contrarian investor

For the last few years, the financial services industry has spent an inordinate amount of time moaning about everything from onerous regulatory pressures that fail to prevent systemic crises through to dreadful investment returns.

Maybe RDR does not really matter at all. Perhaps everyone in the financial services sector and the accompanying industry of media commentators has got completely the wrong end of the stick.

All this talk of commodity super cycles is baloney. Lots of clever people are using some very interesting case studies (selectively) to build a grand narrative that essentially results in a small number of people making a lot of money from the rest of...

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Complicating investment gets in the way of what really works - simple things like dividends, keeping costs down and buying well-diversified markets simply and cheaply.

One of the most striking aspects of the ‘muted' economic recovery in the Anglo-Saxon world is the mismatch between beleaguered consumers, embattled governments and resurgent corporates.

Apologies for ruining the positive vibe but I cannot help but return to a recent bugbear of mine - risk.

The recent Financial Stability Board (FSB) report on exchange traded funds will have left many industry leaders in the unit and investment trust space quietly purring with delight.

The focus for my innovative suggestions this week is the thorny subject of risk and why both advisers and investors need to better understand the truly volatile nature of investing.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the manic restructuring and repositioning prior to RDR is the process of price discovery.

CONTRARIAN INVESTOR