Let Your Head, Not Your Heart, Guide Your Investment Decisions
Many of us will have spent the last two years longing for the time when most of the UK population had a good immunity against Covid-19, and pandemic restrictions were either being eased or completely dropped. And although the pandemic isn’t over, these wishes have come to pass, and we’re…
The Charters Annual Summary – 2021: A year of uncertainty
As the calendar year nears its conclusion and the festive period gets underway, I hope you will have the chance to spend quality time with family and friends. 2021 has without question been another eventful and demanding year, with the move towards normality continuing to be disrupted by the emergence…
What is ESG? Will it matter more than the bottom line?
There have been a thousand-and-one articles written since the pandemic on people’s changing attitude to work. Millennials and the generations that follow them – so we are told – want different things from work. Flexibility, the option of working from home and, above all, to work for a company that…
Is it time to abandon Diversification?
For many years it has been the accepted wisdom that you should diversify your investment portfolio. That means diversifying by types of investments – with say, your exposure to the stock market balanced by more cautious investments in bonds and, perhaps, funds that invest in property. Common wisdom says you…
What to do about the ‘bulls’ and the ‘bears’
You have likely heard the terms ‘bull market’ and ‘bear market.’ A bull market is one where stock markets are rising and investors are feeling confident: a bear market is the opposite. ‘Bullish’ has even come to be used in a wider sense, meaning generally optimistic: “I’m feeling bullish about…
Are cash ISAs still worth it?
We all know that interest rates are at historic lows – and with them showing no sign of increasing in the near future, you could be forgiven for thinking that Cash ISAs would be quickly losing their popularity. Despite the fact that even significant levels of saving don’t get much…
The Investment Theories which go Against Conventional Wisdom
Many of you will have heard the old stock market maxim; ‘Sell in May and go away.’ It ended with, ‘Don’t come back until St. Leger day’ and held that the best investment practice was to sell up in May and enjoy the English summer season, the Lord’s test, Ascot…
Are premium bonds still worth it?
With National Savings & Investments (NS&I) adjusting the premium bond prize-fund rate to just 1% in December of 2020, down from the previous 1.4%, around 21 million people saw their chances of winning fall. An impressive £99 billion worth of savings are currently held in NS&I premium bonds, and the…
Focus on the escalator not the yo-yo
I came across this exchange on Twitter recently: “The stock market is like someone playing with a yo-yo whilst riding the up escalator. The secret is to focus on the escalator and not the yo-yo!” “Of course, you need to know which escalator you’re on. Otherwise both are pointless.” Think…
3 top tips to survive a bear market
The current coronavirus pandemic has wiped billions off global stock markets. In the world of investing, such markets where share prices experience prolonged price declines are known as bear markets. A bear market describes a situation in which stock markets fall 20% or more from recent highs amid widespread pessimism…