The Bank of England did not raise interest rates in May, despite earlier suggestions that it would. About four years ago a member of the Treasury Select Committee compared Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, to “an unreliable boyfriend”. The remark was prompted by Mr Carney’s record of talking […]
Important changes affecting Chinese market indices took effect in June 2018, which could affect emerging market funds. On 1 June 2018, the index provider MSCI added 233 domestic Chinese stocks to its emerging market and global indices. MSCI has some of the most widely used indices for measuring the performance of emerging markets, with […]
In response to the very low yield on bonds, some investors have been tempted to chase higher yielding bonds, in an attempt to squeeze some return out of what feels like an unproductive portfolio allocation. This is, unfortunately, an accident waiting to happen. The phrase ‘picking up pennies in front of a steamroller’ comes to […]
Transfers out of private sector final salaries boomed in 2017. There was a dramatic increase in the value and number of transfers out of defined benefit (usually final salary) pension schemes in 2017. A recent Freedom of Information (FoI) request to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that the £20,800 million was transferred last year, […]
Action Fraud have noticed an increase in reports where fraudsters are offering victims discounts on their TV subscription, or told their account needs to be renewed. How does this scam work? Fraudsters are cold-calling victims, purporting to be from a Television (TV) provider offering a discount on their monthly subscription. Victims are usually told; Their […]
When it comes to getting a mortgage, if you opt to do it yourself you can expect to spend a lot of time trawling websites comparing best buys and traipsing round various different lenders. All this takes time and it can be hard to know if you’ve made the right choice. That’s why these days […]
