FT Adviser

UK investors put £37bn into environmental, social and governance funds during 2021, continuing the trend of these funds attracting huge amounts of money. But at the start of 2022, rising inflation and interest rates meant the growth stocks which tend to populate ESG funds underperformed. Indeed the MSCI ACWI ESG Universal index has outperformed the MSCI World index in each of the past five years b...

Impact investing is a term within the ESG eco-system which describes investing only in the instruments of companies that have a measurably positive impact on society.  This distinguishes impact investing from other forms of ESG, which can be more focused on excluding companies on the basis of specific harm caused.  But impact investing does have the same challenges as any other kind of E...

This month, the government has finally succumbed to pressure from the industry and included paid-for adverts in the scope of the online safety bill. Essentially, this means social media platforms and search engines will have a legal duty to prevent paid-for fraudulent adverts appearing on their services. This is in the hope that fewer people will be scammed via this method. This week FTAdviser new...

On this episode of the FTAdviser In Focus podcast we discuss how advisers can use Venture Capital Trusts and Enterprise Investment Schemes to make some last minute tax savings for their clients as we approach the tax year end. Both offer generous tax breaks while promising to be socially rewarding. But what are the perks and pitfalls of working with these assets, and should you ever let the tax ta...

It is no secret the UK housing market is facing one of its biggest supply crises yet. At the start of this year there were 350,980 properties for sale in the UK, 36 per cent fewer than at the start of 2020. As the number of houses available to buyers remains low, house prices have simply continued to rise. In this podcast, FTAdviser is joined by Imran Hussain, a Nottingham-based broker at Harmony...

Allowances and exemptions can amount to considerable savings and should be considered by every adviser looking to optimise tax savings ahead of the tax year end. But what's on offer, how can they be combined and should advisers prioritise one over the other? Carmen Reichman chats to Shaun Moore, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, about which allowances advisers should be looking at and...

Abridged advice was launched in 2019 to help clients decide whether to go ahead with a defined benefit transfer as part of the Financial Conduct Authority's bid to put an end to unsuitable DB transfers. But has it worked? This week FTAdviser news editor Amy Austin is joined by Fiona Tait, technical director of Intelligent Pensions, and Simon Harrington, senior policy adviser at trade body Pimfa, t...

We are fast approaching the end of the tax year. The tax burden is at its highest in 70 years and from April household incomes are further squeezed by higher rates of National Insurance, higher energy bills and a stubbornly high inflation rate. So what do advisers make of this? What are the tips and tricks for some last minute savings and what does every adviser need to know about the tax year end...

Justin King, chartered financial planner at MFP Wealth Management, Philip Martin, managing director at Unique Financial Planning and Christian Tomaszewski, financial planner at Timothy James & Partners joined Sonia Rach, senior reporter at FTAdviser, to discuss how inflation impacts financial planners. Martin said the industry, and media, needs to think more long-term when it comes to inflatio...

Alain Desmier, founder of lead generation compliance specialist Contact State, and Emma Thomson, founder of the Women in Protection network, have welcomed efforts in the insurance industry to root out the rogues but said more needs to be done. Speaking to Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, both guests urged the industry to highlight potentially misleading adverts to the regulators. "I b...

Inflation across the globe is spiralling as price of energy rises due to a worldwide squeeze on supplies. In the UK, inflation has reached 5.5 per cent - its highest level in more than a decade - and it is predicted to get even higher over the course of 2022. This surge of inflation was originally expected to be transitory but some are now reassessing this. This week FTAdviser's special projects e...

The work and pensions select committee has published a report on the five years of pension freedoms which found that savers needed more support to navigate the pension regime. Overall, the MPs found pension policy had revolved too much around pension pots rather than the individuals who were relying on this money for their later life security. The committee said the government and regulators...

During 2020, advisers cited more interest in insurance than ever before. But with figures of sales tailing off in 2021, was this just a blip on the insurance radar? Are people truly seeing the value of protection or is this simply a knee-jerk reaction to Covid? Yet one trend that is emerging is a new proactivity among younger women aged 18 to 30. How can advisers capitalise on this current sentime...

For years UK equities have been seen as laggards compared to the US. The UK market has been seen as too focused on value stocks such as banks and oil companies, with the focus on equity income often coming in for criticism. Indeed during 2021 investors pulled £4.4bn from UK equity funds. But has this changed? Since the beginning of 2022, amid rising inflation and interest rates, the Nasdaq has fal...

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy may be one of the issues which most vexes advisers who run their own firms. Indeed the overall FSCS levy has increased in nominal terms from less than £300m in 2011-12 to an expected levy of £717m in 2021-22. The Financial Conduct Authority has accepted this situation is not ideal and it has admitted the burden of the levy has fallen on firms which h...

As interest rates start to rise, the prospect of lockdowns recede into the past and global economies reopen, the high-growth nature of emerging markets may become particularly relevant. But investing in emerging markets is not without risk and this week, FTAdviser special projects editor David Thorpe is joined by Fahad Hassan, chief investment officer at Albermarle Street Partners, Gustoavo Medeir...

2021 was a busy year for mergers and acquisitions in the financial advice market, with consolidation fueled by private equity money continuing apace. As well as the traditional consolidators, there is now a group of start-ups looking to build national financial advice businesses through acquisition. But how much longer can this go on for? This week FTAdviser reporter Sonia Rach joined by Louise Je...

As we head into 2022, the pandemic is still ongoing. Variants are still being discovered. Travel plans are changing all the time. The UK and indeed most countries around the world have moved to hybrid working. Meanwhile, advised clients have moved house, saved money, lost money, taken out protection plans, reassessed their retirement goals and now many may feel they are at a crossroads. Where...

The start of 2022 has been an improvement on the start of 2021 - if nothing else because we can leave our homes. But last year was eventful despite the ongoing fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consolidation activity continued at pace, with private equity continuing to play a major role, and last year's tax reforms will give advisers plenty to think about. So what does 2022 have in store for advis...

The past couple of years have been difficult for many people in the UK and elsewhere. As a result, people have changed their plans and found their financial futures altered. So what happens when clients change their minds - either because they have to, or because they want to? How should investment portfolios be structured to help cope with big life-changing decisions? How can investors ride out t...

It has been a decade since Nutmeg launched as the first major British robo-adviser and since then, many start-ups have entered this space with the intention of disrupting investing but not all have succeeded. After several years of many private equity-backed launches, the number of new robo-advisers being launched has dried up and, if anything, the space is contracting. UBS Smartwealth, Investec C...

The collapse in bond yields and the dominance of stocks which pay little in the way of dividends has forced many medium risk investors to confront the dilemma of whether accept a lower yield or take on more risk. In this edition of the FTAdviser Podcast, sponsored by Schroders, special projects editor David Thorpe examines what these investors can do to square this circle. He is joined by Andrew M...

Pensions minister Guy Opperman has said his next plans for reform involve legislating for simpler pension statements, including a "statement season" when everyone receives their pension information at the same time of year. Opperman said he wanted it to become normal for people would meet in a place such as a pub and have a frank conversation about their pensions with their friends. But should thi...

The cost of raising a child is something many advisers discuss with clients, either on marriage or when the first child is born. Everything from funding school fees to food and clothing needs to be planned carefully. But what happens when clients are unable to conceive and need fertility treatment? How can advisers discuss this sensitive topic with their clients and help them cover the cost of con...

The return of inflation, low yields and the spread of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have raised some awkward questions for bonds and their role in portoflios. Yield curves, often used by investors to gauge the market's expectations for growth, have been flattening recently which suggests there is widespread concern about the economic outlook. With quantitative easing coming to an end in t...