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Wealth Management Advice versus DIY investing

Post Date: April 10, 2024

This article reflects the opinions of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. £300 or £3,400 of fees (i.e. costs) you pay each year? £300 or £3,400 of costs/advice fees is the choice that an investor with a £170,000 portfolio would face if he/she invested in a Vanguard passive fund with interactive investor or sought individual financial advice from one of the UK’s leading firms of advisers. £170,000 is the average portfolio of a St James’s Place client so is a useful ...

Investment trusts: time for boards to earn their corn

Post Date: April 10, 2024

This article reflects the opinions of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Why boards can't leave everything to the market. Or to the manager. Every morning I take the dog on a long walk, and usually listen to a podcast or two. One of my regulars is the Money Makers podcast, which is presented by investment trusts aficionado Jonathan Davis. Every week he has a couple of commentators on the sector, usually a manager and a generalist, often a broker or ...

Consumer Protection

Post Date: March 8, 2024

I was very interested in ShareSoc’s proposals for the Labour Party concerning the review of financial services. My particular focus was the section headed “Consumer Protection”. I have been a tax adviser since 1985 and a financial planner since 1991. I have always considered the client’s understanding of the pros and cons of an investment strategy to be a pre-requisite for any investment advice. However, the constant impact of regulation on the advice process has led to poorer understanding by the client ...

January 2024 Update from the Wellesley Investors Action Group

Post Date: February 13, 2024

This article reflects the opinions of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Cliff Weight originally highlighted the Wellesley Investors Action Group, in this article. I still encourage those affected to join Neil Taylor’s group, but I’ve had some requests for an update from affected investors. Neil has kindly provided the following update: To put you in the picture, Wellesley Finance Ltd, the company that went into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) on 25 September 2020, has failed to pay back investors’ payments. ...

How Boards Should Operate

Post Date: February 12, 2024

This article reflects the opinions of its author, Cliff Weight, and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. ShareSoc member Barry Gamble’s letter to the FT Black Box thinking and bad boards is a theme I return to again and again and which I first highlighted in a blog in March 2018 https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/corporate-governance/black-box-governance-thinking/ . Woodford and Link are two other boards which failed woefully. Another case is the Post Office, about which the FT published the following letter from ShareSoc Member Barry Gamble (subscription required to ...