DIY Investor Magazine
/
September 2016
4
The core message of the last issue of DIY Investor
Magazine was for better or worse we’re out – ‘Keep
Calm and Carry on Investing’; and life’s gone on.
Despite its warnings of a vicious cycle of falling house
prices and slower growth the IMF has recently admitted
that the ‘short term turbulence has ebbed’ since Brexit.
Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index – a venerable
barometer for the health of the UK economy – posted
its biggest month to month increase to 52.9 from 47.4
(50 represents no growth) based upon improvements in
the services, manufacturing and construction sectors.
That there was a jittery period immediately after 23rd
June is undeniable – the Great British Public had
just thrown all of the social, economic and political
pieces up in the air; whilst uncertainty may remain,
the overriding sentiment is apparently now one of
opportunity rather than fear.
Mark Carney moved swiftly to head off any fears of
recession; six weeks after Brexit we had interest rates
at a record low 0.25%, £70 billion pledged for gilts and
corporate bonds, and the £100 billion Term Funding
Scheme; new chancellor Philip Hammond said ‘I am
prepared to take any necessary steps to support the
economy and promote confidence’.
However, the effect of the BoE’s actions are now
being felt in savings and investment products; Nat
West has just joined a race to the bottom by matching
Santander’s Cash ISA interest rate of 0.01%.
Pension freedoms are all well and good, but where are
the investment returns to be found? The 4% we are told
we need to achieve in order to access pension funds
in a ‘sustainable’ way looks a bit pie in the sky when
the average rate on an easy access ISA is just 0.87%;
Santander’s much vaunted 123 account has just halved
its rate to 1.5% much to the chagrin of its 4 million
customers.
So, this issue has the Quest for Income as its key theme
and we look at a whole range of ways in which investors
are seeking income as well as keeping costs down.
QUEST FOR INCOME IN A
LOW-INTEREST ECONOMY
Increasingly, investors are taking on additional risk
in seeking dividend yielding equities, and we take a
close look at much fancied AIM-listed uranium miner,
Berkeley Energia, to see what is appealing to the
analysts.
Elsewhere, after 32 years of virtually unchallenged per-
eminence, FTSE now has some serious and credible
competition; Bats Europe recently launched a series of
indices including its flagship BUK100 and we look at
how the company believes its pan-European presence,
simple licensing arrangements, real time data and lower
costs will bring tangible benefits to the DIY investor.
In an exclusive Q&A with MD Adam French, we hear
why robo-adviser Scalable Capital is ‘democratising
wealth management’; CEO of justETF, Dominique Riedl,
compares and contrasts ETFs and ‘old fashioned’
trackers and reveals the best and worst performing
ETFs in 2016 to date.
Company REFS shares the methodology devised
by founder Jim Slater in becoming a legend among
investors; City Grump is predictably caustic about FTSE
100 pay and the BHS pension shenanigans and Mr
Bond delivers a warning not to ‘take shareholders risks
for bondholders rewards’.
We hope that DIY Investor Magazine is thought
provoking and helps you to make informed investment
decisions; if there is anything you would like to see
covered in a future issue we would be pleased to hear
from you –
.
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