The credit rating agencies have lost a lot of credibility over the past few years, for their part in the credit crunch.

The fact that they gave some sub-prime mortgage backed securities AAA ratings (the same as they give to the safest governments!) convinced lots of naive institutions to buy them in vast quantities. High returns for low risk, how could they lose!?

To celebrate our 15^th birthday as a business, we are announcing the launch of our own charitable foundation.

When looking at funds, what makes me most nervous is when risk and reward appear to be out of line.

We have been invited to consider a fund recently that provides a 7% annual income, which will rise with inflation. This is a pretty decent return. If you assume inflation is 2.5% per annum, this means that next year the fund could yield around 7.1%, the following year 7.3% etc.

Yesterday’s budget contained very few shocks.

Market reaction was virtually zero. Gilts barely moved whilst sterling rose very slightly. The stockmarket did virtually nothing, although bank shares rose slightly as the proposed bank levy was lower than many thought.

Within the investment team we have all noticed a trend of fund managers pushing their fund by telling us how it will benefit from the fantastic growth enjoyed by China. ... >> Comments (0)

What’s the difference between a crash and a correction? Answer: 5 letters and 15%.

Despite the so called “shock and awe” plan to solve the European debt crisis, markets remain jittery.

The initial response to the European plan was very favourable, as Europe presented a united front to keep the smaller Eurozone countries solvent.

M&S has certainly come a long way of late and have now taken the unprecedented step of stocking other peoples produce!

If academic studies are to be believed, most investors spend most of their time researching entirely the wrong thing.