.5 per cent equity If you’ve seen a pair of bendy pumps someone’s shoved in their handbag, you’ll know how useful Rollasole shoes are. Raised: £130,210 via Crowdcube 42 days left Line-Up Target: £200,000 for 9.09 per cent equity Line-Up’s technology collects and collates “what’s on” information from newspapers, radio [...]
Crowdfunding: Beware the celebrities offering investors strange deals September 14, 2014 I am a great fan of crowdfunding – it really is a cheap way of using modern technology to enable investors, including very small ones, to invest in all manner of things. So what can go wrong? Well, the regulators can stop it as effectively as they have made share offers to the public so [...]
In charts: Half of women don’t have private pensions September 11, 2014 Despite the maximum state pension being only £113.10 a week, just under half the people in the UK don't pay into a private pension scheme. This includes a third of employees – half of the self-employed and 80 per cent of unemployed people are also without a plan. The data was published by the Office [...]
Chapel Down gets taste for crowdfunding September 8, 2014 Chapel Down has turned to crowdfunding to raise up to £4m for its next phase of growth as Britain’s biggest wine-maker more than doubles in size. The Kent-based group, which makes sparkling and still wines as well as craft beers, said yesterday it is seeking to raise between £1m and £3.9m through Seedrs, the UK [...]
Think tank says most pensioners have saved more than they need September 8, 2014 THE VAST majority of couples who have retired over the last decade are financially comfortable enough to carry on with their standards of living, according to a leading think tank report published today. The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that 80 per cent of couples born in the 1940s have annual gross pension income at 65 [...]
Bank veteran Liz Airey to orbit Jupiter Fund Management as chair steps back September 2, 2014 Jupiter Fund Management swapped one investment banking veteran for another yesterday after its chairman was forced to retire due to ill health. Former SG Warburg financer Liz Airey was appointed chairman after incumbent Jamie Dundas, a former Morgan Grenfell banker, was forced to step down. Dundas, who is 63 and also a non-executive [...]
Crowdfunding Hollywood: Why the UK will finance the blockbusters of the future August 31, 2014 Over the years, the nationality of baddies in Hollywood films has offered a pretty reliable barometer of American geopolitical preoccupations. During the Cold War, there was an abundance of Russian villains on the big screen, with snow on their boots, vodka on their breath and their fingers on the nuclear trigger. More recently, jihadi terrorists, [...]
Peer-to-peer lending can help you to save for retirement August 27, 2014 How could peer-to-peer (P2P) lending help you reach your retirement goals? First, it’s a good way to grow capital. According to Zopa calculations, if you lent a £1,000 lump sum initially over its platform, and then added £500 each month, you would end up with a total pot worth £304,390 after 25 years, and [...]
Crowdfunding Scottish independence: Voters on Indiegogo seek to give their sides a push August 21, 2014 Crowdfunding hub Indiegogo has taken a turn for the political. With exactly four weeks to go until the Scottish referendum, voters from both sides of the argument have created crowdfunding campaigns to give their side a good auld push. In the Yes corner, a group is offering to present a festival and subsequent album of [...]