Opinion

Much is always made by asset management groups about the structure of their companies or the remuneration of the fund managers being ‘aligned' with their investors and shareholders.

There is a fit and proper test in football for anyone who wants to buy a football club, which is a joke, and, judging by recent conversations I have been having, the equivalent expression for our industry is sounding like an equal joke in some cases....

With deference to Bill Gross, the ‘must-avoids' are, surely, the easy bit. It's my ‘must-haves' that are in short supply.

What does the marked in rise in inflation to 2.9% mean for exposure to fixed interest funds.

It is that time of year when the big investment banks try to justify the vast amounts of money lavished on their research departments by presenting their annual forecast for the year ahead.

Parents couldn't possibly borrow any more - Or could they? The Contrarian Investor, David Stevenson, does some blue-sky thinking and imagines what the future might hold. And it's not that far-fetched!

Investment Week Conjecture

Fifteen years ago I did not look like this and I did not have this column - I was far too shy to have a picture of myself in the first issue - or in fact any issue until a few years ago. How times change.

"One of the greatest disservices you can do a man is to lend him money that he can't pay back."

When Investment Week was launched on 30 January 1995, the industry was less than a decade into its life under the Financial Services Act and many advisers and product providers were getting used to the brave new world of polarisation.