Are you being targeted by a financial scam?
IT’S back to financial scams again. I will just preface this column and all scams with this super sandwich quote from two bright young lads: Einstein: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it enough,” and Warren Buffet: “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.” Put those together and you wouldn’t […]
Preparing investors for storms and potential losses
FOLLOWING on from last week’s introduction to investment risk, and still using the maritime metaphors, I will cover the other risk measures investors should be considering, to ensure you know the true risk of your investments and how to check them. Last week I covered volatility (standard deviation), or the size of the waves, alongside […]
How do I know if I’m taking too much risk with my investments?
HOW do you know if you’re taking too much risk with your investments?If there’s one thing better than learning from your own mistakes, it’s learning from others. In over 20 years of writing this column I have reviewed many readers’ investment portfolios/pension pots/ISAs. We have trust in institutions and advisers and hope they are well […]
Crypto is not an investment, it’s a punt on a ‘valuation’
WHEN I cover cryptocurrency, it feels like that Bisto advert when I type ‘Crypto…ahhhh’. Personally, I don’t understand the ingredients of one (no-one can) and can neither pronounce nor draw many of the ingredients of the other (Bisto), so my ‘ahhhh’ is pronounced differently than that soothing advert. I’ve had many requests for information on […]
Common investment mistakes and useful tips
THIS week I am writing about common investment mistakes and providing you with some useful tips. Whether it’s your pension, ISA or general investments, there can be some tough times when reading your investment reports each year. This can lead to an understandable response, and a biological hijack of your thoughts and subsequent decision-making with […]
Investment queue jumping – is your investment strategy correct?
I TYPE a similar column to this one perhaps once a year. It’s normal. Markets are crazy. They often are, and investors begin to think their age-old strategy of investing may be wrong. They jump from the food queue they have been in, only to see the new queue close for a break. The key […]
The brutality of tax on your investments
ISA season is upon us, so let’s look at their benefits. The basic, but very important benefit is that of tax-free growth on your money. How important is that? Two reasons: You don’t have to manage the money in and out of where it’s invested to take care of annual tax allowances. This can cause […]
Watch for the April 5 investment tax change
IT’S coming up to that time of the year again for the last-minute ISA rush. This year takes on a slightly extra bit of urgency, however. Given that you are allowed to invest up to £20,000 per person per year, this tax break is one you just cannot afford to miss, particularly because of the […]
US Debt Ceiling
When will the market recover? What is your view on the U.S. debt ceiling and its impact on investments as my pensions and ISAs have taken a pounding? A month or so ago we reiterated the need to be invested in real markets that have exposure to companies with real earnings and real profits, as […]
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 […]
Why your pensions and investments never seem to rise
Investment of your money in investment products, whether through your company pension, personal pension, ISAs, or insurance products is one of the more complex decisions that you can make. It’s no surprise that many of us place trust in a brand name given this complexity, but it’s easy to see how much of your hard […]