Expert Wealth Management

It is important to remember that equity market falls are an inevitable part of the process of building wealth through equity ownership. This note seeks to put market falls in perspective and offers some behavioural tips for surviving them.

Thirty years ago, securing an income in retirement was relatively simple; collect years of service in the company’s pension plan (or some government pension plan for public servants) and retire on a defined percentage of your final salary. A combination of poor government policy, weak investment strategy, and rapid increases in longevity has all but destroyed this type of pension.

Have you ever considered if the attempt to select and buy individual stocks is a worthwhile exercise? Is it better to stick with a disciplined approach to investing and look to win in the longer term? This vlog explores some thoughts on the matter (and there's a very cold dip involved!).

During my youth I quickly learnt to get ahead you had to play the ‘Winners Game’. Do you remember school sports day in the days when competition was actually allowed?

All you want is to get a decent return without too much worry, so what is diversification and how can it work for you? Many professional investors are experts in their field. They can specialise in a market and make informed decisions quickly. They buy and sell their shares at exactly the […]

What are the alternatives to annuities? Find out the best ways to plan for your retirement fund. The pension funds that an individual accumulates can be used to purchase an annuity from the pension plan provider or similar company. This typically happens during the early stages of retirement. For many people, this […]

So how do you invest to maximise your wealth in the long run? Here’s our advice for getting the most from your long-term investments. See also: How Deep Is Your Risk? Why Does Diversification of Investments Reduce Risk? What Are the Best Ways to Invest Sensibly? There are many reasons to invest for the […]

As dawn breaks, the morning light reveals yet another political gamble that has not paid off for the dice roller.  The UK has a hung Parliament, with no party holding an absolute majority.  Such is the unpredictability of a parliamentary democracy.  If you ask the people of the UK what they think, […]

Inheritance tax planning is something many people delay thinking about. Even those with a sizeable portfolio tend to neglect this area of their wealth management. However it is important to appreciate: the implications this can have for your estate, the impact inheritance tax can have on your loved ones, and the options […]

In our last blog, we wrote about behavioural biases and how they can affect us all as investors by pulling us off course if we succumb to their siren call. Let’s face it, if we wanted to, we could find plenty of reasons in the 24 hour news feeds every day to […]

If you’re thinking about investing money, the chances are that you’ll have encountered the term “diversification” but might not know exactly what it means or why it’s important. Why does diversification reduce risk? While diversification may sound like a fund manager’s buzzword, it’s actually a crucial investment technique that aims to minimise […]

We tend to assume that wealth is accumulated over time, often growing fastest in the later working years. Yet, in a broader sense, we are all born with wealth in the form of human capital, which represents the value of the earning potential that we have over our working lifetime. As younger people have a long time to go before they will need the money, the advice they receive is often that excess earnings should be invested predominantly in equities. A subtler approach takes into account the attributes of each person’s human capital which ranges from bond-like to equity-like in nature.

As time goes on, financial planning for the future becomes more important. For those of us looking to ensure we’re comfortable into our later years, calculating the cost of care homes is essential. It may seem far off, but it’s never too soon to start building up a nest egg for retirement. […]

Back in the day active fund managers were all there were – you called the stockbroker who managed your portfolio. But then came the Big Bang. Computers were brought into fund management and the automated tracker fund was born. As technology became progressively better, many started to become critical of the continuing […]

Making the most of tax relief on your pension Most of us pay into a pension, knowing that it’s the best way to secure an income once we stop working. Less widely recognised is that pensions are among the most tax-efficient ways of saving for the future, as you can receive tax […]

How can using a financial planner help you? Planning your finances properly can allow you to prepare for all scenarios. One of the tragedies of the recent recession is that people found themselves facing redundancy due to the strain on businesses costs. However if you successfully plan and prepare for all situations, […]

Personal Tax Advice As the end of the year draws closer, the thoughts of many business owners and freelancers turns to tax. And for many of them, it’s a burden they could do without. Nobody said tax was an easy subject to get a handle on and you may find evaluating tax […]

How will Brexit affect my mortgage? Predictions of a housing market price drop as a result of Brexit have sent many homeowners into quiet panic. Many fear that leaving the EU will result in a drop in the value of the pound, a rise in inflation, higher prices for the British public, […]

The combination of short-term market uncertainty, human nature and an immediately attractive sounding moniker for an investment is a marketing man’s dream.  The investment industry has been masterful at constructing and selling such products, not least products with ‘absolute return promises’,  which employ active management strategies that seek to deliver positive (absolute) […]

How to choose a financial advisor Making the most of your finances is much easier with professional guidance. A financial advisor can provide you with a host of services and advice to help you make the most of your assets, both now and for the long term. You can find out all about […]