by Joshua Shaxson, Adviser Support
Following our article late last year explaining our involvement with Trees for Cities, we thought it would be a good idea to show what we as a business are doing to reduce our impact on the environment.
News
Introducing Holden & Partners’ charity of the year: Richard House Hospice
by Aram Kupelian, Paraplanning Manager
Opened in 2000, Richard House is London’s first children’s hospice. Founder Anthea Hare was inspired by her experience as a paediatric nurse and recognises that when a child is diagnosed with a life-limiting or complex health condition, the whole family is affected. Richard House currently provides specialist medical care and support for over 300 children and their families.
What might 2019 hold for Paraplanning?
Professional Paraplanner magazine asked in-house and outsourced Paraplanners for their views on what the next twelve months may hold for paraplanners and the industry as a whole. Aram Kupelian provides some thoughts on how stock-market volatility will put additional importance on reviewing a client’s cashflow plans, how the role of a paraplanner might develop in 2019 and the opportunities that present themselves to paraplanners in the future.
Trees for Cities
by Joshua Shaxson, Adviser Support
Holden & Partners are pleased to announce that we introduced a Charity Team, earlier this year!
As part of our initiative, employees have been granted 2 days every year to volunteer at a charity that we support. The interest and uptake of this scheme has been fantastic, and in October, twelve members of staff visited a primary school in Lambeth, to help a charity called Trees for Cities.
Why financial planners love their profession
New Model Adviser asked a number of financial planners and advisers about their profession, their concerns regarding the industry and how they got into financial planning in the first place. One of our Financial Planners, Stefani Williams, provides her thoughts on the matter, including her concerns regarding the lack of financial education in schools and the fact a large proportion of individual’s knowledge of the profession is based on the negative media coverage of very rare cases.
Read the article “Why financial planners love their profession ” here.
Sustainable Investment
The sustainable investment industry has been given renewed impetus in recent years, as an increasing number of investors recognise the benefits of considering a business’s impact, and the risk and opportunities it may present for financial returns. Index providers have also sought to capitalise on this trend, launching a variety of passive investment products which attempt to quantify and track a range of sustainability metrics.
Whilst lower-cost investment alternatives are often welcomed by investors, it is questionable whether they can provide the same assessment as an active manager when analysing sustainability criteria, much of which can be subjective and quite nuanced. So, should investors stick with active investment solutions that integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and charge accordingly for the privilege, or opt for a cheaper alternative?
Our investment manager, Amelia Sexton, discusses this challenge in the following Money Observer report.
Generating awareness of paraplanning as a career choice
Paraplanners were asked what needs to be done to create greater awareness of paraplanning as a career choice. Aram Kupelian spoke to Professional Paraplanner magazine about how presenting to schools and colleges where students are still considering career options could help to grow interest. Also, why recruiting paraplanners internally has worked well for Holden and Partners.
MIFID II & GDPR Update
MIFID II is the latest re-incarnation of European-wide legislation aimed at increasing transparency in markets and providing improved client protection. It becomes effective on January 3rd, 2018. The main areas in which clients will see a change in the way that they invest, and how Holden & Partners addresses these issues are as follows:
- Record of conversations – whenever your adviser has a conversation with you regarding your investments or financial planning strategy, a recording of that conversation will be made and retained.
- Transaction reporting – financial planning firms will be required to make a report of all transactions made by clients that fall within the scope of the new legislation. To do this all investors will need a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI).
For individuals, this will normally be a National Insurance Number (NINO). Where, for any reason, a NINO is not available, there are prescribed alternatives that can be used. Should it be necessary, Holden & Partners may contact clients regarding any further information that is needed to generate a personal LEI. Any clients who are not contacted may assume that no further information is needed.
For trusts, companies, pension funds, charities, or unincorporated bodies, clients will need to obtain a LEI from the London Stock Exchange. Certain clients may have already received communication from a product provider, or obtained a LEI but, regardless, Holden & Partners will be contacting all clients individually to ensure that they such an identifier before January 2018 and to offer assistance to obtain it, should it be needed.
Market Commentary H1 2017
The first half of 2017 continued in a similar vein to the latter stages of 2016; an extremely supportive period for markets in which numerous global equity indices reached all-time highs. Investors witnessed robust gains in Q1 especially, driven by a raft of positive economic data and the perception of a stronger global recovery. Further advancement was seen in Q2, although movements in the latter stages of the period became more nuanced as investors distinguished between improving corporate earnings and economic data in Europe, and a slight disappointment in expectations in the USA. In contrast to recent years, political and economic surprises were not accompanied by an increase in market volatility – in fact, the VIX index (measuring the volatility of the US equity market) reached its lowest level since 1993, perhaps suggesting that investors are now focusing more heavily on underlying economic growth than the instability created by specific events.
2017’s pro-equity environment started with President Trump’s inauguration in January, as markets were buoyed by the administration’s plans to cut taxes, reduce the regulatory burden on companies, and increase infrastructure spending, alongside the expectation of higher GDP growth and inflation. Nonetheless, the so-called ‘reflation’ trade started to lose momentum within a few months as little progress was made on implementing the reform agenda, with the failure to pass revisions to healthcare legislation in March demonstrating Trump’s inability to deliver on many of his policies. With this came the realisation that a large boost to economic growth was unlikely, and the subsequent unwinding of the rally in value-orientated stocks which had surged since the election result. That being said, equity valuations continued to rise on the back of positive economic data, although this became softer in Q2 as several leading indicators disappointed. The Federal Reserve (Fed) looked through low inflation readings to further tighten policy with a 0.25% interest rate rise in June, whilst the dollar weakened due to a lack of conviction over the success of fiscal expansion and the expectation of other central banks around the world withdrawing monetary stimulus.
The 2017 Budget – Between a rock and a hard place
In the post Brexit environment and with the next general election up to 3 years away, Phillip Hammond could, in his first budget, afford to disappoint those expecting the economy to receive a fiscal boost from new spending initiatives.
The circumspect tone of the 2017 budget seemed to blend with the caution most commentators express regarding the prospects for the UK economy. The absence of clear exit terms as the UK transitions away from EU membership into an unknown and uncertain trading entity, make his caution understandable. Perhaps he is also frustrated by the lack of a clear post Brexit agenda.
