Letter
Investor Update May 2023
Commentary The Chief Economist of the Bank of England has recently acknowledged the impact of inflation on the UK economy, noting that wages and investment returns have not kept pace with the rising cost of living. Trade unions have expressed their discontent with...
Investor Update May 2022
Commentary I hope you’re keeping well and I hope all of us enjoy much better days ahead for the rest of this year. Few people could have predicted last year that we would have war in Europe, Sinn Fein the largest political party in Northern Ireland, and government...
Investor Update June 2021
Commentary We are finally emerging from the worst of the impact of the pandemic. It is too early to determine just how much will have permanently changed but it will be one of the greatest peacetime changes ever. Working from home and in-store retail shopping are two...
Investor Update February 2021
Commentary The two words I have heard most often to describe the current state of the global economy are “strange” and “interesting”. In the UK, despite the mishandling of the pandemic, the government have been very effective at vaccine procurement relative to Europe....
Investor Update 20th August 2020
We continue to live in strange times although the end is in sight as far as the pandemic is concerned. What is amazing is the lack of interest in Brexit given how it had dominated the media coverage and houses of parlament over previous few years. The virus has...
Investment Philosophy Principle 1 – Asset allocation is the key driver of returns
Many academic papers have been written about the impact of asset allocation on investment returns and risk. The vast majority conclude that it is more influential than any other factor and therefore asset allocation is at the heart of our investment philosophy. “Ask...
Investor Update 16th June 2020
Re-emerging Although we are well through the first phase of the pandemic and there is relative calm we need to be prepared for the next challenge. Even if there is no second wave of infection in the autumn it will be a time when it will be much easier to see the...
Investor Update 23rd April 2020
Welcome I hope you are all keeping well at this very challenging time. One positive result from this disruption is that we are all keenly aware of the people supporting our basic existence who, if previously overlooked, are now at the forefront of our attention,...
Coronavirus – Market Update 2nd April 2020
Context Everyone says that we are living in unprecedented times which indeed we are. The stock market has just experienced the most rapid fall ever due to the virus and the sheer speed has been extremely unsettling for all investors. As at the date of writing the fall...
Coronavirus
For more than thirty years we have invested our client's money through the events of Black Monday (in which FTSE 100 fell by 27% over 12 days), the Dotcom bubble, the tragic events of 9/11 and war in Iraq (FTSE 100 fell by 48% over 27 months). During the Credit Crisis...
GDPR, Power of Attorney, BREXIT, Donald Trump and Bitcoin
I am very glad that many of our clients have now appointed someone to be power of attorney for them. If you have not done so here is a quick reminder of the need for it.