After a quick look at The Sunday Times Rich List 2019 and being mildly disappointed but not totally surprised that yet again we don’t feature, it was back to the day job and prepare this roundup of the weekend’s money stories.
The Sunday Times led with Vodafone set to abandon pledge to investors and slash dividend in order to pay for expensive auctions for mobile phone airwaves in Germany and Italy.
Another story causing concern for investors (although in this case mostly in the US) is The Time’s ‘Metro Bank pleads for £350m lifeline’ following an accounting blunder which wiped £1.5bn from its market value back in January. And granted that when America has an itch the rest of the world has to scratch, it’s interesting to read how ‘Jittery investors the world over fear Trump’s stance on China‘ could spark an all-out trade war. In the ‘there but for the grace of God’ section, read P2P lender Lendy blown off course after an IT glitch at Barclays stalled payments to its customers.
Continuing with The Times, the article about the ‘Uber float flop’ raises the question that maybe the tech boom has hit its peak.
There’s a revealing ‘Q&A with angel investor Luke Davis’ who runs the boutique private equity house IW Capital.
And for those clients who like to be more hands-on, there’s a warning in ‘Beware of cloned ISAs’; scammers are behind online savings plans which are fakes.
It’s also worth reading ‘InvestEngine to undercut rival robo-advisers’ by charging 0.45% with no other fees, exit penalties or joining charges.
The Sunday Telegraph’s 3000th edition features an interesting report ‘Tech for SMEs – new study’ which highlights growth and key factors.
The Mail on Sunday flags up a warning that ‘Mixed-age couples could lose £7,000 per annum’ as the pension credit cut starts on Wednesday, while it’s worth reading ‘Scientific theory says there IS an easy way to make money’; you can bet some of your clients will have, so forewarned is forearmed.
Here’s to seeing us all on next year’s Rich List…
