The easiest call to make in 2021 is that the market is overvalued, or for those preferring hyperbole, suggest that everything is in a ‘bubble’. Whilst there is no doubt some assets and stocks that are trading well above their fair value, to suggest that everything is overvalued may well be a stretch. It’s an…
It’s a wonder that financial advisers have much time to actually provide advice to their clients in 2021. Following a whirlwind of regulatory changes, education requirements, platform outages and increased reporting, more time than ever is being spent on compliance. The latest in the string of regulatory changes is the “Design and Distribution Obligations,” or…
Listening into a webinar this week, there was an extensive discussion about the fact that very few, if any, financial advisers in the industry are pricing their clients appropriately. The theme of the discussion may well be right; however, the fact that it was delivered by a number of ‘experts’ who were unlikely to have…
High-net-worth (HNW) investors are the holy grail for any competent financial adviser. These are typically educated, experienced professionals and business owners who are seeking to establish long-term relationships and trust the adviser as an expert. Naturally, attracting these clients to your firm consistently is highly competitive and extremely difficult. As is typically the case, despite…
It has been a difficult few years, or perhaps decades, for forecasters of all kinds. Whether it was election polling that failed to predict both Trump’s and Morrison’s stunning wins, or the UK’s Brexit; spiralling coronavirus case numbers; or those calling for massive property market and economic pain throughout 2020, the end result was the…
“If something is free, you are the product” This quote attributed to sculptor Richard Serra in 1973 was well ahead of its time, but offers a unique insight into the evolution of financial markets in the 2020’s. Just last week we witnessed the initial public offering of Robinhood Markets, a platform made popular for ‘zero…
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Looking back at the events of the last 18 months, it becomes abundantly clear what actions both investment advisers and fund managers should have taken, yet this offers little in the way of insights into the future. As it stands today, almost every active fund managers should have delivered 20%+…
Despite a brief moment in the sun during the depths of the pandemic, Modern Monetary Theory or MMT, somewhat disappointingly remains on the fringes of economic and financial market analysis. Mainstream economists, but particularly politicians from both ends of the spectrum, continue to stoke fear of ballooning government debt, and flag inflationary concerns that simply…
Munro Partners and its chief investment officer, Nick Griffin, seem to have a unique ability to look beyond the day-to-day noise that occurs in financial markets and frame the opportunity for global growth equities in seemingly simple terms. Since starting from scratch at $0 in assets in 2016 the group recently surpassed $1 billion in…
It is an all-too-common occurrence these days that a financial adviser meets a prospective client following a significant inheritance, divorce or in the worst-case death of a partner, with the surviving party having little in the way of financial let alone investment experience. The sheer strength of asset markets in recent years is that almost…
