By Annabel Brodie-Smith
With a Japanese election on October 22 and the political tension in North Korea, it’s topical that this month’s Compass is looking at the prospects for Japan. Investment company managers from the Japan and Japanese Smaller Companies sectors give us their perspectives on the snap election, where they are finding opportunities and the outlook for Japan.
Do watch our video where I talk to Praveen Kumar, Manager of Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon, Nicholas Price, Manager of Fidelity Japanese Values and Andrew Rose, Manager of Schroder Japan Growth Fund. There’s also an article by Richard Aston, Portfolio Manager of CC Japan Income & Growth Trust, on the opportunities presented by Japan.
Many investors tell me how they struggle to choose a platform for their investment company holdings as the pricing structure is a minefield. We’ve done some research with the lang cat, a platform consultancy, to show the cost of holding portfolios of investment companies between £5,000 to £1 million on 26 different direct-to-consumer platforms. Take a look.
To make it easier to understand the lang cat has produced colour-coded tables to show the annual costs (as a % of your invested assets) of investing on each platform.
You may not have heard of the ‘sandwich generation’ but these are people aged 35 to 55, who have elderly parents and children. We’ve done some research with them which shows half (49%) said not having enough money for retirement was their biggest financial concern, followed by their children’s school/university fees (36%) and not being able to help family members financially (23%).
As a member of the sandwich generation I can definitely relate to the concerns expressed but find it depressing that women are less confident about investing in financial markets than men. Clearly, there’s still a need for more financial education on investment.
Finally, allow me to remind you about the 8th annual VCT and EIS Investor Forum, organised by AngelNews, which will be taking place in London on 24th November.
The forum allows private investors to meet with the VCT and EIS fund management community. Keynote speakers for the forum will include Sir John Timpson CBE, owner of Timpson, the UK retail shoe repair chain, and Ian Livingstone CBE, author and entrepreneur. For more information and to register please follow the link below.
The 2017 Nex Exchange VCT and EIS Investor Forum (London)
Hope you have a good October.
Annabel Brodie-Smith Communications Director, AIC