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There has been some controversy about the UK lending Ireland £7 billion.

We have our own very serious budget issues, and so surely that is £7bn we could really do with keeping!

Bond markets are concerned that Ireland may default on its debt. This means the yields on Irish government bonds have grown to record levels, increasing the cost of borrowing.

Last week a number of Irish ministers insisted that they have not asked for a bail out, maintaining the country has a credible plan for reducing its deficit.

In the short term Ireland does have sufficient cash reserves to avoid borrowing on the credit markets until next summer, however this has not appeased markets.

There is real concern that several economies, including the UK, might be about to repeat the Japanese experience, where two decades ago a bubble (caused in part by high property prices and cheap access to credit) resulted in a shattering collapse in the stock market.

We recently came across this great quote...

"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.

We finished our 15th year in business on the 1st September and celebrated by treating the staff to a shopping trip with a difference.

Everyone was given £275 in cash to spend at the Trafford Centre. But there was a catch; they had to spend it within an hour!

The credit rating agencies have lost a lot of credibility over the past few years, for their part in the credit crunch.

The fact that they gave some sub-prime mortgage backed securities AAA ratings (the same as they give to the safest governments!) convinced lots of naive institutions to buy them in vast quantities. High returns for low risk, how could they lose!?

To celebrate our 15^th birthday as a business, we are announcing the launch of our own charitable foundation.

When looking at funds, what makes me most nervous is when risk and reward appear to be out of line.

We have been invited to consider a fund recently that provides a 7% annual income, which will rise with inflation. This is a pretty decent return. If you assume inflation is 2.5% per annum, this means that next year the fund could yield around 7.1%, the following year 7.3% etc.

Yesterday’s budget contained very few shocks.

Market reaction was virtually zero. Gilts barely moved whilst sterling rose very slightly. The stockmarket did virtually nothing, although bank shares rose slightly as the proposed bank levy was lower than many thought.

Within the investment team we have all noticed a trend of fund managers pushing their fund by telling us how it will benefit from the fantastic growth enjoyed by China. ... >> Comments (0)

What’s the difference between a crash and a correction? Answer: 5 letters and 15%.

Despite the so called “shock and awe” plan to solve the European debt crisis, markets remain jittery.

The initial response to the European plan was very favourable, as Europe presented a united front to keep the smaller Eurozone countries solvent.

M&S has certainly come a long way of late and have now taken the unprecedented step of stocking other peoples produce!

If academic studies are to be believed, most investors spend most of their time researching entirely the wrong thing.

From a quick glance at recent opinion polls, you would think all three major parties have a chance of winning the upcoming election.

The recent news that the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the US is to sue Goldman Sachs could be just the start.

We are often asked why it is we prefer Unit Trusts over Investment Trusts when Investment Trusts are often seen as low cost alternatives. The answer comes down to risk.

Having hit a recent peak 5,500 the FTSE appears to be on its way back down. As I write this it stands at 5,197, recording a drop of over 5% and therefore half of a correction.  A correction is a very calm word to record a 10% drop in markets which is 40% of a crash, as a crash is officially 25%!

We are delighted to let you know that we have been named the 2010 New Model Adviser Firm of the Year for the Northern region.