Market panic, retirement death & free book tickets

Hello and welcome to another weekly roundup from the team at Informed Choice.

We started the week by asking whether equity markets are in a position to rally.

Trevor Greetham, Head of Multi Asset at Royal London Asset Management, explained that when policy makers start to panic, markets can stop panicking.

Ahead of the Budget next month, the Treasury Committee has been reflecting on the Autumn Statement from December.

They had comments to make about housing policy, revisions to public finance forecasts, and taxation.

Creating and maintaining an emergency fund is one of the foundations of successful Financial Planning.

We looked at what happens when you need to dip into your cash savings in order to cover the costs of an emergency.

The latest price inflation figures were out this week, showing a slight rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of price inflation.

CPI inflation remains well below the Bank of England target of 2% and we don’t expect to see any change to interest rates this year.

Retirement has changed a great deal over the course of a generation. According to a new report, we might even be witnessing the death of retirement.

After a rough start to the year for global equity markets, investor sentiment remains poor.

We took solace from the now famous Warren Buffett quote, “Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful”

Informed Choice in the press

Martin was asked to comment in an article for FE Trustnet this week, about the recent surge in the gold price and whether investors should follow the crowd into this precious metal.

His latest column for Money Marketing explored the reasons for working with local clients, rather than marketing far from home.

He was also quoted in The Times this week, answering a reader question about his retirement planning (subscription required to read this article).

Cranleigh Literature Festival – Free Tickets

Before we leave you this week, a quick reminder that free tickets are available for the two sessions we are sponsoring at the Cranleigh Literature Festival.

These take place on Friday 4th March, starting at 11am with a talk by acclaimed author Chris Budd on How Money Can Buy You Happiness.

Informed Choice managing director Martin Bamford takes the stage at 3.30pm with a talk about writing and publishing non-fiction books.

We hope you can join us at the Cranleigh Literature Festival for one or both of these talks.