Money Management articles from June 2007

Money Management archives from June 2007

ALIA, FPC, FSFA, MSFA...
June 1, 2007... Byline: An adviser's card had a string of meaningless 'qualifications'. " He forgot the BERK." was the response Do you recognise any of the initials above? If the answer is yes, you've probably been in personal finance for at least 20...

FSA's SERPS verdict.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Report denies contracting out mis-selling AN FSA INVESTIGATION INTO the contracting out of the state second pension (SERPS/S2P), has found no evidence of widespread mis-selling. The FSA's findings claim that only 1.5% (120,000)...

Hardly first rate.
June 1, 2007... Byline: High pressure on first time buyers First time buyers are spending more than ever on their mortgage repayments due to interest rate rises, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). First time buyers spent an average of...

Financial Planner of the Year awards.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Case studies available online now This year's Financial Planner of the Year Awards are shaping up to be the most exciting yet, with two new categories (Pre and Post Retirement planning) already attracting strong interest. The...

New mortgage group.
June 1, 2007... A new mortgage subsidiary for brokers focusing on the buy to let market has been launched by the Norwich & Peterborough building society. Astra Mortgages will make use of the Basel II waiver, which allows it to offer risk based pricing,...

Manager moves.
June 1, 2007... - Sanjeev Shah is to take over from Anthony Bolton as manager of Fidelity's AGBP3.2bn UK Special Situations Fund. Shah, who previously managed the firm's EUR 3bn European Aggressive Fund, has 11 years' experience at Fidelity. The two managers...

Blast from the past.
June 1, 2007... Byline: News from 25 years ago When MM surveyed the alternative investment market in June 1982, new technology was still a growth area. British, Japanese and American companies such as Plessey, Hitachi and Intel were beginning to forge...

Morningstar fund ratings.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Changes in the pipeline From our August edition onwards, the S&P fund star ratings system used in the statistics pages will be replaced by a new system of Morningstar ratings. Most importantly, the new star system will allot a...

The new wrap?
June 1, 2007... Byline: 'Next generation' platform launched Parmenion Capital Management has launched its Outsourced Investment Management Service, which it says offers the consolidation of a wrap combined with in house portfolio management. Parmenion...

The icing on the cake.
June 1, 2007... The icing on the cake Fidelity International has launched a range of 'retirement funds' - investment companies with variable capital (ICVC) that will alter their asset allocation as investors move closer to retirement. Money will...

A very niche alternative.
June 1, 2007... EQuity release Property firm Homewise believes that it has launched the first real alternative to equity release in the shape of a new lifetime lease product. Find and Afford works by offering discounts to elderly homeowners looking...

IFAs fail TCF test.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Regulator to blame for poor TCF take up The FSA must bear some of the blame for the poor take up of treating customers fairly (TCF) practices among IFAs, experts have said. The accusations were made by a panel of experts at the...

Avoiding the pips.
June 1, 2007... INVESTMENT TRUST Bedlam Asset Manage-ment is launching the Cherry Picking investment trust, which will invest in global equities. The fund will have no index, country or market capitalisation constraints, but rather will pick 25-30...

Commercial property funds - the sequel.
June 1, 2007... Property funds Property investment company Assetz has launched its second commercial property fund following the closure of its fully subscribed first commercial property fund in August 2007. The fund is almost identical to its...

Annuities just got flexible.
June 1, 2007... Over the past few months four companies, Hartford Life, MetLife, Aegon and AIG Life, have launched or supported UK versions of 'variable annuities', and more may come from Lincoln Life and others. This first wave has been more a ripple...

Permitted links in a principled world.
June 1, 2007... Very large amounts of new money are flowing into unit linked funds - AGBP110bn in 2005 alone. This money comes from both retail investors with unit linked bonds, endowments, whole of life funds and personal pensions and large occupational...

Taking stock - don't expect too much from markets.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Investment happiness comes from having sensible expectations, says former investment banker Russell Taylor Anticipation is so much more intense than reality that it is not surprising that as children and, indeed, also as adults, we...

Networks - a bright future or obsolete?
June 1, 2007... Despite reports to the contrary, networks are not a broken model and do have a bright future. They were created to take advantage of Section 44 of the Financial Services Act 1986. Briefly, this permitted a regulated firm to authorise an...

Top 100 unit trusts.
June 1, 2007... What a difference 10 months can make. The last time Money Management carried out a survey of the top 100 unit trusts the landscape was dominated by specialist funds, with last year's commodities boom ensuring that six featured in the top 10...

Held to account.
June 1, 2007... In December the Government published its plan for solving the pensions crisis, including the introduction of so-called Personal Accounts. A Personal Accounts Delivery Authority will be set up to administer the new Accounts and will have an...

Different tribunal, different law?
June 1, 2007... There are now as many cases adjudicated by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) as by the Courts. Whilst the law reports are filled with precedent-setting cases against lawyers, accountants and surveyors, we have to look to Ombudsman news for...

The complete picture.
June 1, 2007... A year has passed since the Financial Services Authority (FSA) introduced the requirement for life offices to disclose their with profits maturity and surrender values and allow the public access to these figures. Although Money Management...

Offshore offensive.
June 1, 2007... Byline: HMRC to clampdown on disclosure Undisclosed tax liabilities will come under fire from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) later in June, resulting in a possible tax bill of AGBP2bn. HMRC has announced a disclosure period for offshore...

Retrospection.
June 1, 2007... Overall the changes introduced by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) are widely said to be price neutral, but a number of insurers have recently added extra conditions for new customers while cutting premiums at the same time. ...

Nil rate band planning.
June 1, 2007... The decision of the Special Commissioners in the Phizackerley IHT case last month caused quite a stir in the personal finance community. The decision involved a case of a nil rate band trust. When married couples or civil partners have their...

Keep taking the tablets.
June 1, 2007... Some of the most keenly contested markets in IT in recent years have focused on mobility, and all the big names in hardware are seeking to outdo each other in the ultra mobile, mighty micro stakes. The astonishing success of mobile...

In the long term.
June 1, 2007... The number of private landlords in the UK is set to double to 2m by 2010, according to a survey conducted by Mintel in March this year. According to the research, 3% of homeowners are considering buying an additional property to rent out. The...

Should we cherish CARIS?
June 1, 2007... Byline: John Chapman analyses the ABI proposal for a new remuneration deal and how it will affect pensions In its input to the FSA's Retail Distribution Review, the ABI has suggested a new relationship between intermediaries and customers...

Your flexible friend.
June 1, 2007... Despite being overtaken in popularity by other forms of lump sum investments, investment bonds are proving their worth, with the opportunity to tailor asset allocation and risk profiles to individual needs. This, combined with their special...

The products they are a changin'.
June 1, 2007... " For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'" Bob Dylan was certainly not thinking of adviser...

Bonds don't tie you down.
June 1, 2007... At first blush, the attractions of the alternatives such as self invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and individual savings accounts (ISAs) are considerable. Under an ISA, there is no income tax on investment income and no tax on capital gains....

Change unlikely.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Personal accounts: 'Bells and whistles' get short shrift The minister for pensions reform, James Purnell, has indicated that the Government will not be recommending significant changes to personal accounts in its response to the...

Still an attractive investment?
June 1, 2007... With such a wide range of lump sum investments to choose from today, single premium life insurance bonds can tend to get overlooked. Their layered and sometimes confusing charges, exit penalties and less than 100% allocation rates tend to make...

Happy 40th birthday single premium investment bonds!
June 1, 2007... Despite their advancing years, investment bonds remain comparatively youthful compared to unit and investment trusts. Why is this? Bonds have evolved in line with the needs of the modern investor, including the addition of popular and...

A green and pleasant bond.
June 1, 2007... With growing recognition of the environmental, social and financial risks associated with a changing climate, the phrase " Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions!" may never before have been so pertinent. Taking this message to investors...

At home and abroad.
June 1, 2007... Investment in property funds boomed in 2006, with investment companies in the Property sector benefiting from bumper investment. Over a third of the AGBP2.7bn raised from new issues by closed ended funds in 2006 came from the Property sector,...

Another way in for property investors.
June 1, 2007... The launch of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the UK in January has expanded the options available to investors seeking exposure to commercial property. It has also bolstered the overall range of property related instruments such as...

Long live property.
June 1, 2007... Despite the caution expressed by many commentators about the prospects for commercial property after several years of out performance, sales of property funds continue at a high level. The Investment Management Association's (IMA)...

Without profits.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Consolidators' funds fail to perform Closed life funds owned by mega consolid-ators have had a significant drop in payouts this year, according to latest figures. The performance of funds run by Pearl and Resolution, which...

A noble cause.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Baroness backs equity release Equity release was branded as the " future" of retirement planning at the launch of a new retirement and care faculty by the Personal Finance Society (PFS). Speaking at the launch of the IFA body's...

Not so shocking.
June 1, 2007... Byline: NAO says FSA needs focus A National Audit Office (NAO) report stating that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) needs to focus more on results and improve its performance in fighting financial crime has been welcomed by advisers....

Sesame snapped up.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Support service provider bought Life company Friends Provident has agreed to buy support service network Sesame, scuppering hopes of a management buyout (MBO) from parent company Misys. Subject to FSA approval, Friends...

Fresh pensions pressure.
June 1, 2007... Byline: DWP faces new review The Pensions Action Group (PAG) may call for a judicial review following a recent decision by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to widen the remit of its Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) for victims...