Is Workie, the government’s psychedelic embodiment of the workplace pension, a hit with audiences – or is it P45 time? November 19, 2015 Eyebrows have been raised at his £8.5m price tag; Baroness Altmann, the pensions minister, has taken to her government blog to defend him and he's been described (somewhat uncharitably) as an "outrageously condescending supersized gonk". So the question is…is "Workie", the government's psychedelic embodiment of workplace pensions, working? It's clear something had to be done to get the message [...]
Seeking income: Three contrarian ideas for hunters, from Cyprus government bonds to energy companies November 19, 2015 Times have been tough for investors seeking regular income payments. Nearly all bond sectors have made losses for investors this year. Meanwhile, some of the companies which could once be relied upon for good dividend payments from their shares – such as Tesco and Glencore – have cut or scrapped them entirely. But specialist fund [...]
Q&A with Yogi Dewan: Why everyone misunderstands risk November 19, 2015 For high net worth families, preserving wealth for future generations is more important than risking it for an outsized return. “Financial markets are environments for preserving wealth,” explains Yogi Dewan, chief executive and founder of boutique wealth management firm Hassium Asset Management. “But whether you invest in equities, real estate or government bonds, there’s no [...]
Booming Vietnam’s image is a generation out of date November 19, 2015 When most westerners think about Vietnam, they tend to think of war movies, chronicling the country’s relatively recent anti-colonial struggles against first the French and then the US. But such a view has outlived its shelf life, for Vietnam is now a country worth betting on. The Vietnamese Communist Party, much like its Beijing counterpart, [...]
Alarm bells sound for global growth: What does it mean for investors? November 19, 2015 The state of the world economy is spooking analysts. In October, the IMF downgraded its global growth forecast for 2015 to 3.1 per cent, from the 3.3 per cent it predicted in July. Last week, the OECD added to the gloom, trimming its 2015 forecast for world output growth to 2.9 per cent on the [...]
Ladies who don’t lunch: Lady Barbara Judge talks first impressions and why moderation is boring November 19, 2015 Ping! A reply from Lady Barbara Judge drops in my inbox, exactly 15 minutes after I sent over an email asking her whether she would be available for a “ladies lunch”. “Dear Maike I would be glad to do it. The problem is to find a date. With best regards, Barbara.” Surprised and pleased at [...]
Locked & loaded: Is buying a gun a good investment? November 19, 2015 Is a gun a good investment? “Only if it’s in tip-top condition,” says Giles Marriott, who runs the eponymous family dealer business. “The condition needs to be impeccable, and it must be from one of the best makers. Take a bet on a second-rate gun, and you’re playing a dangerous game.” If you know what [...]
The fossil fuel divestment campaign is deeply misguided November 19, 2015 In theory, the increasingly noisy campaign for fossil fuel divestment, which aims to convince people and organisations to get rid of their shares in fossil fuel companies, could be an excellent example of consumer pressure in action: few of us can do without petrol or electricity, but we can signal our disapproval of the businesses [...]
What will secondary markets look like in crowdfunding and P2P? And what should investors be thinking about? November 19, 2015 Imagine you’d loaned money to a company via a debt-based crowdfunding platform. The term of the loan was 10 years, but after five, despite earning a decent return on it, you decide you want the original loan amount back. This is where a secondary market comes in, allowing you to sell your previously issued security [...]
Alt Fi Data on its new report, why transparency is so badly needed and what platforms need to do now November 19, 2015 It's been difficult to garner much substantive data on the equity crowdfunding industry. Reports have often been scanty, or just inaccurate. Evidently, the youth of the industry has meant that samples have not been large enough, or raises not long enough ago, to draw any meaningful conclusions. But with most of the larger players [...]
