Is the “Santa Rally” real? City Talk Investors found their festive spirits in 2020 despite a raging pandemic. Even with most of the global economy shut due to Covid-19, US stocks recorded their best December monthly return in over a decade, with the Ibbotson SBBI US Large Cap index returning 3.8%. It was the second year in succession that US stocks have [...]
Podcast: The plastic problem facing investors City Talk Read the full transcript Part one: The weight of plastic worth all the fish in the sea Ashleigh Cowie (AC): In doing research for this podcast I came across this astonishing fact. Are you ready for it? David Brett (DB): Go on then. Hit me with it. AC: Right now, there are more than 5 trillion pieces of [...]
32 reasons not to invest in the stock market City Talk Wars, disasters, economic strife, political instability and now a pandemic – the last four decades have challenged and affected people’s attitude towards investing. In many cases they make an already tough decision to commit your money to investments even harder, leading some to not invest at all. Behavioural scientists have a name for this: loss [...]
The £33k cost of trying to time the market June 9, 2021 “Buy low, sell high” – that’s every investor’s goal. However, it’s easier said than done. In practice timing the market is notoriously difficult. It can also be costly. Our research highlights potential losses if your attempts to time market highs and lows go wrong. The dramatic drop in share prices at the onset of the [...]
How much should I be saving for retirement? December 14, 2020 Investors globally are saving actively toward their retirement, but how much is enough? It is a question that has confounded people for generations: how much is enough when it comes to saving for retirement? The unfortunate truth is that no one can know for sure. Our desires and needs in retirement change – as do [...]
Savings shortfall: 41% worry they won’t have enough to retire December 4, 2020 If you are worried you will not have enough saved for your retirement, you are not alone, a major new study has found. Figuring out how much you should save for your retirement is never easy. Your needs change over time, just as your income fluctuates. If you knew exactly how much you would earn [...]
Investors crave knowledge – but where do they find it? September 4, 2020 A majority of investors want enough knowledge to make their own decisions – or to challenge the decisions made by their financial adviser. But they differ on where they look for this information. An overwhelming 97% of investors want some level of personal finance knowledge, according to the latest issue of Schroders’ Global Investor Study, [...]
Big tech vs the market: what you need to know June 23, 2020 Big tech has led the global market recovery in the wake of Covid-19. Can the dominance of the FAMAGs continue? On 8 June the S&P 500 of US stocks recovered all their Covid-19 losses for 2020. The so-called FAMAGs (Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet (Google’s parent company)) led that recovery. Even before the pandemic, [...]
Q&A: Why do markets rise even when the outlook is bleak? June 9, 2020 The global economy is on track for its worst recession in nearly 100 years, yet April was the market’s best monthly performance in three decades and the S&P 500 has just turned positive for 2020. Why? The first quarter of 2020 has been tough for the global economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. [...]
Inflation post Covid-19: to be or not to be? May 26, 2020 We spoke to two experts who argued the case for and against inflation in the near future and what it means for investments. Abdallah Guezour, Head of Emerging Market Debt and Commodities, and Keith Wade, Chief Economist, discuss the outlook for inflation in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. Abdallah argues the case for inflation [...]
