The winners and losers

Last year according to citywire only 12% of US Equity funds beat the S&P 500 stock market index last year.

Many UK investors tend to hold a relatively small amount in US Equity funds.  In the past many investors might have been disappointed by the returns achieved, however the US has a reputation for going into and coming out of recession quicker than some other developed countries.

Even through the US have major Budget issues and the unstabilising effect of 2012

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First week back and like many people I’ve been catching up with paperwork and numerous spam emails that had dropped into my email box between Christmas and New Year.

I read and article yesterday and whilst watching the news late last night, I wondered why there is so most emphasis put on the FTSE 100. The FTSE 100 is the top 100 shares listed on the London Stock Exchange in term of capitalisation i.e. size
Here are a few facts about the FTSE 100.

The index is dominated by a number of big

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The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has recently published research about introducing a simpler more generous state pension.

The report maintains that a level state pension of £140 per week would be simpler to administer, remove millions of people from claiming benefits and would not cost the taxpayer any more than the current state pension arrangement.

Under the existing state pension scheme a third of pensioners would be entitled to means tested benefits by the year 2055. The

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US job figures better than expected

Stock Markets worldwide have leapt higher this afternoon after better than expected news concerning US job figures.

The FTSE 100 jumped 1.3% higher to 5442.6 after the US announced a smaller rise in unemployment in August, well below the consensus view that non-farm payrolls would fall by more than 100,000.

European Stock markets have also benefitted from the good news across the pond.

Today's good news comes after better than expected manufacturing figures

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Paying Tax on Shares

The Global stock markets have really improved from their low point of March 2009. In fact the FTSE 100 increased by over 12% in the second quarter of 2010.

If you got the timing right and invested in shares or collective investments , you could have made a substantial gain over this period.

If you have made gains that are subject to capital gains tax , then you should consider using this allowance each tax year.

We have put some useful information on our site about capital

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The Future of Emerging Markets

With the UK facing budget cuts and the possibility of quantitative easing (QE2- printing money) combined with inflation it would be easy to be nervous about the financial future. Investors in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China have a great deal of issues to think about.

A good video from L&G is available to watch.

Brian Coulton, emerging markets strategist at Legal & General Investment Management, believes a big chunk of the $600 billion the

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Standard Life drops Bonuses

Standard Life has announced the thousands of policyholders will see their annual bonuses cut or frozen. It has claimed that the reason for this is to maintain the guarantees on their with profit policies.

The bonus announcement confirmed that most polices increased in value since last year, but action had to be taken to ensure that future guarantees could be met.

Standard Life has more than one million customers that invest into various with profits policies.

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Swiss and UK come to Tax Agreement

A landmark agreement between the British and Swiss governments will force UK taxpayers to pay tax on undeclared money held in Swiss accounts. The tax levy of 50% was announced after the agreement was announced. The targeting of undeclared money held in private accounts will reportedly raise £3 billion and signifies a crackdown on tax havens used by UK taxpayers. investors caught by the new agreement will also be required to pay a retrospective levy for unpaid

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Is it Time to review your Investments?

Would you like to increase your capital, improve your income or both? Your response will determine the kind of investments you choose and, furthermore, you have to be aware about the idea of ‘total return’. This is actually the way of measuring of performance - the specific rate of return of an investment or perhaps a pool of investments for a given period of time. Total return consists of interest, any capital gains made and dividend distribution

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Is residential property a good investment?

Over the last ten years owners of residential property have benefitted from rental income above the returns available from deposit based investments.

In addition to good rental income levels, landlords have also enjoyed a substantial increase in the value of residential property generally.

According to the Nationwide house price index the average property price has increased by over 99% from the end of 2000 to the first quarter of 2010.

There are

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Interested in Trustee Investment and the responsibilities. Our website has a new page of information.

Whether you want to grow your capital, increase your income or both, this will determine the type of investments you choose. A growth investment is designed to expand the original amount of money you’ve set WHEREAS an income-driven investment is meant to generate regular payments to you, ideally without eating into your money.

Growth investments

An investment grows in value when its price increases and you can sell it for more than you paid for it. The difference between the price you paid

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Planning for inflationary pressures and the effects on your assets

Rising inflation poses a risk to any investor. Cash and gilts are the most vulnerable asset classes when it comes to erosion from inflation: cash because the returns are generally quite low and gilts because they pay a fixed interest. In contrast, rental income and company earnings tend to rise in line with inflation. Equity income funds, which invest in companies, aim to pay and grow dividends above the rate of inflation.
If

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We have recently launced our investment bulletin. the bulletin investment bulletin will be published each month and gives a snapshot of the current ecomony and a few investment tips.

To find out more about our investment advice service , why not contact us

Why Isa providers concentrate on selling Isa investments to clients at the end of the tax year just doesn’t make sense.

Admittedly most investments are made towards the end of the tax year at the last minute, but there are advantages to making an investment at the start of the tax year.

Since March 2009 stock markets globally have produced healthy returns as major economies come out of recession.

Clients that had invested there Isa allowance in April 2009 would possibly have seen a good

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The Bank of England have confirmed that interest rates will remain at 0.5%.

Whilst this might be a good time for mortgage holders , the same cannot be said for savers.With savings rates at an all time low  you are lucky if you can get 3% on bank based deposits. Savers relying on income may find that they are  eating into capital to maintain their standard of living.

A useful resource is the website moneyfacts. They have a comprehensive list of the most current rates available.

An alternative

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We have recently reviewed how ifa's recommend investment funds.

Following a number of months research we have launched a range of risk rated portfolios for our clients.

Our aim was to produce a low cost range of investment portfolios that can be used in a wide range of products such as pensions, isas, collective investments and lump sum investment bonds.

The ten portfolios are rated from low risk to high risk. Each portfolio is rebalanced each quarter to maintain the ideal investment split.

A

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In the recent Budget the Chancellor announced that the ISA allowance is to increase by inflation each year.

Cash ISAs currently offer poor rates of interest however they protect investors from market fluctuations, but not inflation.

The ISA allowances have recently increased as a result of the last pre budget. The allowance moved from £7,200 a year to £10,200 with half of this amount being in cash.

The announcement will add to this by increasing the allowance each year in line with

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If you have not already talked to us about using your 2009/10 Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowance, time is running out. Any unused ISA allowance from this current tax year cannot be rolled over to the next tax year and will be lost forever.

An ISA is a tax-efficient wrapper in which you can hold investments such as cash, shares and stock market funds.
ISAs can be used to save cash and the interest will be tax-free. If you invest in shares or funds, any capital growth will be tax-free and

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Many savers turned their back on high street deposit accounts last year as new figures show a record year for investments.

According to figures from The Investment Management Association (IMA), a record amount was paid into investment funds last year. Consumers invested £25.8bn in unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs), types of investments that allow individuals to pool money together to buy stocks and bonds.

The figures are the highest since records began in 1992 and 45

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