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Wealth Manager’s Charges Still High

There were a couple of interesting articles in the FT over the weekend (27/8/2016) on the costs to investors of having someone else manage your portfolio. Data from Grant Thornton suggests that investors who buy investment advice and financial products from mass market investment groups are still paying 2.56% per annum on average. This is only down from 2.86% in 2012 when the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) which unbundled product commissions was expected to reduce them substantially. Indeed product costs may have ...

Youinvest Charges Postscript

I previously commented, both on this blog and in the ShareSoc Informer Newsletter, on the revised charges that Youinvest announced on the 9th August. The impact on SIPP investors with largish portfolios of direct investments (shares or investment trusts) seemed to be minimal. But the increase in custody charges on funds caused more than one ShareSoc member to complain. The introduction of a custody charge on holding shares, investment trusts, ETFs, gilts and bonds in SIPPs, ISAs and Direct Dealing accounts may ...

Please Vote Against Berkeley Remuneration

ShareSoc has advised investors to vote against the Remuneration Report at Berkeley Group. Is a total pay figure of £21 million in 2015/16 for Executive Chairman Tony Pidgley justifiable on any grounds at all? It has surely arisen as the result of an over generous LTIP scheme which shareholders voted for without realising the possible consequences. LTIP schemes have been one source of the ever growing pay of public company directors and if we are to reign in pay levels we ...

Companies House Records May Be Lost

The last ShareSoc Informer Newsletter contained an article on the ease with which one can look up the past history of company directors in the new free service provided...

BHP Billiton Meeting and Other ShareSoc Events

ShareSoc has organised a meeting for investors with BHP Billiton Plc on the 29th September at 11.15 am at their London offices. The meeting will consist of a presentation followed by Q&A and then a buffet lunch meeting with BHP Billiton members of staff. BHP Billiton announced their latest annual results on 16th August and the FT had this to say: “Writedowns and impairments have dragged BHP Billiton to its biggest annual loss, capping off a troubled year for the Anglo Australian miner ...