Structured Products and Guaranteed Products – Are They Worth the Risk?
Following on from last week’s introduction to structured products/guaranteed products, I’ll answer a few questions we have been asked by readers, namely, how transparent they are, what are the charges, and how risky they really are. Structured products are as transparent as Wayne Rooney’s contract negotiations. Unlike most investments where the value of your portfolio […]
How guaranteed/structured products lose you money
We are asked perenially about structured investment products and no wonder; they are products that many people have strong views on. These are the products you will see listed in bank windows or sold over the phone or by direct mailers. They are sold as protecting you from the downside of investing your money with […]
Funds – Track or Trade?
There is often a wonderful argument delivered by the different sides in relation to the argument ‘do I invest in a tracker fund or a fund that is actively managed?’. Those last two words will catch most of you out as you will of course believe that your pension funds, endowments and bonds are all […]
How healthy is your pension?
I remember back at the age of 22 I was told to make a Will and start a pension. Nothing could have been further from my mind. Either way, I did it. Back then, the costs of setting up a pension contract were extortionate. My first two years’ pension contributions disappeared in commissions, and one […]
Long Term Care – Save Thousands
A financial adviser at the bank has told me to take out long term care insurance and I wonder if it’s a bit of a waste of money. My husband died recently but I am worried that my estate might disappear in long term care costs. This is a reasonably technical answer but stay with […]
How To Lose £131,000 Easily
Quite easily, the worst possible opening chat up line would be to begin to talk about pensions. Although I have been researching them for over twenty years it never ceases to amaze me how quickly I can fall asleep at the very thought of even thinking about them. And that’s probably the reason why over […]
Fast Business Finance
I read your column last week on factoring. I am looking at a short term loan with my bank but don’t really want to wait for months to secure the debt and go through endless contrived hoops. I saw from your column that you could borrow against invoices or even sell them off to raise […]
The Business of Factoring
I have a business and it seems my invoices are going astray as no one seems to really want to pay them! It’s causing quite a few cash flow problems so I have looked at factoring as a possible solution. Any thoughts on its suitability? Factoring is very much a sign of the times unfortunately, […]
What is China’s investment story?
Is China a spent investment story or do you feel it’s a place to be investing your money? In 2008 I sold out of China and Asia, for that matter and bought back again in May 2009. I’d had a great run for four years to 2008 but saw the noise around oil as a […]
Uncovering Hidden Charges
When asked about how stressful the responsibility can be for investing advice for the public, I balance the thought with how stressful my life would be should I not be qualified to make the decisions I do. It is only with a healthy cynicism that I have been able to break through worlds of emperors’ […]
Pensions, if insurance companies really cared
Personal pensions, or any pension for that matter, are about as exciting as getting a DVD extended version of a Halifax advert for Christmas. That said, pensions are one of the biggest investments we will ever make, yet we have the most amazing apathy towards them. They are complicated and have just become more and […]
Is the FTSE 100 safe?
Is the FTSE 100 safe? Hardly. Pay real attention now if you have a tracker sold to you as a cheap investment. The FTSE 100 is a measure of the UK’s top 100 companies; however, research by Schroders showed that 62% of the sales of FTSE 100 companies came from outside the UK. Thankfully the […]