Money Management articles from February 2008

Money Management archives from February 2008

Power to protection.
February 1, 2008... Byline: New guidance on non disclosure welcomed New ABI guidance on non disclosure is expected to lead to fewer claims being rejected and has been welcomed across the industry. Insurers for critical illness, income protection and life...

Changes long overdue.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Report demands long term vision for long term care The present system of funding long term care is unsustainable and not fit for purpose, according to a new report. The 15 member Caring Choices coalition, which includes the...

FPoY Awards 2008.
February 1, 2008... Byline: More sponsors sign up for the big event Dubbed the "Oscars of the personal finance industry" by the BBC Panorama programme when it was first launched in 1996, the 2008 Financial Planner of the Year Awards are gathering momentum as...

Commissioned criticism.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Industry bodies weigh in on RDR Customer agreed remuneration (CAR) and the idea of primary advice have been criticised by two industry bodies. In its response to the retail distribution review (RDR), the British Bankers'...

Deadline looms.
February 1, 2008... Advisers are being reminded to review their clients' trust arrangements. On 5 April 2008 the two year transitional period for changes to be made to interest in possession(IIP)or accumulation and maintenance (A&M) trusts as laid out in the...

Bring on old age.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Longevity plan to provide rising income during twilight years New retirement specialist Life Trust has launched its first product, the Longevity Income Plan (LIP), which aims to provide a rising income during old age. It has...

A tale of two choices.
February 1, 2008... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has launched its first multi-manager funds, the SWIP Multi-Manager Diversity fund and Multi-Manager Select Boutiques fund. The funds utilise a combination of qualitative and quantitative...

Two into one.
February 1, 2008... Merchant Investors has launched a self invested personal pension (SIPP), the OneSIPP, which combines the asset protection of an insured SIPP with the investment scope of a trust based SIPP. Unlike other SIPPs in the market both protected...

Change afoot.
February 1, 2008... Following the launch of three large climate change funds in the latter part of 2007, Virgin Money and Allianz are catching up by launching a climate change fund in January and February respectively. The Virgin Climate Change fund, an...

Black gold.
February 1, 2008... Natural resources are at the heart of Fidelity's emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) fund. The UK domiciled investment company with variable capital (ICVC) invests in oil and metal rich countries and mirrors the offshore...

Unfair regulation.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Advisers complain of inconsistent guidelines Advisers have complained that existing guidelines on how long it should take a provider to give an annuity quote are inconsistent. Currently ABI guidelines state that a provider...

Taking stock - portfolio yield should exceed RPI.
February 1, 2008... Investment has not been very profitable over the past 12 months but, in view of the circumstances, it is amazing that it has not been worse. Markets have failed to surpass their year 2000 records, but are still within sight of them: Citigroup...

A flimsy structure.
February 1, 2008... Housing and advice charities are calling for reforms in the mortgage income support safety net in light of a predicted rise in arrears and repossessions. At the end of 2007, the Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) issued a paper entitled 'Set up to...

Income shifting: HMRC strikes back.
February 1, 2008... Mr and Mrs Jones (Arctic Systems Limited) shared the profits of their family business to minimise their tax burden. The House of Lords even approved of their tax planning. But now the Revenue has pulled the plug on Mr and Mrs Jones, and others...

Saving scheme Titanic.
February 1, 2008... Byline: The lively second reading of the Pensions Bill heralds battles to come, reports John Chapman, from the House of Commons The NPSS with its Personal Accounts is the flagship of the Government's reform package, but it will be so holed...

Adapting to change.
February 1, 2008... There is a note of cautious optimism among advisers and providers when discussing critical illness products and sales for 2008. Providers have been taking interesting steps towards making critical illness cover (CIC) more attractive. Lifestyle...

Getting the balance right.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Sales of income drawdown have rocketed recently, but do people understand what they are buying asks John Chapman? The numbers of new income drawdown contracts doubled in 2006, and rose by over 40% in the first three quarters of...

Critical illness claims.
February 1, 2008... It is hard enough to persuade clients to protect their finances should a serious illness occur, what with the cost and perceived complexity of critical illness products. But add to that uncertainty over whether the policy will actually pay out...

Nothing ventured?
February 1, 2008... While the run up to the end of the tax year is normally the start of the annual VCT season, the credit crunch is biting and questions are being raised about investors' appetite for VCTs. In the 2005/2006 tax year, the VCT market made over...

Goldilocks and the bear market.
February 1, 2008... Corporate bond fund managers concede that until the unfolding of the liquidity crunch, their sector appeared becalmed and the four and a half years up to the end of 2006 was characterised by a period of stability. However, it followed the...

Getting fixed.
February 1, 2008... Fixed rate mortgages account for more than two thirds of the UK mortgage market. But most of these are short term fixes of two to three years, forcing borrowers to return to the market every few years and pay costly application fees. Long term...

Radical changes.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Private medical industry set to profit from changes to NHS The private medical industry could end up being the big winner of Gordon Brown's promise for a more personal and preventative NHS, industry experts have said. The Prime...

Soliciting business.
February 1, 2008... A shake up in the legal profession heralded by The Legal Services Act 2007 could also have implications for IFAs. The Act may bring about some major changes on the High Street with the number of traditional solicitors greatly reduced and those...

Transferring trail.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Letter of the month I refer to Andreas Petrou's letter which appears in December's edition of Money Management. Andreas makes a valid point. However I am surprised that after 41 years in the industry he has only just been...

IFA surveys.
February 1, 2008... AIFA recently emailed me a survey, which I completed, concerning the RDR of which part concentrated on the higher 'fees' I could presumably charge, and which the clients would be delighted to accept, once my firm and I were credited with...

Chartered vs Certified.
February 1, 2008... I write to in response to the press articles about the Chartered vs Certified debate (December 2007 issue. In another article by Tim Eadon, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, he said "There is much confusion surrounding the...

Investment trusts.
February 1, 2008... Tom Walker, of Martin Currie, suggests (October 2007 issue) that the greater popularity that open-ended savings vehicles enjoy with IFAs is due to the way that funds are sold rather than their intrinsic differences. From an IFA's point of view,...

Climate change investing: make money, not carbon dioxide.
February 1, 2008... Several years ago, before 'An inconvenient truth', Al Gore came to my home and gave me a two hour lecture on global warming. He basically said, "Richard, you're in a position to do something about it, and try to rally leaders from around the...

Some like it hotter.
February 1, 2008... Following the recent UN summit in Bali, even the US has accepted that climate change is a real problem that needs tackling in the here and now. This U-turn marked a new path for dealing with climate change on a global scale and paved the way...

Fund profiles.
February 1, 2008... Many of the products and services that have developed as a result of the problems posed by climate change have been around for a number of years. Small, specific funds have been investing in aspects of these solutions for some time. ...

The Allianz RCM Global EcoTrends fund.
February 1, 2008... Investment strategy The Allianz RCM Global EcoTrends fund has actually existed as a Luxembourg SICAV since May 2006, but is launching in the UK in February following successful test marketing of the idea. The fund's launch date is subject...

The F&C Global Climate Opportunities fund.
February 1, 2008... Investment strategy The fund invests in companies that help to provide technologies and systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and those that will help society address the reality of climate change. There are nine key investment...

Green first.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Blueprint for green multi asset fund The first ethical multi asset fund could be brought to market this year. Chartwell, the IFA and fund management company, is currently in discussions with investment managers about the likely...

HSBC GIF Climate Change fund.
February 1, 2008... Investment strategy The fund invests in companies that are best placed to benefit from addressing, combating and developing solutions to the challenges presented by climate change. The fund will be managed by Sinopia, the active...

The Schroder Global Climate Change fund.
February 1, 2008... Investment strategy Schroder claims that its climate change fund was the first of its kind in the UK. The fund invests in companies involved in the mitigation of (measures to reduce carbon dependency) or adaptation to (changes to adapt to...

The Virgin Climate Change fund.
February 1, 2008... Investment Strategy Virgin's Climate change fund launched on 21 January 2008. The fund is emphatically not a climate change fund. GLG, the fund managers responsible for Virgin's Climate Change fund, cherry pick the companies that they...

Acclimatising to a new investment.
February 1, 2008... Climate change funds are a new breed of fund, even though some of the ideas and technology in which they invest have been around for a decade or more. Because of this perceived novelty they may be seen as untested funds investing in new...

Q&A: Interview with Pierre Lagrange and Ben Funnell.
February 1, 2008... GLG manages the Climate Change fund on behalf of Virgin. Virgin chose to work with GLG as one of Europe's largest alternative asset managers with approximately 17% net annual returns in alternative strategies since 1997. The fund...

Where next?
February 1, 2008... Byline: It looks like the only way is up for climate change funds Now that climate change has been almost universally accepted by the world's governments, it appears that the issue is here to stay. So what lies ahead for climate change...

Crib sheet: Climate change funds.
February 1, 2008... Climate change funds have arisen as a result of the large number of industries that have sprung up as a result of the problems faced by climate change. The funds invest in companies that provide solutions in any of a number of areas, such as...

Creeping regulation.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Leave mortgages untouched says AMI The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has raised concerns that the FSA might try to apply the retail distribution review (RDR) to the mortgage market without proper consultation. In...

Providers boosting workforce skills.
February 1, 2008... Byline: More companies providing qualification opportunities Financial advisers have expressed mixed feelings towards initiatives set up by financial service providers to improve the competency of their sales staff by offering them the...

VCT decline.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Research reveals funding drop Venture capital trusts (VCTs) have seen a drop in funding this year with analysts predicting that the market will only raise AGBP150m to AGBP200m, research from Money Management has shown. This is...

Day after Tomorrow.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Newcomer to flexible retirement market LV= has launched into the flexible retirement market with the formal acquisition of Tomorrow, formerly GE Life, on 31 December 2007. The acquisition follows an option agreement that had run...

Sticking point.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Personal accounts scheme criticised as flawed The Pensions Bill had a second reading in Parliament on 7 January and many are still concerned that there are gaping holes in the Bill's provisions. Of significant concern is the...

Problem? What problem?
February 1, 2008... Byline: "The proposals seem to be in danger of trying to fix a problem that consumers don't know exists". H elp! I am in imminent danger of drowning in a sea of RDR responses. So far they have all been from various sectors of the...