FTAdviser Podcast

The government is looking to make it mandatory for providers to issue simpler statements for certain defined contribution pension schemes used as part of auto-enrolment. But as the proposals stop short of making providers include costs and charges, there still remains disparity across the industry.This week reporter Amy Austin is joined by Claire Trott, head of pensions strategy at St James’s Place, and Jessica List, pensions technical manager at Curtis Banks, to discuss the impact of these proposals.They also discussed the disparity between the Financial Conduct Authority's expectations and the Department for Work & Pensions expectations, as well as the use of pensions terminology. They also discussed the proposals which would allow transfers to be red-flagged to prevent scams.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.

Property investment - be it buy-to-let or commercial property funds - has had a rough time over the past few years. Questions over the liquidity not just of pure bricks and mortar but also issues with daily dealing property unit trusts have caused a lot of concern to investors. There have been fund suspensions following the Brexit vote in 2016 and then again in 2020 as Covid bit into market valuations.And there has been so much tax twiddling that buy-to-let as an investment has become unattractive for all but the most professional investor. So what is left? Is it one's house? Yet as our panel explains, you cannot just rely on the value of your home to provide a lump sum on the sale of it in retirement; and there's also equity release to factor into the equation.This panel of experts tells FTAdviser In Focus how property in its various forms might not be the sole pensionable asset on which you can rely, but can still play a part in a diversified pension plan.Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, is Darius McDermott, founder of FundCalibre; Martin Stewart, director and co-founder of The Money Group; Andrew Tully, technical director for Canada Life; and James Burns, partner, investment management, at Smith & Williamson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published proposals for what it calls a "new consumer duty" which it says will set clearer and higher expectations for firms' standards of care towards consumers.The regulator has said it is concerned about firms providing information which is misleading or difficult to understand, and products or services which don't represent value. It says it wants firms to ask themselves 'would I be happy if I were treated like this?' or 'would I recommend this service to my friends and family?'.This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Sally Plant, head of financial planning at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments, and Stefan Fura, co-founder of advice firm Furnley House.They discuss whether the FCA's proposals are a good idea, how advisers can demonstrate they are taking their duty of care towards consumers seriously, and what changes advisers might need to make if this "new consumer duty" becomes reality.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.

Victims of defined benefit transfer misadvice are facing a double whammy when it comes to compensation calculations.According to campaigners supporting those who have been found by the regulators and compensatory bodies to have been wrongly advised to transfer out, not only do they face wildly differing levels of compensation, depending on when the calculations are carried out, but they also have to bear all the investment risk themselves.This FTAdviser In Focus podcast looks at why the calculation methodology used by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme could leave some former DB pension members with redress worth up to 40 per cent less than peers in a similar situation, and what can be done to ensure the optimum retirement income for these victims. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, famously said open-ended funds which invest in illiquid assets are "built on a lie". This has been particularly evident with property funds, which have been forced to open and close themselves to redemptions repeatedly over the past few years, first in response to Brexit and then because of the coronavirus pandemic.To fix this this the Financial Conduct Authority has proposed a new type of fund: the long-term asset fund, which have "liquidity tools" which could include notice periods, deferred redemptions or limits on the amount of a fund which can be redeemed during a set period.This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell, and Mike Barrett, consulting director at The Lang Cat, to discuss what these new funds could mean for advisers, platforms and discretionary fund managers.They also examine how this fund could work in practice and how it could fit into existing distribution channels, what this means for property as an asset and whether the FCA's attempts to square the liquidity circle are in vain.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.

Joe Biden has now marked more than 100 days of his term as President of the United States. While he has been a lot quieter on Twitter than his predecessor, that is not for a lack of activity.President Biden has signed a $1.9tn stimulus package, put together a $2tn package of infrastructure spending and unveiled a $1.8tn package of reforms on issues such as healthcare and labour laws.By common consensus, Biden is governing more radically than he campaigned. So what does this mean for investors and global markets?This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Ed Smith, head of asset allocation research at Rathbones, and Ilan Chaitowitz, manager of the Nomura Global High Conviction fund, to discuss this.They discuss whether Biden's greater radicalism shows investors and markets can stomach more than expected, what impact the US stimulus might have globally, if debt ultimately doesn't matter all that much and whether the stimulus even matters if trade continues to be tense.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.

One of the clichés of the 21st century is to say data is the new oil but, like a lot of clichés, there's a kernel of truth in there struggling to come out. Indeed companies like Facebook have turned data into an awful lot of money and an awful lot of controversy.But what does this mean for advisers? How can they put the data they hold to good use to improve the service they offer? And what are the pitfalls?This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Nick Eatock, chief executive of Intelliflo, and Russell Andrews, head of solutions at SEI.They discuss what data is in the context of financial advice, what uses advisers can put their data to - both for their own businesses and for their clients, whether advisers are making enough use of it and what regulatory issues there might be.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.

Exceptionally low interest rates, a high level of economic uncertainty and elevated valuations across multiple asset classes have combined with the Covid-19 pandemic to make this a tricky time for all investors, but particularly for those looking for an income.Many companies cut their dividends as they faced the uncertainty of the pandemic, with Shell cutting its dividend for the first time since the Second World War. Overall, UK dividends fell by 54 per cent between April and June.This week FTAdviser special projects editor David Thorpe examines what this means for investors and how they can address it. He is joined by James Harries, the manager of the Troy Global Income fund, and David Lewis, a manager who helps run Jupiter's Merlin range of multi-manager funds.They discuss what impact rising government bond yields could have on income portfolios, the potential for higher inflation and what investors should make of the rise of alternatives - such as music rights and aircraft leasing.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 government has said it will be reviewing the pension advice allowance - which was introduced following the Financial Advice Market Review to help close the advice gap - after most major providers said they either didn't offer it or saw little or no interest.Pensions minister Guy Opperman has admitted the allowance, currently set at £1,500 over three years, was "too low to get an efficacious outcome" and said he was now working with HM Treasury to see if it could be improved.This week reporter Amy Austin examines what future the pension advice allowance might have. She is joined by Peter Glancy, head of pensions and investment policy at Scottish Widows - one of the few providers which offers the allowance - and Tim Morris, a financial adviser at Russell & Co.They discuss why take-up of the allowance has been so poor, how it can be improved to increase interest from advisers and consumers, and how the process of seeking advice on pensions can be made easier.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.

Millions of Britons are being affected by "ill-thought-out rules, which have come into force for the private sector.Whether these are freelancers, concerned about how the rule might be assessed, or businesses worried about how they assess the tax status of every freelance contractor they hire, IR35 has posed problems for both advisers and their clients. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, to talk about what the new rules mean for contractors, clients and for advice firms themselves, are three specialists: Nimesh Shah, chief executive of Blick Rothenberg; Susan Ball, partner at RSMUK and deputy president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation; and Justin Small founder of the Future Strategy Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.