*Highlight text, right click and hit “search google” for more info on any of the featured topics*
The Sunday Times reports how savers are facing life-changing losses after a trusted adviser at St James’s Place, Britain’s largest wealth manager, went rogue and sold investments in an unregulated firm, owned by a schoolfriend, which then went bust.
Obviously, the coronavirus features heavily in all sections of the paper today, but the silver lining is that although spooked investors pulled a record £1.55bn from funds in the final week of February as the UK stock market tumbled by 11.1%, analysis for the Sunday Times shows that rather than wiping out millions of savers’ pensions, the recent market drop still leaves us with a return of 1,864% in the FTSE All-Share index since January 1986.
They also speculate that pensions-wise, the Chancellor is ready to review a tax anomaly that penalises about 1.7 million low-income savers in the budget.
The Sunday Telegraph warns that experts and the City watchdog are concerned there could be conflicts of interests in fund shop best-buy lists.
There are also tips from a financial adviser to the newly super-rich, as Paul Gibson reveals ‘I’ve seen lottery winners lose their fortune’.
Apparently hundreds of thousands of fraud cases have been held back due to a glitch in a reporting system preventing information being passed on to the police.
The Mail on Sunday wonders what will be in the Budget? They concede that the virus outbreak overshadows Sunak’s big debut, but believe that housing, social care help and a business package are likely.
They note that the pension incomes of Britain’s richest retirees are now 17 times higher than those of the poorest as the gap between the two has nearly doubled over the past decade.
They also examine the funds and trusts that rose as stock markets took a big tumble on coronavirus fears.
Just in passing – “Even great people are always slightly disappointing, which is generally what makes them interesting.” (Steve Coogan)
