Opinion

Price and transparency are rapidly becoming the ‘new' battlegrounds in investment advice, driven by the combination of RDR and attempts to entice more investors back into the markets.

It has been a difficult year for UK equity income funds. Since the spring, markets have made a significant comeback, while some conditions are improving the environment is still not normal.

The dash for trash and the remarkable uptick in cyclical equities - banks and resource stocks featuring prominently - has improved sentiment in nearly all risky assets.

Investment Week Conjecture

A year on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and this is being marked as the anniversary of the credit crunch in common parlance, even though the reality was this single day was only part of the rebalancing of financial markets and economies, which...

I am not going to beat around the bush when it comes to investment trusts and closed-end funds listed on the main market, I love the overall concept and structure. And on most counts I would always pick a listed fund over a wrap platform unit trust.

Just when you think the world is getting back to normal a year after Lehman's and then Terry Wogan announces he is packing up his radio programme after 27 years.

Investment Week Conjecture

At the moment I would suggest a great many virtuous fund managers have got their caution towards the euphoric stock markets about right. A couple of weeks back I could turn to almost any page in the news section of this fine paper and find a sensible...

Modern portfolio theory has been at the heart of portfolio construction for over 50 years since it was developed in the 1950s by Harry Markowitz.