Hard on the heels of the ill-fated UK equity mutual fund managed by Neil Woodford, a real estate fund from the giant UK fund group MG has also faced problems as investors rushed for the exit fearing to redeem shares. Last week, fund managers at Standard Life Aberdeen were also under pressure to provide cash […]
It is a tenet of modern portfolio theory to allocate capital in a balanced portfolio to low-risk fixed-interest securities (bonds) to protect against exposure to more risky growth assets like equities. Some suggest as a rule of thumb to allocate capital to bonds in line with your age. The rationale for this is that the […]
Actions lead to consequences and, whether intended or unintended, results are real. When the then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown called a meeting of the G20 on November 15th 2008 in London, the world was the closest it had been at any time in history to a collapse in the financial system. European banks had […]
How could I have been so mistaken as to have trusted the experts? John F. Kennedy – after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. General As I wrote in a recent client note, it is too early to dismiss the stock market adage of ‘sell in May and go away’ However with US stocks recovering from […]
As an investor and wealth manager, I increasingly hear from investors and advisors alike that they ‘fancy’ or ‘like’ a specific country to invest in. Over recent years, the huge growth in capital in emerging growth economies in Asia and Latin America has persuaded many investors to invest heavily in these economies. But the prospect […]
Conventional investment wisdom and modern portfolio theory both hold that fixed-interest securities (bonds) are safer than equities (stocks). Most advisors will recommend to increase exposure to bonds with the investors age and to reduce risk. Careful study of the bond and equity markets shows that this conventional wisdom is not as absolute as the professional […]
In July and August many traders and money managers will swap the stress of the office and staring into a Bloomberg terminal for relaxing on a beach staring across a glittering azul blue sea. Today’s stock market is a ‘frenetic’ trading machine lubricated and fuelled by a 24-hour entertainment cycle masquerading as news. Most will […]
As seasoned investors we know from experience that Mr Market does not know or care who owns a stock or fund. The financial regulator obligates investment companies to make sure that the phrase ‘past performance is no guarantee to future returns’, appears on all investment product sales material when giving investors information on an investment […]
As with any new product that has a significant impact on financial markets the introduction of the mutual fund in 1924 gave the small investor access to invest in the stock market and changed the face of investing forever. This opened up a business opportunity for financial institutions to create, market and sell a huge […]
We have two Europes. One in which I have lived and invest in, with diversity of language and culture comprising a varied economic platform for 27 member states at the cost of surrendering individual economic sovereignty. And the European Union, a political construct held together by a single currency which is in essence the Deutschmark […]
