News & Views

Justin's View - Watch out for the inebriated barmaid

Pete Matthew — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:34:47 +0000

The term ‘crawling peg’ does bring to mind a somewhat inebriated barmaid character out of Eastenders. Forgive me, but I am not a regular viewer. This term over the past week has been cast around by those Beijing watchers trying to read the runes of the inscrutable Chinese leaders at the National People’s Congress.

Justin's View - A Charging Elephant

Pete Matthew — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:02:03 +0000

If anyone can say they have had a good recession it has to be India. In fact they didn’t seem to have had a recession at all. In 2008/9 her gross domestic product grew by 6.7%, with an increase forecasted for this year to 7.2%. However, of course with this there have been constraints, with both the government fiscal deficit rising and the rate of inflation creeping up. Although these have been a concern they seem not to be at worrying levels for the moment.

Justin's View - The Great Sag

Pete Matthew — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:11:54 +0000

As the figures come through and the runes are cast by the legions of experts and economists, there seems to be a discernable trend developing. The politicians of all colours are telling us, and will continue to do so until we finally have an election, that they have the perfect plan to lead us from the ‘slough of despond’ to the sunny uplands of economic success and safety. Here we will find lush fresh green verdant fields of economic success; sadly however I think we can increasingly see that such optimism may well be illusory if not intentionally misplaced.

Justin's View - Reversing the decline for Mutuals?

Pete Matthew — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:43:26 +0000

A great history but in a tough environment. The world of mutuals has not been an easy one. Many have glorious chronicles of the past dating back into the developing financial world in the Victorian era. The concept has been robust and certainly the view of shared ownership has been attractive to businesses in various areas of commerce. From the Co-Operative movement which covers virtually everything from supermarkets to funeral directors, financial businesses and even one of the UK’s largest department store chains, John Lewis, the mechanism has appeared to be a successful business structure.

The Year Ahead 2010

Pete Matthew — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:04:17 +0000

Since 2005 we have outsourced the day-to-day management of our clients' investments to Seven Investment Management (7IM), an award-winning firm of investment managers based in the City of London.

Click the image below for a PDF outlining their outlook for 2010. It makes for intersting reading.

Justin's View - A Global Fault Line

Pete Matthew — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:51:23 +0000

I think we learned our lesson with the Titanic. It is always worth having enough lifeboats - or in this case even one. Seemingly the Euro was designed without one. So when an iceberg is hit, the horns go off and the result is that all the officers of the leading nations rush around wondering what to do. Seemingly there was no ‘plan B’. Because there has been no bailout plan, it has been inevitable that there has been a fear of systemic risk as the contagion spreads to other nations. The latest acronym after the PIGS has been the STUPID nations - to list those with potential the most serious sovereign risks. The STUPID list thus includes Spain, Turkey, UK, Portugal, Ireland and Dubai.

Market Update 8th February 2010

Pete Matthew — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:29:58 +0000

As many of you know, we outsource the day-to-day management of our clients' portfolios to Seven Investment Management, an award-winning investment house based in the City of London. Below is their recent update following the market jitters of the last few days.

Justin's View - There is value in the gloom

Pete Matthew — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:35:15 +0000

After an appalling week of commentary on the UK, it is quite understandable for many to think that the country has something of a nasty whiff about it. With our government debt referred to as ‘floating on nitro-glycerine’, our economic growth racing along at an anaemic 0.1% and our politicians floundering amongst their pre election propaganda – none of this can inspire much confidence for investors wondering where to put their hard earned money. Just to rub salt into the wound the FTSE 100 has dropped some 7% since 11th January. However, it is at such moments when the herd has decided that they must all move in one direction, that I would urge you to turn around and look back the other way.

Property or Shares?

Pete Matthew — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:16:52 +0000

Many people often say that owning property is a better investment than shares, and to an extent it is the added benefit that you can live in it that makes the practical difference - but as a pure investment, which has historically been better?

Justin's View - All things must change

Pete Matthew — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:53:11 +0000

Can the City of London kindly stop moping around like a depressed basset hound. Just a year after we managed to avoid financial Armageddon, the banking system is of course still not fit for purpose, but none-the-less changes and developments are afoot – which is good news