Summertime
And ‘the livin’ is easy’ apparently. Well, that was according to Louis and Ella singing that fabulous song more years ago than even I can care to remember. However, as we wonder whatever happened to any decent summer weather here in the UK this year, the usual summer lull in business activity in the world of financial services seems to have been notably absent. For myself and the team here at IFA Magazine, we’ve had our busiest summer ever. Perhaps that was to do with the introduction of Consumer Duty on July 31st but maybe not.
Whatever you’ve been doing this summer, we hope that you’ve managed to fit in a decent break along the way and are recharged and ready for a busy autumn season ahead.
Consumer Duty is here
With the introduction of the FCA’s Consumer Duty, have come sweeping changes to the world of advice and wealth management. In this edition of IFA Magazine, we’ve selected a few interesting opinions and ideas from expert contributors which we hope will keep you focused on using the legislation to best advantage and to delivering a service based on excellence, as well as compliance, for your clients.
Fixed Income in the spotlight
So many of the investment managers we’ve spoken to lately have been pointing out the considerable opportunities that they’re seeing in Fixed Income markets. These include LGIM’s Matthew Rees and Colin Reedie (this month’s cover stars) and whose interview with us features as this month’s centre spread. Matthew and Colin were clear that they feel their ability to combine active and passive approaches in an active way gives them the best of both worlds when it comes to making the most of today’s opportunities.
When we think back to this time last year, as we looked on incredulously as the country swung from one crisis to another and the trouble which impacted Fixed Income, it’s interesting to see how twelve months can make such a difference to the sector. It’s also good to remind ourselves how market volatility, such as the huge drops in value of fixed income securities in the aftermath of the Truss/Kwarteng debacle, can produce buying opportunities for those who know where to look and those committed to being more active players.
But there’s a lot more…
As usual, in this edition of IFA Magazine we aim to bring you a selection of articles which we hope will give you a flavour of some of the thoughts, ideas, trends, developments etc that might just aid your thinking as an adviser.
Of course, there’s always great stuff posted daily on www.IFAMagazine.com to help you keep tabs on what’s going on, who’s thinking what etc. Interestingly, over the past year, we’ve seen a big pick up in popularity amongst readers of our Mortgage and Property content coverage on www.IFAMagazine.com. It’s because of this that we’re including a few articles on these particularly challenging markets in this (see pages 45 onwards), and subsequent editions of the magazine.
If you’d rather hear the spoken word, then do check out our hugely popular weekly podcast, IFA Talk. We’ve had some great conversations and all are available to listen in. Why not take us with you when you’re out on a walk or in the car? Visit https://staging.ifamagazine.com/category/podcasts/ to tune in.
Sue Whitbread
Editor, IFA Magazine
