A snapshot of what we do as wealth managers
What’s the state of the nation?
So the Autumn Statement is behind us. Taxes are up and so we now face the highest tax burden since WW2 as well as ‘enjoying’ the biggest public spending since the 1970s.The ‘Office for Budget Responsibility’, a relatively recently created quango and chaired by Richard Hughes, (Ed Miliband’s former policy adviser who was a...
What does the Autumn Statement mean?
The markets have been steady following the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, which came as no great surprise in its bid to tighten belts and curb public debt.
The Pound did see a slight dip but has remained firm otherwise and that was more to do with what the Dollar was doing than the Pound itself.
The budget...
The science of investment explained
So US inflation is tidier than expected and the NASDAQ rises by 7.5% on the day (as it is hoped further interest rate rises may not happen and indeed the next may be downwards) and a further 2% the next day. The mainstream market likewise rocketed and the US Dollar fell significantly too.Generally, investors...
Should I sell my US Tech stocks?
So according to Refinitiv, the drop in US markets has seen $3.5trillion wiped-off the ‘Faang’ stocks plus Microsoft (with $250billion last week alone). Yes, that’s primarily the US Tech leaders including Facebook (Meta) which has plummeted. That’s a third off this year – ouch. Thankfully we stuck to our guns and have had...
Government turnaround and market opportunities
Well, economics and turnarounds where the Government would be lambasted whatever it did. However, the reversal of the 5% tax cut is purely political as the suggested £0.6-£2billion it raises is a tiny sum of the total tax take HMRC collected last year of £716billion.As an economist and not a politician speaking, I still...
Shark-infested financial waters
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me… I’ve passed the 37th anniversary of sitting in my tiny home office in Georgeham wondering ‘what had I done’… however, those thoughts didn’t last too long, even with numerous trials and tribulations since! There are no regrets and indeed, some of those first clients are still...
Interest rates go up, some markets go down
Well. The world is a changed place, economically. The US has raised interest rates by the biggest one-day sum for 30 years but let’s not lose perspective – that is 0.75%pa.Our own rates have also risen 0.25% and the markets are saying ‘not enough’.
This is after the lowest rates since the Bank of...
