Opinion

Summer is upon us and many people are making plans for the holidays. It's also the start of the wedding season, and a number of people in my team are planning to tie the knot this summer.

Interactive Financial Adviser

In difficult times, the Budget changes to higher rate pension taxation came as harsh news to many investors and advisers already struggling to find attractive investment opportunities in such a low interest rate climate.

I can usually take reality TV or leave it. I have long since tired of the parade of egotistical idiots imprisoned in the Big Brother House, or the Z list celebrities camping out in the jungle and subsisting on live insects and foul-smelling vegetables....

It has been a better couple of months, and since hitting a low point at the beginning of March - the FTSE 100 index fell to 3,512 on 3 March - share prices have recovered strongly and the FTSE 100 reached 4,419 at the end of May - a recovery of around...

Buying protection is a price decision, right? There's been more research recently to confirm this ingrained view in the industry from Aegon.

A good friend and industry colleague recently noted very few things still surprise him these days in financial services.

Variable annuities have been available in the UK for little over two years and the signs are that they are growing in popularity.

Unusually, my last blog was rather prescient. I had bemoaned structures' lack of availability on platforms and predicted this regrettable impediment to growth was poised to change.

We are told IFAs want to sell more annuities. All well and good. But are they up to speed with this most complex of products?