Money

The Morning Briefing: Brooks buys advice firm and pension ‘ticking time bomb’

Published

3 days ago

September 17, 2024

The Morning Briefing: Phoenix Group scraps plans to sell protection business; advisers tweak processes

Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Tuesday 17 September 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.

Brooks buys advice firm

Brooks Macdonald Group has announced the acquisition of Norwich-based Lucas Fettes Financial Planning.

Completion is subject to regulatory approval, which is expected no later than the first quarter of 2025.

Lucas Fettes has around £890m assets under advice (AUA) in total, spread across 1,600 personal clients.

Pension ‘ticking time bomb’

The pension sector has reacted to a pension report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighting that millions of UK workers are not saving enough for their retirement.

According to the IFS the lack of enough contribution towards retirement has created a “ticking time bomb” for pension savers.

Women key to UK’s financial resilience

When it comes to protection, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for clients, says Women in Protection network’s Emma Thomson.

We need to tailor our methods to improve the financial resilience of different groups of people. This is particularly relevant to the way we engage with males and females.

Quote Of The Day

People want to live internationally and also have their investment interests internationally based – there are evident upsides to diversifying in this way, not least in respect of managing risk.

– Michael Harman, commercial director, private client at Ocorian, comments on research by the business which found that family offices are opening more physical offices in different jurisdictions as family members move abroad

Stat Attack

The majority of UK-based wealth managers and IFAs say their clients have invested in financial instruments that provide leveraged exposure, according to new research from GraniteShares – a global issuer of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs).

85%

UK-based wealth managers and IFAs say their clients have invested in financial instruments that provide leveraged exposure

66%

Of them favour the use of certificates to leverage on long or short prices

31%

Say ETPs/ETFs are their clients’ preferred wrapper

Cite contract for difference

Of wealth managers and IFAs say their clients have not previously invested in leveraged products but are considering it

94%

Are seeing an increase in interest from clients wanting to short stocks

46%

Of those are aiming to generate a profit from tactical investing

14%

Are looking to hedge an opposite position

40%

Say their clients want to short stocks for both of these reasons

Source: GraniteShares

In Other News

Verso Investment Management has appointed Will Vaughan as client director.

He joins from Brown Shipley, where as client adviser he created bespoke financial plans and investment solutions, within tax efficient wrappers, to meet clients’ goals and requirements.

He brings an impressive track record in managing high-net-worth portfolios that meet clients’ performance objectives.

Vaughan reunites with James Robertson, his portfolio management partner at Brown Shipley, who joined Verso earlier this year.

Together, they will continue their successful collaboration running Verso’s new investment service, Verso Private Client.

Vaughan’s appointment continues Verso’s strategy to broaden its investment offering to meet the evolving needs of its clients and advisers.

Starmer’s plan to court investors depends on fixing Thames Water (Bloomberg)

Rachel Reeves must show that she’s serious about boosting growth (Financial Times)

Tackling UK ill health is vital to economic growth, says IPPR (The Guardian)

Did You See?

What a night at the 2024 Money Marketing Awards in association with Fundment.

A huge thank you to our guests for attending, our judges and sponsors for their support and congratulations to all our winners and highly commended.

View our gallery of the night here: https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/mm-awards/money-marketing-awards-2024/

View all the winners here: https://moneymarketingawards.co.uk/2024/en/page/2024-winners

To register your interest for the 2025 Awards, click here: https://moneymarketingawards.co.uk/2024/en/page/register-your-interest

Ethereum is still home to the most active crypto developers and is the most attractive chain to build applications on top of for big companies, argues Bitwise’s Matt Hougan.

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