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Could Italy tear the EU apart?

“One theme which could dictate near term direction for markets and which, arguably, Brexit has reignited and brought back to the forefront, is the ailing and fragile state of the Italian banking sector,” Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid commented in his Early Morning Reid note back in July. Italy’s financial sector is plagued by an enormous surfeit of bad loans so great that the government was, in April, forced into rallying bank executives, insurers and investors to put €5 billion (£4.2 billion, $5.57 billion) behind a rescue fund for its weakest banks. 

EU rules are rigid and state that bond holders should bail out the banks, as in most countries the holders of the bonds are sophisticated people who have made returns in excess of the safe rate that represents the risk. But if you look at Italy it represents a case where, for a variety of historical reasons, among the bondholders there appear to be a lot of ordinary individuals. If that is the case, when you make them bear the cost you are really going after depositors, this happened in Cyprus and, to a certain extent, is what happened in Spain with CAM Bank and Bankia.

It would appear that the EU rule that you ought to let the bondholders bear the cost looks like it may not be the right rule for Italy. European rigidity may have very high costs both for democracy and for Italy, and for – if there’s a referendum in Italy – the future of the eurozone.

If you would like advice on wealth management I am here to help you. To arrange an independent, professional and impartial consultation or review of your current banking / investment portfolio, please contact me by email christina.brady@blacktowerfm.com or call me on 658 892 330.

 

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Pensions may strengthen for the younger generation

Pound coinsIt’s never too early to start saving for a pension – you’ve no doubt heard that one before, perhaps while searching for pension advice online or in news reports on the financial future of pensioners in this country.

Hopefully, you took note of it and started saving as soon as you possibly could, thinking of your retirement planning long before other milestones such as getting married or having children. Maybe you left it a little later. Either way, solid financial planning, which may involve pension transfer advice from a professional financial adviser, should help you make secure financial decisions.

Young workers today don’t need to have someone to remind them that they should be saving for retirement thanks to auto-enrolment, which is a scheme that makes sure, unless they choose to opt out, all workers pay part of their salary into a private pension scheme. As almost everyone could do with starting their retirement saving as early as possible, auto-enrolment is a great idea, and now it appears that it could be the main factor in the improvement of future pension incomes, settling fears that some young savers may have regarding the prosperity of their long-term future.

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Are you willing to turn to ‘robo-advice’?

robo adviceSo, you’re wondering – what is ‘robo-advice’?  There is a growing market in the UK of online offerings where, instead of going for a consultation with a financial adviser, you use a questionnaire devised by the provider which, depending on your responses, advises you where best to put your cash.  Investors are placed in a broad investment strategy that, in theory, suits their objectives and attitude to risk. These strategies largely consist of passive investments which ‘track’ an index.

The move has come about in response to the retail distribution review which ruled on how advisers were paid and, in essence, meant they had to charge an up-front fee.  This led to many advisers devising a minimum sum they would accept for a consultation.  Clearly someone with a modest pot of money might feel that the charge was too great and therefore miss out on the opportunity to receive professional advice.

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