Some interesting financial and investing posts I ran across this week, plus a few decent articles from the newspapers.
This week saw the end to a shibboleth that everyone knew was rotten but nobody ever really believed would leave us.
No, not poor Michael Jackson, an amazing singer and a much-maligned weirdo who seems to have been slandered just for being different. The second album I ever bought was Jackson’s rather weak Bad, but to this day I have to dance when his proper classics – Billie Jean, Thriller, Off the Wall – hit the speakers at a wedding.
I’m actually referring to the FSA’s decision here in the UK to finally ban commission paid to supposedly independent financial advisers.
For decades, advisers have been able to recommend investment bonds or life assurance policies to clients then pick up a 5-10% commission from the financial company behind it, dressed up to the client as a cost of investing.
Even worse have been trail commissions whereby advisers have enjoyed 1% of a client’s return on an investment they sold them for decades. Talk about passive income!
Most people never knew they were paying such fees, or if they did they didn’t understand their impact. Even today, I imagine few realize when their pensions are less than they expected or their endowment mortgage fails to pay for their house just how much of their wealth actually went to their adviser.
So three cheers for the FSA for finally banning it. We can only wonder why it took so long?
From the money and investing blogs
- Wealth Pilgrim gives three reasons against buying oil and gold [1].
- The Psy-Fi Blog warns of the dangers of toxic ETFs [2].
- FiveCentNickel on improving your life [3] through actions.
- Moolanomy explains what 1% is really worth [4].
- Darwin’s Finance has picked out 15 US corporate bonds on good yields [5].
- Amateur Asset Allocator compares rental properties versus REITs [6].
- Oblivious Investor warns us about share tip newsletters [7].
- Brip Brap on the pitfalls of the four-hour work week [8].
Generally UK-related articles from other websites and papers
- Lunch with Warren Buffett [9] is 20% cheaper this year.
- A guest column in the FT explains further why commission for financial advice [10] had to be banned.
- City Wire explains how Michael Jackson spent a fortune [11].
- Vintage wines [12] from the 1980s have returned about 12% a year, says The Guardian.
- The Independent profiles a global multi-currency fund [13]from Schroders .
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