FTAdviser Podcast

It is no secret the UK housing market is facing one of its biggest supply crises yet. At the start of this year there were 350,980 properties for sale in the UK, 36 per cent fewer than at the start of 2020.As the number of houses available to buyers remains low, house prices have simply continued to rise. In this podcast, FTAdviser is joined by Imran Hussain, a Nottingham-based broker at Harmony Financial Services, and Ellie Bateman, policy officer at Propertymark - the professional body for estate agents. They discuss the housing supply crisis in its current state, and what can be done to solve it.The FTAdviser Podcast is the weekly podcast for financial advisers, brought to you by FTAdviser. Each week, FTAdviser is joined by guests from the industry to discuss the week in news and pressing industry issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Allowances and exemptions can amount to considerable savings and should be considered by every adviser looking to optimise tax savings ahead of the tax year end.But what's on offer, how can they be combined and should advisers prioritise one over the other? Carmen Reichman chats to Shaun Moore, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, about which allowances advisers should be looking at and how they can help reduce the tax burden for their clients. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abridged advice was launched in 2019 to help clients decide whether to go ahead with a defined benefit transfer as part of the Financial Conduct Authority's bid to put an end to unsuitable DB transfers. But has it worked?This week FTAdviser news editor Amy Austin is joined by Fiona Tait, technical director of Intelligent Pensions, and Simon Harrington, senior policy adviser at trade body Pimfa, to discuss whether it has worked.The FTAdviser Podcast is the weekly podcast for financial advisers, brought to you by FTAdviser. Each week, FTAdviser is joined by guests from the industry to discuss the week in news and pressing industry issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are fast approaching the end of the tax year. The tax burden is at its highest in 70 years and from April household incomes are further squeezed by higher rates of National Insurance, higher energy bills and a stubbornly high inflation rate.So what do advisers make of this? What are the tips and tricks for some last minute savings and what does every adviser need to know about the tax year end?Speaking on this week's FTAdviser In Focus podcast are: Paul Stocks, IFA at Continuum, Helen Howcroft, managing director at Equanimity, and Martin Bamford, director of client education and a Chartered Financial Planner at Informed Choice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justin King, chartered financial planner at MFP Wealth Management, Philip Martin, managing director at Unique Financial Planning and Christian Tomaszewski, financial planner at Timothy James & Partners joined Sonia Rach, senior reporter at FTAdviser, to discuss how inflation impacts financial planners. Martin said the industry, and media, needs to think more long-term when it comes to inflation. “We have got to stop reacting to short term moves in the markets that over the medium to long term all empirical evidence shows will eventually smooth themselves out.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alain Desmier, founder of lead generation compliance specialist Contact State, and Emma Thomson, founder of the Women in Protection network, have welcomed efforts in the insurance industry to root out the rogues but said more needs to be done. Speaking to Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, both guests urged the industry to highlight potentially misleading adverts to the regulators. "I believe it is all our duty, if we see an advert we do not like, to report it to the Financial Conduct Authority and to the ASA", Desmier added. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inflation across the globe is spiralling as price of energy rises due to a worldwide squeeze on supplies. In the UK, inflation has reached 5.5 per cent - its highest level in more than a decade - and it is predicted to get even higher over the course of 2022. This surge of inflation was originally expected to be transitory but some are now reassessing this.This week FTAdviser's special projects editor David Thorpe talks to a panel of investment specialists about investing at a time of surging inflation. He is joined by Paul Graig, senior portfolio manager at Quilter, Stephen Bell, chief economist at BMO Global Asset Management, and Christopher Rossbach, chief investment officer at JStern and Co.They discuss the options for central banks and whether they are likely to make mistakes in their monetary policy reactions as they attempt to keep inflation under control. They also discuss whether assets can be expected to react as they normally might given the unusual nature of the Covid-19 recovery and how investing for income might be affected.The FTAdviser Podcast is the weekly podcast for financial advisers, brought to you by FTAdviser. Each week, FTAdviser is joined by guests from the industry to discuss the week in news and pressing industry issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The work and pensions select committee has published a report on the five years of pension freedoms which found that savers needed more support to navigate the pension regime.Overall, the MPs found pension policy had revolved too much around pension pots rather than the individuals who were relying on this money for their later life security.The committee said the government and regulators needed to play a more active role than they did when the pension freedoms were first introduced to help guide savers.This week FTAdviser news editor Amy Austin talks to Stephen Timms, the committee's chairman and a former pensions minister, about the report and the state of the pensions regime.They discuss what how pension freedoms should be reformed, and how savers could be encouraged to seek guidance or even advice.The FTAdviser Podcast is the weekly podcast for financial advisers, brought to you by FTAdviser. Each week, FTAdviser is joined by guests from the industry to discuss the week in news and pressing industry issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During 2020, advisers cited more interest in insurance than ever before. But with figures of sales tailing off in 2021, was this just a blip on the insurance radar? Are people truly seeing the value of protection or is this simply a knee-jerk reaction to Covid? Yet one trend that is emerging is a new proactivity among younger women aged 18 to 30. How can advisers capitalise on this current sentiment to encourage more clients and potential clients to consider taking out important health and life cover? Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser to about where emerging trends might be, are Sue Helmont, marketing director for AIG Life; Kathryn Knowles, co-founder of Cura Financial Services; and Tom Conner, director for Drewberry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For years UK equities have been seen as laggards compared to the US. The UK market has been seen as too focused on value stocks such as banks and oil companies, with the focus on equity income often coming in for criticism. Indeed during 2021 investors pulled £4.4bn from UK equity funds.But has this changed? Since the beginning of 2022, amid rising inflation and interest rates, the Nasdaq has fallen by 12% and the S&P 500 has fallen by 6%. Meanwhile the FTSE 100 has remained stable, rising by a little under 1%.This week reporter Sally Hickey is joined by Ed Smith, co-chief investment officer at Rathbones, and Louise Kernohan, manager of the BNY Mellon UK Equity and BNY Mellon Sustainable UK Opportunities funds.They discuss the what might happen to UK equities if US growth stocks continue to struggle, whether the UK remains too focused on income stocks, why fund managers often appear so much more bullish on the UK than investors and whether attempts to encourage more growth stocks to list in London are likely to work.The FTAdviser Podcast is the weekly podcast for financial advisers, brought to you by FTAdviser. Each week, FTAdviser is joined by guests from the industry to discuss the week in news and pressing industry issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.