Property funds suspension – what it means
St James’s Place (SJP) has been under fire recently and we have had a few calls regarding the property fund being suspended. It is not unlike most property funds where liquidity is the issue, so from here on, I will just talk about property funds per se. A property fund is included in your portfolio/pension/ISA […]
Absolute Returns
Absolute returns, the latest buzzword from the financial marketing world. But what exactly are absolute returns and do they really have a part to play in your pension fund, investments or ISAs? As we mentioned in this column a few weeks back, an investor subjected to the FTSE100 over the last eleven years would still […]
Tracker Funds
Are tracker funds the most efficient solution to making money or is it just noise, noise, noise? Our financial industry seems to design its thousands of arguments to ensure you are either invested, or you are invested. It’s the same as the argument about using either shampoo for greasy hair, or using shampoo for dry […]
Cautious Managed Funds
You’re a cautious investor. So you want your investments in a cautious managed fund because, you think, you’ll be taking less of a risk, right? Well, not exactly. You could find that your definition of cautious when it comes to managed funds is very different from the investment world’s definition. So how do you make […]
Cheap investments – get back to bed
Just how inefficiently can someone invest money? I’ve always been told to make columns meaningful. Talk about the sizzle not the sausage, talk about how fast the car goes, not how many piston things it has! I have assessed how most people are currently investing via the calls from the column so this is pretty […]
Past investment performance
My financial adviser is telling me to invest into a range of funds based on their investment performance last year. Is there any relationship between last year’s investment performance and the future performance? A turkey sits all year with the belief everyone cares about it. As each day goes past, it believes it can’t get […]
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 […]
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 […]
How To Choose the Best Funds
How do you decide which are the best funds to invest into? I know they say that past performance is no guide to the future but what is the best way to analyse which are the best funds? This is one of the most interesting arguments in the financial services marketplace. There is more noise around this subject than any other and the confusion that is created is fodder for the unscrupulous. This will be a reasonably technical answer so I apologise in advance.