Newly published research by the University of Exeter’s Centre for Finance and Investment analysed the performance of UK equity performance in 2,175 segregated UK pension funds between 1983 and 1997. Author Professor Tonks found weak evidence of persistence of outperformance from one year to the next, based on averages of the top quintile (some 400 funds).
read more Commentary by Stuart FowlerThis first in a series looks at how individual investors, whether self-guided or as clients of private banks or financial advisers, should form an overview of the role of ‘alternative investments’ in their wealth management. The big picture needs two perspectives: a no-nonsense view of the industry’s sales pitch and practical awareness of how individuals with different wealth levels can get their exposure.
read more Commentary by Stuart FowlerThanks to Vodafone, I now know what it’s like finding you have adverse data on your credit report and trying to fix it. All I wanted was a sensible Morgan Stanley Platinum Card so I could get cash back of 0.5% of everything I spend in a year. Mine was a problem specific to people with few credit relationships: a single error in the data provided by firms you have a relationship with, like a date of birth, can put a new lender off.
read more Commentary by Stuart FowlerI’m not at the ABI’s London Conference today and the plan Chairman Richard Harvey talks about in the FT today isn’t on the published agenda. ‘The savings industry has work to do to win back the confidence of customers, consumer groups and politicians’, he says in his article. Anything insurers do to improve consumer satisfaction, contribute to consumer education and boost the product of the nation’s savings has to be welcomed.
read more Commentary by Stuart FowlerParents have instilled in their children the desire to get onto the property ladder, not just as a lifestyle choice but as a way to avoid permanent loss of possible wealth. But the expected economic rewards of home ownership are misunderstood by most parents, biased by the experience of their generation. Tell most people what the long term trend of house prices has been ‘in real terms’, after stripping away the illusion of general inflation, and they will stare at you in disbelief. But unless you believe the real trend of growth will be above the real cost of mortgage debt, there will be a high financial price and loss of flexibility on that ladder. Lifestyle benefits may make it worth a high price but, like work/play or pay/satisfaction choices, that’s for kids to decide.
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