magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
A year of celebration as equity markets soar
Thursday 19 Dec 2019A year ago this column offered some reassurance to readers that it is normal for markets to both rise and fall and not to give up when markets are going through a difficult patch. At the time the FTSE 100 was nursing a 12% loss for the year. Twelve months later the mood has switched from...
Follow these golden rules when searching for income
Thursday 12 Dec 2019Investors continue to face obstacles in the search for income. In the past week alone, oil producer Tullow Oil ( TLW ) has suspended its dividend and troubled investment trust Hadrian’s Wall ( HWSL ) says its future dividend payments will depend on its ability to realise value from its portfolio...
Lloyds investors finally rewarded for their patience
Thursday 05 Dec 2019Banking group Lloyds ( LLOY ) has in 2019 enjoyed its best year on the stock market since 2013 in share price terms. It has also been the best performing London-listed bank. That’s quite an achievement for a stock that has seen some wild swings in its share price. Eight years out of the past 14...
Should regulators be doing more to help investors?
Thursday 28 Nov 2019On 25 November ride-hailing app Uber became the latest company to feel the bite of the regulator as Transport for London withdrew its licence to operate in the capital. We have previously written about the growing trend for regulatory bodies to bare their claws where they see corporate failings or...
It could get harder to find reliable and growing dividends
Thursday 21 Nov 2019The search for reliable income remains a tough challenge for investors and unfortunately that quest is becoming even harder as corporate profit warnings rise, potentially leading to dividend cuts. The UK’s FTSE 100 index offers one of the highest yields in the world at 4.6% which is attractive...
Tracker funds win a greater share of investors’ money
Thursday 14 Nov 2019The latest data from the Investment Association (IA) shows that investors are increasingly taking money out of actively-managed equity funds and putting cash into tracker funds and bond funds. This could possibly be explained by investors becoming increasingly frustrated at many fund managers...
How do we get people to read pension statements?
Thursday 07 Nov 2019Once a year anyone saving into a defined contribution pension plan receives an annual statement to show how much they’ve got and what their pot might be worth at retirement. The purpose is to keep people informed so they can work out if they might have adequate money in retirement to live the life...
Why stewardship really matters with investing
Thursday 31 Oct 2019The introduction of a new UK Stewardship Code by the Financial Reporting Council will look to raise the bar on how big investors hold the companies in which they invest to account. A lot of the headlines around the news focused on the climate change angle but there is more to the code than...
Look beyond FAANGs and Unicorns to tech’s enduring strengths
Thursday 24 Oct 2019The technology sector feels a bit tarnished right now as many of its constituents prepare to report their third quarter earnings. The famous FAANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (whose parent company is Alphabet) are struggling. Some, namely Amazon, Facebook and Google, are under...
Don’t let your money get caught in stranded assets
Thursday 17 Oct 2019Weighing up the impact of being invested in stranded assets could be on the agenda for many investors in the coming years, particularly those with money in the energy and property spaces. Action to address climate change will see a large number of companies having to write down the value of assets...