Brian's Brainstorm Economists have a record of getting it wrong Chris Giles, in “Economists’ rare unity highlights the perils of Brexit” (June 16), suggests that when economists reach a strong consensus, it is more likely to be right. History suggests otherwise. The 364 economists who wrote a letter to The Times protesting [...]
Brian's Brainstorm The Obsession With Yield It is nearly 10 years since the financial crisis heralded an era of ultra-low interest rates, while quantitative easing served to crush bond yields to implausibly low levels. Yet there are still investors out there that crave a natural yield from their investments. They believe that it [...]
Martin's Memo Tax Year End 2017/18 With the financial industry approaching one of its busiest times of the year, Concerva would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the various allowances available to you before the end of the tax year. As with any deadline, financial companies will begin to experience [...]
Brian's Brainstorm The Media and Markets The newspaper industry is not what it was. Most titles are loss making as they try to compete with free online content. Inevitably there has been cost cutting and the quality of journalism has suffered, even on the finance pages. Consider the two paragraphs below summarising the [...]
Brian's Brainstorm After the Rate Hike: Nothing Has Changed This month saw the first interest rate rise in a decade. But nothing has changed. The reward for leaving your money on deposit in a bank or building society is still very unattractive. And the message of the last ten years remains the same: [...]
Brian's Brainstorm The Global Equity Bull Market The bull market in global equities is getting a bit long in the tooth. After eight and a half years investors and commentators are starting to worry what might trigger a correction in stock markets around the world. Two possible scenarios spring to mind. One involves [...]
Brian's Brainstorm Negative News and Your Investments The financial media have a bias towards reporting bad news. When stock markets fall sharply, there are lurid headlines predicting financial collapse; announcements of catastrophic losses on pension fund valuations and images of disconsolate brokers staring at screens covered in red. But on the other side [...]
Brian's Brainstorm The General Election Fallout Once again the majority of pollsters and bookies called the general election wrong. But easier to call was the drop in the pound that followed news of a hung parliament and the subsequent gains in the FTSE 100 index. Meanwhile parts of the media are jumping to [...]
Brian's Brainstorm The General Election and your Investments The forthcoming general election might have a perverse influence on your investments. The way the media has portrayed the campaign, you might be inclined to believe that a larger Conservative majority, say in excess of 100 seats, would have a favourable impact on your investments. [...]
Brian's Brainstorm Active Fund Manager Performance Over the past seven years active fund managers have struggled to outperform their benchmarks. There are a number of reasons for this. The most obvious is cost. Passive funds have a lower cost structure than active funds and this gives passive funds an advantage from day one. [...]