By: Will Railton

I'm deputy money editor at City A.M. I focus on personal finance and investing. I'm particularly interested in macroeconomics, pensions and politics. Contact me at william.railton@cityam.com.

All 250 Articles

It’s been a bumper year for stock markets – but how good was 2016 really?

December 20, 2016

“Some investors have quipped that it took days for the markets to digest the UK referendum outcome, hours to come to terms with Donald Trump as President-Elect and minutes to assess Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation,” Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, told clients last week. It has been a [...]
The hell of being middle-aged: The financial pressures of children and ageing parents mean that 45 to 54 year-olds are more likely than any other group to be saving nothing for retirement

December 14, 2016

New research has found that an overlooked "sandwich" generation is saving surprisingly little for retirement Young people between the ages of 25 and 34 are often singled out as being the most hard done by in the UK today. Rates of home ownership within this group have fallen dramatically since the early nineties, leading many [...]
As Trump enters the White House, will the Federal Reserve hike interest rates more aggressively in 2017?

December 13, 2016

It was Ronald Reagan who warned against inflation in 1984 by describing it creeping “like a thief in the night to rob our savings, rob our earnings, and take the bread off our tables.” It is ironic then that President-elect Donald Trump, who borrowed his forebear’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” to win the [...]
Why do some nations hold more gold?

December 7, 2016

As an asset, gold is entirely speculative. It provides no income or dividends, and has few industrial or medical applications. Investors buy it only in the confidence that humans’ peculiar and enduring fascination with the lustrous metal will ensure its value through the decades and centuries to come. Unlike other securities, its price is not dictated [...]
No-go zone: With Matteo Renzi set to resign following his defeat in the Italian referendum, should investors stay away from the Eurozone?

December 6, 2016

Italy’s referendum will not weaken the European project as much as critics hope, and Trump could help equities, says Will Railton "The vote looks to me to be more about the euro than constitutional change”, tweeted Nigel Farage shortly after the Italian polls closed on Sunday night. Eurosceptics are heralding the resounding result (a 59.1 [...]
A vote for No in the Italian referendum is unlikely to precipitate “Italeave”, but could worsen the situation facing the country’s beleaguered banks

November 29, 2016

Since the European sovereign debt crisis, critics of the euro have asked how long the single currency can continue when the economies which use it are on such divergent trajectories. Now, after a third Greek bailout, a Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s presidential win breathing hope into eurosceptic parties across Europe, their prophesy may be [...]
Donald Trump and emerging markets: Why you should buy the Mexican peso, government and corporate bonds

November 16, 2016

If the performance of the dollar and US equities has defied forecasts since Donald Trump’s election, the impact on other assets, like US Treasuries and emerging market (EM) securities, has been grimly predictable. EM corporate debt had been one of 2016’s best performing asset classes, and funds which invest in these countries attracted $47bn from [...]
It’s finally arrived: How to trade US election night

November 8, 2016

Even with her exoneration by the FBI at the weekend, a victory for Hillary Clinton is not yet guaranteed. Just a few hours before an expected 130m Americans head to the polls, it is still unclear which candidate will enter the Oval Office next year. She may have the edge – Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight had [...]
Trump versus Hillary: How to make money whoever wins the US presidency

November 8, 2016

This presidential campaign has been nothing if not unpredictable. Less than a fortnight ago, a victory for Hillary Clinton looked all but certain. Then it emerged that the FBI was investigating a new set of emails connected with her private server. Now, she has been cleared, but Donald Trump is arguing that her latest exoneration [...]
Rich grandparents are your ticket to a comfortable retirement: why liberalising inheritance tax rules could significantly reduce the UK’s pension saving shortfall

November 2, 2016

It is no great secret that today’s young people are at serious risk of being poor in their retirement. While asset-rich baby boomers hoard their wealth, eight years after the financial crisis, working age people are stuck with low wage inflation, and depressed returns on any savings they can scrape together after paying their rent [...]

UK property tax burden is fourth heaviest in OECD

New British Cycling firm seeking equity and investment partners

The Fit Prince: Good, silly fun for the festive season

By: Will Railton

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