Financial impact of a hung parliment
Financial impact of a hung parliment It’s amazing the conversations that some parties are having around a hung parliament. I find it as exciting as an election campaign. Whilst some are saying that fear is not a part of their manifesto they continue to preach about financial Armageddon if there is a hung parliament. It […]
Can I transfer my pension?
I have had my pension valuation through from my insurance company and once again the valuation is poor. Can I transfer this so I can invest it myself? It is widely recognised that insurance company pension funds are pretty much guaranteed to underperform. Most are at best clumpy.
Tax, Tax and more Tax
Well there was no surprise regarding the budget. Tax, tax and a little more tax. But if you are bailing out banks at a rate of knots its no surprise that you need a sub from the unsuspecting tax payer. It is perhaps most worrying that the government appears intent on taxing the higher earners. This will be deemed as a penalty against success and sends a message out to the entrepreneurs who make the world tick that the UK is not a place to visit.
120p a litre, 150p or normality?
Petrol prices are very much the talking point as we speak but what is behind it? Talk of 120p per litre was quickly extinguished as fuel is already selling on some forecourts at that price. Prepare for it but if the logic we are being given to support 120p is true, 150p is just a few months away. Do I believe that will happen? Very probably unless all the relevant authorities take the correct and responsible action.
Banks with monetary dyslexia
‘State owned banks’. Boy do I detest that statement. That’s were the ‘government’, known to you or I as the UK tax payer, has promised to protect banks who have shown they are clueless in running a business. Let’s remember that Banks are responsible for 79.15% of all complaints upheld by the Ombudsman. (1) Lloyds tops the shop, holding three of the first eleven places. This appalling advice has cost the tax payer dearly in bad advice. The government’s response to this is to protect them, whereas I suspect if they were a less important sector on the ‘contribution to UK tax’ they would just have been closed as a national embarrassment.
With Profit Bonds – How exactly don’t they work?
Following on from last week’s with profit bond comments I thought I would use this week’s column to explain exactly how they work – without the salesman and insurance company’s noise. Let’s look at why investors invest, how they understand risk, and how with profits are contrived to sell to that fear.
Death of With Profits – At Last
I am hoping that twelve years after writing my first column on with profit bonds that this will be one of my last. I faced heavy criticism from many about the initial articles, but thankfully the basic natural laws brought this contrived rip off ‘investment’ crashing to its knees.
A Rock and A Hard Place for Savers
Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard mountain. Savers today are enjoying the paltry returns of c2.8% for instant access savings and 3% for a one year fixed bond.(1) That’s the rock. Over their shoulder is the rugged mountain of inflation squashing any potential returns they may have. Inflation currently sits at 3.5%, meaning that a basic rate tax payer will be ‘enjoying’ 2.24% whilst inflation corrodes the real value of their capital at a rate of knots.(2)
Potential for Catastrophic Losses
When something doesn’t make sense, it isn’t sensible. President Obama proudly announced he would ‘fight’ the banking institutions who were using our money to buy up investments in commodities making record profits at the same time. The natural reaction to this was that banks’ share prices took a tumble. Interestingly Mr Obama announced this on the 21st Jan ’10. What is perhaps worrying is how commodity prices have reacted.
Obama vs. Banks. What it means to you
If you fully understand what Obama is doing with the swashbuckling banks, you will note the financial world as we know it will never ever ever be the same. In May 2008, I wrote a column 1300 words long, which said that banks were at the heart of spikes in commodity prices such as oil, wheat, maize etc. That article was pretty much ignored by the investment companies who were making so much money off the back of it – until they weren’t. That was the day that oil plummeted and every other commodity with it.
Cautious Investors Could Lose Millions
Cautious investors could easily become fooled by some of the investment options available on the high street; and judging by the millions poured into so called ‘guaranteed products’ investors must clearly be reading information I am not.
Cautious Investor 85% Better Off
Is there really that much difference in performance between investment funds or are they all much of a muchness as I have some investments and pensions and I have no way of knowing whether or not I am getting the best performance for my money or not?