Asking the Right Questions
Returning to Dublin for December 6th Workshop
This workshop is particularly timely, given that the European IORP II directive comes into effect in January 2019 for Irish pension schemes, requiring trustees to disclose how they consider the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in their investment decision-making processes. Sharing key learnings…
Human Capital: An asset class in its own right
You are wealthy. You just haven’t realised it yet. The traditional way people think about their wealth tends to focus on their accumulated financial assets, i.e. savings, investments, pension, property or any other claim on ownership. Think of this as your financial capital. However,…
Boring pensions and the corporate mindset
Speaking last week at the annual conference for the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association, Sir Lenny Henry provided some sensible advice on how the pensions industry can communicate better with members. Humour. In a segment entitled, “CAN SHAKESPEARE HELP BRITAIN SAVE?”, the comedian said…
Retirement planning; the future is not that far away
In the film “Back to the Future”, Marty McFly transported from 1985 to the year 2015 in the Doc’s DeLorean time machine. The fact that they had flying cars in the future shows how far away 2015 seemed to those in 1985. Now while…
What do you want?
Over the weekend I watched Good Will Hunting, without doubt my favourite movie. I must have watched it well over a hundred times at this stage. The movie which earned two Oscars, Best Original Screenplay for writers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and Best…
Thoughts on BREXIT, breaking up with Europe
Sacré bleu! Hearts are breaking across Europe, as the European establishment has been jolted by the surprise result that Britain has voted to leave. As one might expect the initial reaction has been an emotional one, the innate fight-or-flight response of market participants has…
The Investment Challenge: In One Chart
If I was asked for one chart to sum up the current investment environment, the below would be it. This chart shows the German yield curve, which plots the yields on German government bonds with maturities ranging from 1 month to 30 years. The…
Choose your future now…
Choose your future. Choose a dream. Choose adventure. Choose new interests. Choose the freedom to travel, choose lying on a beach drinking a cold beer, white sand, turquoise waters, and soothing ocean waves. Choose sitting on your deck on balmy nights looking up at…
2016, we go again!
Well, we go again. Another year, new resolutions, new goals or perhaps for some a preference to just drift and lament what ‘they would do different, if they only had the time, or the money’. Whatever your current situation or perception of the world,…
Reflecting on another year gone by
With another year drawing to a close, I found myself reading some quotes on reflection over the weekend, as I thought about how quickly the years seem to be passing. Turning 34 in a few weeks, on January 3rd for anyone who wants to…
