Category Archives: investment

The Loch Ness Monster is back (in fact it never went away!)

Posted on January 26, 2018 by

  If you didn’t hear last night’s Radio 4 documentary “the Transparency Detectives”, you can listen to it here. It’s a great piece of work and no praise is to high for Lesley Curwen and her team who tackle the subject … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, IGC, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

When will they ever learn? (The CDO is back)

Posted on November 28, 2017 by

The FT reports (with its usual light touch ) that the collateralized debt obligation is back and being used by Global Pension Funds (and hedge funds) as an alternative to junk bonds. I question whether in its “authentic” (CLO) or … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why have pensions lost their social purpose?

Posted on October 29, 2017 by

As a delegate to the conservative party conference, I was invited to submit a discussion topic. I asked that we discussed how we can put Britain’s £2tr pounds of pension wealth to good economic use, whether this money could hold … Continue reading →

Posted in investment, pensions | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Am I irrationally exuberant (about my pension)?

Posted on October 19, 2017 by

Irrational exuberance is unsustainable investor enthusiasm that drives asset prices up to levels that aren’t supported by fundamentals. The term “irrational exuberance” is believed to have been coined by Alan Greenspan in a 1996 speech, “The Challenge of Central Banking … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, investment, pensions | 4 Comments

New torment for investment consultants – Mike Foster.

Posted on September 16, 2017 by

  Mike is a senior consultant at Montfort Communications. Until recently he was assistant editor at Financial News and that journalistic pedigree shines through in this remarkable piece of writing. Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, investment, pension playpen, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Workplace Pension winners and losers- Punter Southall Aspire do the numbers (Now with added NEST!)

Posted on September 13, 2017 by

Employers selecting DC default investment funds for their workforce pensions assume they’re making a wise investment choice. However, a new report, ‘Who’s performing well?’ from Punter Southall Aspire, which examined nine major DC pension providers’ default pension funds in their … Continue reading →

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Why we should be proud to invest our savings in real assets!

Posted on August 1, 2017 by

  My blog yesterday on USS attracted a lot of attention on social media and some interesting comment. This from Ros Altmann – a blog in its own right; Excellent piece Henry. There is insufficient differentiation in this DB debate … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, infrastucture, investment, pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

In denial and in disgust – investment consultants and the FCA.

Posted on November 26, 2016 by

I went to the Vuelio blogger awards last night, which was fun, young, female and loud. I learned that I am unusual in not making money out of my blog and that I could make this a mobile advertising platform for … Continue reading →

Posted in investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Activism over activity – we want effective asset management.

Posted on November 22, 2016 by

Reading the FCA’s Asset Management Market Study, you’d be tempted to give up on active asset management (to be frank you might to give up on investment funds altogether). Daniel Godfrey has a piece in the FT claiming that the … Continue reading →

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The Transparency Zeitgeist is upon us

Posted on May 21, 2016 by

I am a frugal man, the £3.50 I paid for this morning’s FT was grudgingly passed to my newsagent. But I wanted to capture the headline and read about Josephine’s reporting of a meeting with my friends Andy Agethangelou and … Continue reading →

Posted in accountants, Henry Tapper blog, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments