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 […]
Cheaper Investments
The retail world – making thousands from your investments. How often do we come back from holiday and complain about the quality of customer service we receive when we return? Fascinating. Yet somehow we continue to experience this customer service and accept it. None is more true than the financial services industry and our ability […]
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 […]
Close Brothers’ Property Wealth Manager
With the Close Brothers’ property wealth manager arrangement you sell your house to the company who then lease it back to you. For your sale you do not receive cash just an investment into a load of other properties at pretty much the worst time to consider investment into property. The document given refers in […]
Do I pay through the nose for financial advice?
Am I better paying my independent Financial Adviser via a fee or commission? The answer here relates to any financial adviser rather than just an Independent Financial Adviser. There is a perception in most people’s eyes that if they have not actually paid out a cheque for financial advice that they have indeed got it […]
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.
How do Extra Allocation Investments work?
Reader Writes:
I have just received an offer from my bank for an investment that offers me an extra allocation if I invest now. How do these extra allocation investments work? Are they real or is it a gimmick? This one says it will give me 102% of the amount of capital I invest.
The Credit Crunch – What on earth is that then?
Managing Director, Worldwide Financial Planning, Writes:
Somehow, somewhere, someone has managed to swing poor lending processes and swashbuckling investment decisions by banks, over to Mr poor mortgage payer in the good old USA. That’s a bit like trying to glue jelly to a tree.
How do you decide what to invest into?
Reader Writes:
How do you decide what to invest into? I was reading recently on a shares forum that banking shares could be a good option.
Should I leave my New Star funds or just sit and wait?
Managing Director, Worldwide Financial Planning, Writes:
How the mighty have fallen! During the year, this share has traded from 167.50p to a halfpenny! The years fall is recorded at a horrible 98.96% which is pretty much as bad as it gets.1