Informed Choice Radio Personal Finance Podcast

How do you solve a problem like the nation's savings crisis? Half of all UK adults do not have any savings or investments and are struggling to put away money. Two out of five UK adults also do not have any long term assets to fall back on, such as pensions or property. The ONS have released figures for the final quarter of last year, which found the UK's household saving ratio absolutely plummeted to its lowest level since records began.  In this episode, I share seven tips for saving more. Personal finance news update -Millions of credit card customers are unable to clear their debts and need more help, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. -Most active UK equity fund managers underperformed their benchmark last year. -New research from Aviva has found a lack of confidence in the availability of a future state pension among younger people. -Lloyds Bank have named the locations of 100 bank branches they will close between July and October. -New research from Aegon has found that 14% of working age people are saving more into their pension as a direct result of the pension freedoms introduced in April 2015. Money article of the week How to improve your readiness for retirement, by Robert Powell on USA Today Random fact of the week In 1695, the English parliament passed The Marriage Duty Act or Registration Tax. This Act of Parliament imposed a tax on births, marriages, burials, childless widowers, and bachelors over the age of 25. The tax was introduced to raise money for war on France but also to ensure proper records were kept by an Anglican church official. It didn't prove particularly effective and the tax was abolished eleven years later, in 1706. Inspirational quote Our inspirational quote this week comes from Stoic philosopher, Seneca the Younger, who said: “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” Get answers to your personal finance questions Do you have a personal finance or investing question for Martin? Email martin@icfp.co.uk or ask on Twitter @martinbamford. You can call our dedicated podcast voicemail line on 020 8144 2745 with your question or visit www.icradio.co.uk/voicemail to leave an online voice message.  

Hello and welcome to this episode of Informed Choice Radio, where I'm joined by Sandra Navidi, author of Superhubs. Sandra Navidi is a macroeconomic consultant and strategic relationship manager. She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BeyondGlobal, an international management consultancy. Sandra worked closely with renowned economist Nouriel Roubini as Director of Research Strategies and Senior Relationship Manager at Roubini Global Economics. She is an expert commentator on financial markets and author of the bestselling book “$uper-hubs: How the Financial Elite and their Networks rule the World“. SuperHubs is a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the global financial system and the powerful personal networks through which it is run, at the centre of which sit the Elites - the SuperHubs. The book combines an insider's knowledge with principles of network science. In Superhubs, Sandra offers a startling new perspective on how the financial system really operates. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Sandra about what really happens at places like Davos, some of the common traits of the global financial elite, whether Brexit is an example of the elites losing their power, why women are the missing link, and much more. Welcome to Superhubs with Sandra Navidi, in episode 196 of Informed Choice Radio. Some questions I ask: -What happens at Davos which makes it such an influential event and such an important place? -What's been the impact of the way these superhubs and these networks work on global finance? -What are some of the common traits that you've identified? -Where do women feature in this, and what role could they play within superhubs? -Is where you went to school still really important when it comes to finance networks and superhubs? -Is Brexit an example of superhubs starting to lose out to the power of the people? Useful links mentioned in this episode: –Beyond Global –SuperHubs on Amazon –Sandra on Twitter –Sandra on Facebook –Sandra on YouTube –Sandra on Instagram –Sandra on LinkedIn Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.

Hello and welcome to this episode of Informed Choice Radio, where I'm joined by Gayle Roberts, author of the new book Room for Profit. Gayle is a former lawyer turned CEO of an award winning short term lettings agency. She's the co-author of Room for Profit, along with the award winning travel journalist Tristan Rutherford. The book is all about how to make money in the digital sharing economy, specifically the short-term rentals industry. Within the digital sharing economy, the most lucrative and fastest growing sector is short-term rentals. In the last five years, Airbnb has experienced growth of 353 times and, in 2015 alone, more than 17 million people stayed with Airbnb hosts. It's forecast that next year, 20% of all accommodation bookings will be for short-term rentals. Room for Profit shows readers exactly how to get their share of this booming industry. The rhythm of school-work-retirement is not as simple as it once was; we either need to work longer, harder, or think outside the box. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Gayle about why services like Airbnb have become so popular, how short-term rentals can help with retirement planning, how to get started in this market, some of the costs and risks involved, and much more. Welcome to Room for Profit with Gayle Roberts, in episode 195 of Informed Choice Radio. Some questions I ask: -What's driving such fast growth in the short-term lettings market? -How can short-term lettings help with retirement planning? -What factors influence how much you can make from letting a room or property? -How can people get started in this market? -Does it cost much or take long to get a property ready to let? -What risks are associated with allowing strangers to stay in your home? -What were the most interesting examples of property letting you found when you were researching the book? Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.

Each Spring, around 5,000 private investors gather in London to learn from expert speakers how to make the most of their savings, talk directly to CEOs of companies they can invest into, and hear the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and fund managers speak about future trends. Master Investor is now the UK’s leading, must-visit event for private investors. And this year, Informed Choice Radio was invited to attend as an exhibitor. We had a stand in the new personal finance bloggers area of the show, and spent the day meeting other exhibitors, speakers and lots of delegates. In this episode, we speak to Ed Bowsher from Share Radio, Matthew Jennings from Fidelity International and Tom Murray Brown from ECf Solutions, before answering investment questions from a number of visitors to our stand. Personal finance news update -People’s confidence in their personal finances was stronger last month, according to the latest Spending Power Report from Lloyds Bank. -The new £1 coin became legal tender this week. It’s the first new £1 coin to be introduced in more than 30 years and will be the most secure of its kind in the world, as HM Treasury aims to tackle counterfeits. -New research from Aegon UK has found 45% of working age adults have no ISA savings for the purpose of retirement. -Tesco has agreed to pay a fine of £129m to avoid prosecution for overstating its profits in 2014. -Mortgage approvals from banks have reached their lowest level in three months, according to the British Bankers’ Association. Get answers to your personal finance questions Do you have a personal finance or investing question for Martin? Email martin@icfp.co.uk or ask on Twitter @martinbamford. You can call our dedicated podcast voicemail line on 020 8144 2745 with your question or visit www.icradio.co.uk/voicemail to leave an online voice message.

My guest on the podcast today is Dr James Hannam. James writes about the politics and policy decisions behind tax and economics. He’s particularly interested in the reasons the UK tax system works the way it does and the possible consequences of Brexit. He's the author of the new book What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax. His book takes an entertaining and informative look at the UK tax system in all its glory to show you just how much you pay, how the money is collected and how it affects ordinary people every day. Giving context to recent controversies including the Panama Papers, tax avoidance by multinationals, Brexit and more, this book provides a straightforward explanation of tax and the policy behind it for non-specialists — no accounting or legal knowledge is required. James has been a tax accountant for 20 years and currently works for a ‘Big 4’ accountancy firm in London. In addition to his tax writing and consultancy, James is also the author of God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to James about whether taxpayers tend to focus on particular types of taxes, if the wealthy have a different set of rules when it comes to taxation, the golden rules of tax we all need to know about, how the government could reduce levels of tax avoidance, and much more. Welcome to What Everyone Needs To Know About Tax with Dr James Hannam, in episode 193 of Informed Choice Radio. Some questions I ask: -Do you think that as tax payers we tend to focus on one type of tax more than the other? -You mentioned about a third of national income goes to taxes, is this really a case of tax payers taking the time to understand each time they make a payment or each time they receive an income what amount is going away to taxation? -Do you think the perception the wealth pay less tax is justified and is there really one set of rules for them and another for the rest of us? -How much of an issue do you think tax avoidance has become and is that the result of the complexity of the UK tax code or is it because people with larger estates and more wealth simply have more motivation to structure their affairs to avoid tax? -What do you think the best approach for the government would be to reduce tax avoidance? -Will we eventually see a single structure of tax for each different type of employment? -Can you tell our listeners about your three golden rules and why they're so important for tax payers to understand? -Do you have a favourite tax and do you have a least favourite type of tax? -Are there any taxes from history that are particularly interesting?   Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.  

My guest on the podcast today is Lars Kroijer, former hedge fund manager and author of Investing Demystified. Lars was the chief investment officer of Holte Capital, a London-based market neutral special situations hedge fund which he founded in 2002 before returning external capital in the spring of 2008. Prior to establishing Holte Capital, he served in the London office of HBK Investments focusing on special situations investing and event-driven arbitrage. He's also worked at SC Fundamental, a value-focused hedge fund in New York. Lars graduated Magna cum Laude from Harvard University with a degree in economics and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. His first book was "Money Mavericks - Confessions of a Hedge Fund Manager". He's also the author of "Investing Demystified - How to Invest Without Speculation and Sleepless Nights", which has a second edition out next month from FT Publishing. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Lars about what makes investing so complex, why a low cost approach to investing works well for most investors, the lowest risk investment available in the current economic environment, the impact tax and liquidity has on portfolio returns, and much more. Welcome to Investing Demystified with Lars Kroijer, in episode 192 of Informed Choice Radio.   Some questions I ask: -What is it that makes investing so complex? -Why does a low cost approach to invest in work best for most investors? -Where's that line drawn between investors who should go for a low cost passive approach and those that should put their faith in professional fund managers and hope to get better returns? -How can investors go about constructing a portfolio which performs well? -What steps would investors take to determine what the right split was between the equity proportion and the gilt proportion? -What are the lowest risk investments that people can make in this current environment? -How much of an impact does tax and liquidity have on your investment returns? -To what extent does our behaviour influence investment returns?   Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.  

Assumptions are at the very heart of financial planning as they provide the foundations for a robust plan. Because financial planning is more of an art than a science, it is important to make a number of assumptions about what might happen in the future. In this episode of the podcast, I'm talking about some of the key assumptions you need to make in your financial plan. Personal finance news update -Two reports for the government have recommended people wait longer before receiving their state pension. -Higher prices for fuel and food have pushed price inflation to its highest since September 2013.  -The typical property in England and Wales now costs more than seven times the average earnings of employees.  -The proportion of women continuing to work into their 70s has doubled in the past four years, nearly reaching the same level as men doing the same. -New analysis by Royal London shows that the typical person entering residential care will face total bills of between £50,000 and £93,000, depending on where they live. Get answers to your personal finance questions Do you have a personal finance or investing question for Martin? Email martin@icfp.co.uk or ask on Twitter @martinbamford. You can call our dedicated podcast voicemail line on 020 8144 2745 with your question or visit www.icradio.co.uk/voicemail to leave an online voice message.

My guest on the podcast today is Tasneem Clarke, Research Officer at the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. This is a really important conversation, and here's why. People with mental health problems are three times as likely to be in problem debt. The Money and Mental Health Institute was created to change that. They are an independent charity, committed to breaking the link between financial difficulty and mental health problems. To do this, Money and Mental Health conduct research, develop practical policy solutions and work in partnership with both those providing services and those using them to find what really works. The charity was launched last year by MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis, who funded it with a donation of two million pounds. My guest from Money and Mental Health is Research Officer Tasneem Clarke. Tasneem is a social worker currently practising in a mental health crisis team. She has previous experience conducting research for policy and campaigns work in various organisations including Oxfam, Earthrights International, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Tasneem about the link between money problems and mental health problems, why people fail to seek help when they need it, how different mental health issues make it harder to deal with personal finances, the impact of austerity on vulnerable members of society, gaps in the public health system when it comes to helping those with mental health and money problems, what the regulator and others are doing about the issue, and much more. Welcome to Money & Mental Health with Tasneem Clarke, in episode 190 of Informed Choice Radio.   Some questions I ask: -What's the relationship between mental health problems and money troubles? Does one cause the other? -Does a failure to talk about money contribute to these issues? -How can mental health problems affect the way we make important financial decisions? -What impact is austerity having on services for the most vulnerable in society? -Are there any particular gaps in our health system when it comes to mental health and money problems? -Is the Financial Conduct Authority doing enough? -What steps could the banks take to improve their services for people with mental health problems? -Where can people turn for help in times of a mental health and money crisis?   Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.  

My guest on the podcast today is Paul Mumford, one of the longest-serving fund managers in the UK. Paul has 50 years’ experience in the markets as a stockbroker and fund manager. He runs the Cavendish Opportunities Fund, AIM Fund and Select Fund, having launched the first in 1988 as the Glenfriars Opportunities Fund. He is a stock picker who aims to find shares in undervalued companies and often ends up swimming against the tide and buying unloved shares. Paul's new book is The Stock Picker: A financial history from the sharp end. The book is not an investing how-to: instead it is a financial history straight from the horse’s mouth. It contains much from which investors can learn, and is also an evocative window into a vanished City of stock jobbers, messenger boys, luncheon vouchers and ledger-keepers - not to mention financial crises, booms and busts, and the life and death of companies great and small. In the book, Mumford also covers how his own personal life has influenced his stock-picking approach: from running his own bookmaking business as a schoolboy to an ill-fated attempt at oil painting at night school. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Paul about what first attracted him to fund management, what's changed in the world of investing since the 1960s, Paul's secret to finding undervalued companies, any uncertainties he feels when swimming against the investment tide, the signs Paul looks for which suggests investor sentiment will change, some of his less impressive stock pick during his career, what the future might hold for active fund management, and much more. Welcome to The Stock Picker with Paul Mumford, in episode 189 of Informed Choice Radio.   Some questions I ask: -Were you always attracted to investments and was that always a field you wanted to work in from day one? -You mentioned the Big Bang, the deregulation of the stock market. What else has changed in the world of investing since 1963 when you started out in that business? -What's your secret to finding under valued companies? -When you're buying undervalued companies, what are some of the signs you look out for which indicate that sentiments going to improve and there's going to be a good opportunity to sell in the future? -Your approach is very much active fund management, I know the FCA and others have been quite critical recently about the cost and value of active fund management. What do you think the future holds for that approach?   Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.

Today on the podcast, I'm talking about investor sentiment; what is it and why is it so important? With the FTSE 100 index closing at a new record high and rising investment sentiment, we look at the definition of investor sentiment, some useful measures and how it can be applied to your investment decisions. There's also an interview with Martin Dropkin, Director of Research for Fixed Income at Fidelity International, about the latest Fidelity International Analyst Survey. Personal finance news update -The FTSE 100 index of leading company shares has closed as a new record high. -The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold at 0.25%, although one policymaker voted for a rise. -Plans announced in the Budget last week to increase National Insurance contributions for the self-employed have been abandoned. -The basket of goods and services used to calculate price inflation has been updated. -The number of jobs available in London fell by 17% in February, according to data from Morgan McKinley’s latest London Employment Monitor. Get answers to your personal finance questions Do you have a personal finance or investing question for Martin? Email martin@icfp.co.uk or ask on Twitter @martinbamford. You can call our dedicated podcast voicemail line on 020 8144 2745 with your question or visit www.icradio.co.uk/voicemail to leave an online voice message.