Opinion

Looking out of my window this rainy morning it occurred to me that the bad weather appears to be the most reliable feature of the Great British summer.

This time last year the sun was still metaphorically shining on the world's financial markets with the FTSE skirting its year's highs and minimal downside risk priced into markets.

An IFA client has started working through his existing clients, one by one, face to face to present his new proposition.

Clients who want exposure to the Asian tigers but are scared of getting bitten should consider looking at structured products that invest in the region.

Examine any best buy table and you will currently see a host of fixed rate savings bonds with headline rates hovering around the 7% mark. Ostensibly, this is mouth-watering stuff but once you factor in tax and inflation, you have to ask if depositors...

As the economic climate shows no sign of a recovery (in the short term at least) I think increasing numbers of IFAs will be thinking of selling their practices in the next two to three years.

Consensus on its pension reforms has been very important to the Government. It's worked hard to maintain the support of other political parties, the pensions industry and consumers.

Money grows on trees not in commercial property'. This is one of the best headlines I've seen recently, or as the DJ Chris Evans would say, ‘a top tenuous link to property'.