Author: Jeremy Blatch

Property has always been an attraction for speculators and investors alike. For most, the property called ‘home’ will be their largest investment. For others with an excess of disposable capital, the lure of owning more property will be strong. Whether for investment or speculation (strikingly different), it is important to be clear as to your […]

When investors buy bonds, they sit across the table from a sophisticated adversary. The fixed income market does not attract the most gifted analysts, as the money is in the equity market. This is ironic, because the job is more complex. Corporate bond investors need to understand all the issues affecting equity valuation, for this […]

Standard and Poor’s, the leading US research analysis and index provider, published the SPIVA study comparing the performance of actively managed and passive index funds. A stock market index fund reflects a weighted average of several securities, is intended to represent the stock market and track changes over time. The results of the study showed […]

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK regulator, is finally throwing a lifeline to investors over unfair costs being charged for different classes of shares in the same fund. Investment managers and intermediaries will no longer be able to recommend or move investors into the most expensive shares classes. They will be obligated to move […]

A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing over it. Mark Twain From sceptics like Mark Twain and successful investors like Warren Buffet, to gold bugs who are ‘evangelical’ in their belief in the yellow metal, gold is either loved – or hated. In reality, with the exception of gold […]

There are two questions perplexing all investors today: Is the bull market in US equities in a bubble, up some 48% since the crisis of 2009? And is the 30-year bond market, where yields on US Treasuries have fallen from 16% in 1981 to 1.14% in 2012 (prompting inversely a rise in stocks) also in […]