Britons are scared to commit to investment strategies when planning for retirement September 12, 2016 Too much choice is seriously undermining the nation’s confidence when it comes to planning for retirement, according to a new study. Nearly half of people do not have courage in their own convictions to make a final decision on their pension, researchers found, while 43 per cent continue to have doubts after they have choose a strategy. The research [...]
Private equity body names industry veteran as new chairman September 7, 2016 LPEQ, a trade body for listed private equity firms, has named industry veteran Mark Florman as its new chairman. The former chief executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) started in his role this week. Read more: UK private equity firm makes Star investment in German IT company Florman told City [...]
Union uproar over ITV plans to close pension scheme September 7, 2016 Broadcaster ITV is under fire from unions over plans to close its pension scheme. The company has told staff it plans to shut its defined benefits pension scheme to future accruals. Under the change, those benefits built up within the current scheme would remain in place. However, future proceeds would be put into a new defined [...]
How the Brexit vote is scaring investors away from traditional asset classes September 7, 2016 The UK’s Brexit vote is putting investors off traditional asset classes, new research suggests. Some 13 per cent of active investors said they have steered clear of currency markets since the EU referendum, while 10 per cent have pulled away from government bonds and nine per cent have been discouraged from investing in equities. Read [...]
These are the best and worst sectors for making money from crowdfunding September 7, 2016 Want to make some money from investing in crowdfunding projects? It might be a good idea to avoid the entertainment sector and aim for food and drinks projects. Crowdfunding platform Seedrs has today published its first ever “portfolio update”, claiming a platform-wide annualised rate of return of 14.44 per cent. The figure is 41.87 per cent [...]
Omnis benefits from Woodford’s expertise and attracts large inflows in 2016 September 7, 2016 While some retail funds struggle to stem the tide of outflows, Omnis has bucked the trend thanks to investment icon Neil Woodford. Omnis’ UK equity fund, which is managed by the former Invesco Perpetual grandee, attracted more than £100m in its first six months having launched in March 2016. “The partnership with Woodford Investment Management is [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown chief prepares to depart as firm reports Brexit boost September 7, 2016 Market volatility driven by the EU referendum helped boost trading volume for Hargreaves Lansdown during the year to 30 June, the broker said today as it unveiled a bumper set of results. Separately, the company announced this morning that chief executive Ian Gorham will step down no later than 30 September next year. Chief financial officer [...]
Scottish widows reveal Britain’s pension habits: saving nudges higher in second year of auto-enrolment September 7, 2016 The number of people relying on a defined benefit pension scheme has fallen to less than one in four according research released today. Scottish Widows said that just 24 per cent of people will rely on a final salary scheme as their main source of retirement income, down from 33 per cent last year. Meanwhile [...]
From auto-bid tools to cross-border transactions, here’s what you should expect from the alt fi sector September 7, 2016 The European alternative finance sector grew by 92 per cent to €5.4bn (£4.5bn) in 2015, according to Judge Business School’s latest report on the subject, Sustaining Momentum. Excluding the UK, that’s 10 per cent slower than in 2014, but shows, say the report’s authors, expansion across almost all alternative finance models. This slowing growth rate is [...]
You’re on a runway to retirement: Here’s how to make sure you don’t run out of fuel September 6, 2016 Retirement may seem a long way off, but by the time you are 50 you could have only 180 monthly paydays left to make your financial preparations for your later years (and that’s assuming you continue working to 65 – your working life could end sooner than that). Think of yourself as being on a [...]