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What’s the best way to teach children about financial literacy?

The following article represents the personal views of Cliff Weight and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I saw this interesting article in the FT: We need people to know the ABC of finance: facing up to the financial literacy crisis. The article showed data on Responses to financial literacy questions around the world. An example: If you had $100 in a savings account and the annual interest rate was 2%, how much would be in the account after 5 years, more than $102, ...

ISS announce pay issues survey results

This article represents the view of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc The issue of skin  in the game and executive pay and how this impacts future share price (and dividends) performance is a crucial one. My favourite quote is from Charlie Munger "you show me the incentives and I will show you the behaviours". So when leading proxy advisor firm ISS announce their plans for next year, it is well worth looking at them. Please note these are their US ...

Closet Indexing – Update

This is a personal blog by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight and does not necessarily represent the views of ShareSoc. I have been concerned about Closet Indexing for some time. As have many others, eg https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-news/closet-index-trackers-are-you-paying-over-the-odds/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-news/closet-index-trackers-investigations-in-progress/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/collective-investments/closet-indexing/ I met with executives from the FCA on 26 July to discuss our concerns. I have also had several conversations with David Rankin from Punter Southall. The latest news is that Harcus Parker have now starting gathering claimants for a class action against Scottish Widows. They have said- Harcus Parker ...

Redcentric Shareholders to Get Their Day in Court

This article represents the views of its author, not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Four years after defects in the published accounts of Redcentric plc (RCN) came to light, a trial of those accused of false accounting and other offences is finally to take place. Law360 reports: ...Fraser Fisher, former chief executive of Redcentric PLC, and the company's ex-chief financial officer, Timothy Coleman, denied charges that they had falsified financial documents and lied to an auditor between 2015 and 2016 when they appeared at ...

BHP – Company Information and Vote Guidance 2021

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in BHP and have recently bought some more.  With sales of c.£50bn, their EV (Enterprise Value = market cap plus debt) of £100 bn is 2 times turnover and this looks much more reasonable than the Diageo shares I recently reviewed and sold. The BHP p/e (forecast) ratio is a very modest 7. For over 15 years BHP have met annually with shareholders ...