What Investment articles from March 2007

What Investment archives from March 2007

Time to take stock of property.(Comment--the bigger picture)
March 1, 2007... One of the more interesting contributions to this month's Asset Allocation section came from Jim Wood-Smith, a veteran City strategist who is currently head of research at investment house Williams De Broe. It is time, he says to 'sacrifice the...

Competition winner.(Comment--the bigger picture)
March 1, 2007... On a more positive note, congratulations to Mr Paul Fleming of Chapel Allerton, Leeds, who is the winner of the competition that ran in the January issue of What Investment and the Winter 2006 issue of What Investment Trust, sponsored by the...

Property still top tip for 2007.(March News)
March 1, 2007... Commercial property will continue to be a popular area for investors this year, with the UK office sector set to outperform thanks to accelerating rental growth, F&C Investments has predicted. The group's property team feels that the office...

RLAM launches new ethical bond fund.(ETHICAL INCOME)
March 1, 2007... Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has launched a new unit trust aimed at income seekers who want to invest along ethical lines--The Royal London Ethical Bond Trust. In common with many of its peers, the fund's objective is to maximise income...

Aberdeen plans onshore emerging markets fund.(News Round-up)
March 1, 2007... Aberdeen Asset Managers has announced plans to launch the Global Emerging Markets Smaller Companies Fund in March, subject to regulatory approval. It will be a sub-fund of the SICAV Aberdeen Global, created in response to rising interest...

Name change for Investec UK Value Fund.(News Round-up)
March 1, 2007... Investec Management will be changing the name of the Investec UK Value Fund to the Investec UK Special Situations Fund, as of 3 March 2007. The name change was chosen to more closely reflect the direction the investment team has taken with...

Taxpayers foot 170m [pounds sterling] bill.(March News)
March 1, 2007... Taxpayers are wasting 170 million [pounds sterling] by not using their full Individual Savings Account (ISA) subscription, according to unbiased.co.uk, the website from IFA Promotion that highlights the benefits of independent financial advice....

ETF securities.(March News)(Correction notice)
March 1, 2007... In our feature on investing in commodities in the February issue of What investment, we quoted Nik Beinkowski explaining how investors can use exchange traded funds (ETFs) to gain exposure to the underlying commodities. However. the name of his...

AXA targets entrepreneurs.(March News)
March 1, 2007... AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) launched the AXA Talents Fund on 29 January, bringing one of its leading offshore funds to the UK market. The fund closely monitors the offshore French-registered version by investing globally in...

Recent moves.(March news)
March 1, 2007... These are the latest fund manager moves announced to the beginning of February 2007. To keep track of your fund manager, and for further commentary on manager moves, visit www.bestinvest.co.uk Date left Fund manager Moved...

New offers: we examine what the latest savings and investment plans have to offer investors. Each product has been given a star rating, representing its overall value for money, based on cost, terms and conditions and investment potential.(March News)
March 1, 2007... Sarasin UK Equity Income Fund This is an actively managed fund designed to achieve a dividend yield in excess of the FTSE All Share Index. The portfolio will focus on 25 stocks equally weighted at 4 per cent each. The holdings will be...

Top ten funds.(March news)
March 1, 2007... Top ten funds UNIT TRUSTS One Year 1 Baring Hong Kong China USD 150.36 2 JF China A (dist) USD 143.87 3 Allianz RCM China--A--USD 143.77 4 First State China Growth I...

The Midas touch.(Lessons from history)
March 1, 2007... Gold fell out of favour with just about everybody for much of the 1980s and 1990s. But the explosion of commodity prices over the past five years has seen its price shoot up and investors take interest again. So does this mean that it has...

Responsibility has its benefits: investing ethically could provide handsome returns and help you to sleep better at night. Pauline McCallion looks at the options for investors who want to choose funds in line with their principles.(Ethical investment)
March 1, 2007... It seems like you can't turn on the television or open a newspaper these days without seeing news of another crisis that threatens the quality of our lives. Whether it's global warming, carbon footprints, disappearing species, sweatshops or...

'Limiting your liabilities: Keiron Root considers the options available to investors who want to protect their estates from Inheritance Tax.(IHT planning)
March 1, 2007... The days are long gone when it was safe to assume that Inheritance Tax (IHT) was something which was only of concern to the seriously wealthy. Theoretically, your entire estate is subject to IHT when you die, although, in the quaint terminology...

Everyone's a winner: both fund managers and investors should be pleased that the Government is improving the rules governing ISAs.(New ISA rules)
March 1, 2007... Christmas came early last year for savers and investors when Ed Bails MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, made the keynote address at the PEP & ISA Managers' Association (PIMA) Annual Conference on 1 November 2006. ISAs are by far and...

In association with the share centre: Gallic flair: Keiron Root meets a Frenchman with an impressive track record for uncovering fast-growing entrepreneurial businesses.(Investment clubs)
March 1, 2007... Charles Firmin-Didot is a French fund manager with a passion for investing in entrepreneurial businesses. He established his reputation managing AXA Talents, a French-registered fund that has shown strong recent performance, rising by 60.9 per...

Market view: Robert Tyerman sees mixed signals from a market that is within sight of its all-time high.(UK SHARES)
March 1, 2007... Fund managers may have been disappointed by thin snow on the ski slopes this year, but that disenchantment has not stopped them from keeping the stock market tantalisingly close to record highs, The fundamentals present a mixed picture, but big...

Sector view: uranium.(UK SHARES)
March 1, 2007... Mining shares have a somewhat stale feel about them these days. The boom in companies mining deposits, hoping to mine deposits or hoping to find them, inevitably led to many disappointments, though it also made many fortunes and funded some...

Share View: UraMin & Havelock Europa.(UK SHARES)
March 1, 2007... UraMin, chaired by former Ashanti Goldfields boss Sir Sam Jonah, has been a star performer on the uranium stage, after revealing impressive high-grade drilling results in the Bakouma deposits of the Central African Republic. The company, in...

European sector review: Henk Potts looks at the prospects for metals and mining stocks following a period of strong growth in commodity prices.(UK SHARES)
March 1, 2007... Soaring metals and related stock prices in early 2006 were a big story in the markets last year. While we are certainly not predicting a repeat of those record highs in the months ahead, we do think there is some value still to be found, in...

Market insider verdict: must try harder: Michael Wilson discovers that, despite its untapped potential, there are many factors holding back the South African economy.(WORLD MARKETS)
March 1, 2007... South Africa has an image problem, and it knows it. It is in the middle of a boom period, with an economy that is growing by five per cent a year and an industrial growth rate of six per cent or more. President Thabo Mbeki's government is...

Global equities proceeding with caution: each month, What Investment speaks to fund managers and analysts, focusing on four different asset classes, and asks them to reveal the key issues currently driving their investment decisions.(ASSET ALLOCATION)
March 1, 2007... Baring Asset Management suggests that investors are currently facing a dilemma, with stronger than expected US growth and inflationary pressures in the UK beginning to put pressure on the longer-term outlook for global equities. Andrew...

Turkish interest rates (15 March 2007).(KEY INDICATOR)
March 1, 2007... Turkey's central bank holds its monthly policy committee meeting on 15 March to decide whether or not to adjust interest rates. The bank left its benchmark rate unchanged at 17.5 per cent for a sixth consecutive month on 16 January. Turkey's...

Brazilian economic data (6 and 7 March 2007).(KEY INDICATOR)
March 1, 2007... Falling interest rates were a key driver of the robust performance of Brazilian equities in 2006 and the trend looks set to continue in 2007. The central bank lowered the benchmark lending rate by 25 bps to 13 per cent on 24 January and...

Focusing on the high end.(Bonds)
March 1, 2007... In general terms, the bond markets are still failing to excite asset allocators. Andrew Cole, Director of Barings' asset allocation group argues, 'Bonds still look unattractive as an asset class, even after the recent back-up in yields. We...

Glittering prizes.(Commodities)
March 1, 2007... Clerical Medical draw attention to the outperformance of precious metals over the past two years. They calculate that precious metals were the best-performing asset class in 2006 with a 28 per cent return for the year, ahead of UK shares (17...

Reaching the peak.(Property)
March 1, 2007... Commercial property continues to outperform the equity market, with the latest set of annual results from the Investment Property Databank (IPD) showing a total return for 2006 in excess of 18 per cent, compared to less than 17 per cent for UK...

AIM stocks.(Money clinic: a panel of independent experts answers readers' financial planning and investment queries)
March 1, 2007... My Individual Savings Account (ISA) and Personal Equity Plan (PEP) investments are held in Barclays Stockbrokers nominee services. During a recent reshuffle of my bank details, the dividends, which until that time had been paid regularly...

Pension boost.(Money clinic: a panel of independent experts answers readers' financial planning and investment queries)
March 1, 2007... I hope to retire soon and need to boost my teacher's pension. I wish to invest in investment trusts that will produce a generous and rising income, paid quarterly. I have located some from Henderson, but it is a slow and laborious process, as I...

Change of tack.(Money clinic: a panel of independent experts answers readers' financial planning and investment queries)
March 1, 2007... About 12 years ago, I took out an interest-only mortgage and, at the same time, was advised to take out a monthly contribution PEP, with the intention that this would pay off the capital. When the PEP system changed, I was advised to keep the...

The Money Doctor: Andrew Merricks wonders why anyone still considers with-profits bonds to be a suitable investment.(Money doctor)
March 1, 2007... With-profits bonds were heavily sold by advisers throughout the 80s and 90s. Incredibly, it appears that half of the advisers who took part in a recent survey would still recommend them. Any regular readers of this column will know how much...

Unit trust sector leaders: specialist funds: in the first of a new series, Keiron Root highlights the most attractive funds within an Investment Management Association sector.(UNIT TRUSTS MONITOR)
March 1, 2007... According to the most recent set of figures released by the IMA (Investment Management Association, the trade body of the managers of open-ended funds), the most popular sector amongst private investors in 2006 was the grouping known as...

Unit trust best buys: what investment asks three independent financial advisers to recommend their favourite unit trusts or OEICS for a cautious, a balanced and an aggressive investment.(UNIT TRUSTS MONITOR)
March 1, 2007... CAUTIOUS OPTION James Davies, investment research manager at Chartwell Investment Management, suggests a recently remodelled multi-manager fund as an interesting option for more cautious investors. The Cazenove Multi-Manager Diversity Fund...

Unit trust performance tables.(UNIT TRUSTS OEICs)
March 1, 2007... What the tables show The figures show the value of 100 [pounds sterling] over six months, one, three, five and ten years to 31 January 2007, on an offer-to-bid basis with net income reinvested. Funds are listed by sector so that you can...

Investment trust best buys: what investment asks three investment trust specialists to recommend their favourite investment trust shares, for a cautious, a balanced and an aggressive investment.(INVESTMENT TRUSTS MONITOR)
March 1, 2007... CAUTIOUS OPTION Simon Elliott, investment trust analyst at WINS Research, favours a well-established generalist trust for more cautious investors. The shares of Scottish American Investment Trust are ranked first out of four trusts in...

Investment trust performance tables.(INVESTMENT TRUSTS)
March 1, 2007... What the tables show The figures show the value of 100 [pounds sterling] over six months, one, three, five and 10 years to 31 January 2007, on an offer--to--bid basis with net income reinvested. Funds are listed by sector so that you...

The Only Three Questions That Count.(Book club: New titles to improve your investing)
March 1, 2007... The Only Three Questions That Count by Ken Fisher Ken Fisher questions authority. He challenges the conventional wisdom of investing, overturns glib theories with hard facts, and blows up complacent beliefs about money and markets. But the...

The 25% Cash Machine.(Book club: New titles to improve your investing)
March 1, 2007... The 25% Cash Machine by Bryan Perry Traditional income-generating investments are producing historically low returns. Banks, money market funds and bonds are still paying rates well below the expected increase in the cost of living. Today,...

Fooled by Randomness--The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (2nd edition).(Book club: New titles to improve your investing)
March 1, 2007... Fooled by Randomness--The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (2nd edition) by Nassim Taleb This book is a synthesis of, on one hand, the no-nonsense mathematical trader and, on the other, the aesthetically obsessed,...

The Investor's Toolbox (2nd edition).(Book of the month)
March 1, 2007... by Peter Temple The Investor's Toolbox (2nd edition) by Peter Temple This book aims to be a simple, practical guide to using some of the newer investment products like spread betting, binary betting, contracts for difference, covered...

Best buys performance tables.
March 1, 2007... Figures correct as at 01.02.07 Unsecured Personal Loan Selection Monthly payment Lender Contract APR 1,000 [pounds sterling]--Over one year ...

Friendly values: Conal Gregory explores the investment opportunities that friendly societies have to offer.(Friendly societies)
March 1, 2007... Friendly societies are the 'Cinderellas' of finance, yet most offer a valuable tax-exempt savings scheme that is far less well known than the ISA, the PEP, the VCT or EIS. The good news is that such schemes can be held in addition to other...

Best ways to save.
March 1, 2007... Best ways to save Telephone Account Number INSTANT ACCESS BRANCH ACCOUNTS Manchester BS 0161 833 8880 Premier Bonus Post Office 0800 169...

Personal pension annuity rates.(REFERENCE)
March 1, 2007... An annuity is a financial product that converts capital into income. You can buy one with any lump sum of money or you can buy one with accrued pension funds. Currently, for money purchase pension funds you must buy an annuity by the time you...

The benefits of versatility.(Comment)
March 1, 2007... 'I SUPPOSE the most common mistake that people with an Individual Savings Account make is to assume that once they have taken out their ISA, that is the end of the investment process. Their investment is set in stone and they have to sit and...

The dawn of a new era: Harvey Jones assesses the impact of the new ISA and PEP rules due to come into force in April 2008.(The ISA rule changes)
March 1, 2007... The Treasury has finally named the date for the introduction of its long-awaited ISA reforms. They will apply from 6 April 2008. That is one year later than many people in the investment industry expected, although the government is...

Cutting out the background noise: Keiron Root has some suggestions for investors looking to make well informed ISA investment choices.(How to invest)
March 1, 2007... The key thing to remember when considering which ISA to choose is that an ISA is not itself an investment. It is a tax-free wrapper into to which an increasingly wide range of investments can be put. So long as these are within the rules...

Cut ISA costs: unit trust benefits without high charges using IShares and ETFs--if you are thinking about buying a unit trust with your ISA this year, award-winning stockbrokers Hoodless Brennan show you how to cut costs.
March 1, 2007... Investors traditionally opt to invest in unit trust ISAs to diversify risk, target capital growth and avoid capital gains tax (CGT). These products are attractive with a wide range to choose from, but the cost is high. However, holding IShares...

Get in the driving: Pauline McCallion explores the options for those who want to take control of their own investment decisions.(Self-select ISAs)
March 1, 2007... A self-select Individual Savings Account (ISA) basically does what it says on the tin, allowing you to select your own holdings from a wide range of shares, bonds, gilts, unit trusts and investment trusts (see box below). Fred Robinson,...

A good home for your money: Jo Tura considers the choices available for ISA holders who want to keep their investments in cash.(Cash ISAs)
March 1, 2007... The cash ISA is, for many, the first step on the investment ladder, and in fact it is a commonsense way of putting some money aside without too much risk, and with some tax relief. Cash ISAs are the most basic type of ISA investment you can...

Using the transfer window: active management can significantly increase the tax-free returns from your ISA portfolio. Stephanie Spicer outlines what to do when you want to move your ISAs to a better-performing manager.(ISA transfers)
March 1, 2007... Making the commitment to invest in an ISA is one thing. But monitoring your investments and making sure your portfolio is really working for you in the right way is another. At some stage throughout your life you will be advised to transfer...