(Return to all News and Updates)
Nothing goes on forever in financial markets. For all the noise and industry fashions; whether it’s the importance of geographical weightings, economic statistics or portfolio risk measurement driven by index construction, they all come and go, reverting to the mean and overshooting in the other direction. The one thing an investor can rely on is […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces
Bond investors are living in a topsy turvy world. The global financial crisis presented central banks with unprecedented challenges which were met with extraordinary actions. A decade on, we can now see that these measures saved the global economy from deflation and economic depression. However, the unintended consequence of these extraordinary measures was that they […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces
“Old Age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you have to start young”. These words of wisdom from former US President Theodore Roosevelt may resonate with many of us as we face retirement—especially as that timeframe is getting longer. When the first UK state pension came into effect in January 1909, […]
Category: Business, Financial Planning, Investment management, Thought pieces
As Autumn sets in there is a notably cooler breeze whistling through the economy and financial markets. Current economic activity data which has been flashing amber weather warnings in manufacturing for some months has more recently lowered expectations for the larger services sector. Investors could be forgiven for expecting a perfect storm and as we […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces
So far 2019 has been an interesting, eventful and in many ways, unusual year. Political uncertainty, poor economic growth expectations, muted inflationary pressures, fears about a worldwide recession and ever lower, sometimes negative, interest rates have dominated headlines. We have yo-yoed between US-China trade wars and truce. Amid political deadlock in the UK we have […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces
The Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB for short) was announced in the 2015 summer budget and came into effect on 6th April 2017. Despite the fact this was introduced almost two and a half years ago, it’s still an area of confusion for the majority of people. In this Question and Answer session, our Chairman […]
Category: Business, Financial Planning, Investment management, Thought pieces
The debate about where we are in the global economic cycle rages on, and the range of opinions appears to be widening not narrowing. The US Federal Reserve Chairman believes we are in a “mid-cycle adjustment” yet observers of the trade war between the US and China, the political unrest in Hong Kong or the […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is a deeply unpopular tax. People dislike the thought of double taxation; an extra layer of tax on assets which have been accumulated by thrift and saving from income or capital gains which have been taxed already. Although IHT is indeed one of the most hated and feared taxes, a recent report […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces
In “Jerry Maguire”, a film about a sports agent, the hero’s client demands to be shown “the money”. The agent finds himself dancing to the tune of the only man he represents. And so, it is with stock markets which at the moment are obsessed with how Central Banks will react to slowing growth and […]
Category: Business, Thought pieces