With RDR advisers will be looking at passive funds - Tora.

Investment guru Brian Tora, writing in a July edition of Money Marketing, notes that the independent finance advice (IFA) community will be looking at passive investment funds following the retail distribution review (RDR). IFAs have preferred commission from active funds but there will be RDR changes on adviser remuneration.
Tora reveals that at a recent presentation of investment trusts Aberdeen extolled the merits of its Edinburgh US Investment Trust. This passive fund has a tracking error of just 0.1 per cent. To declare an interest my son has a few shares in this trust.

Some 75 pct of funds fail to beat the index.

I suppose we live in dangerous times!!

G-20 already seems far away. And it was only last week. I doubt if the world's leaders were worried about British government bonds (gilts). I suppose we live in dangerous times. Gilts could be a poor investment if inflation takes off unless they are the index-linked variety. These last type of gilts are a favourite investment of the pension fund of the Bank of England itself itself according to economist Liam Halligan writing in the Sunday Telegraph..
The investment expert Brian Tora writes in moneymarketing.co.uk
that corporate bonds could be hit by either inflation or by a downturn longer than forecast.
I wonder if we need a return to the Goldilocks economy, not too hot or too cold. I know there are some big bets being made over corporate bonds on the basis they are underpriced and that they could provide much-needed income. There is a ghastly alternative scenario and this is that corporate bond defaults will match the 1930s Depression.

Could we get deflation and prolonged recession?

In the moneymarketing.co.uk edition for 19th March 2009 Brian Tora again does an excellent summary of the current financial situation. He muses about the 1970s and the problems suffered by the UK economy then. Tora concludes that "the risk of being out of the market is rising". Before that, he considers that gilts look vulnerable to a correction.
Since then we have had a gilts auction uncovered, which apparently the bond market taking a dim view of HM Government's borrowing plans. We could get a tough budget from Chancellor Alistair Darling, if he ignores his boss Premier Gordon Brown.
The government wants some voter friendly measures in the budget, which is happening late this year. Chancellor Darling will have to come up with a plan to get the public finances on track.

I might have to see an independent financial adviser.

I try (and probably fail) to write a blog aimed at independent financial advisers (IFAs) and obviously I am not one. I like reading the publication MoneyMarketing, which I think is excellent. So quite a few blogs relate to articles from the publication. I really like Brian Tora and Mark Dampier. Then, today I suddenly realised that I am going to have to see an IFA to get some investment ideas. For instance, what do you invest in at the moment? UK equities, even with dividends reinvested, have posted a loss over the past decade. This coincides with Gordon Brown's stewardship of the economy.
Do I invest in yet another pension? Would a modest investment bar me from means-tested benefits when I retire in 15 years time? Will pensioners get any benefits then?
If a company like Rio Tinto can see its share price fall from £70 to just under £20 and get imbroiled in a mighty row over Chinese investment (worrying the Australian government), then it looks like individual equities are out.
Investment funds are supposed to be safer with their diversification but suffer from their poor investment choices and high costs. For instance, UK investment funds were
unable to avoid the disintegration of the British banking sector.
What about buy-to-let, which seemed to answer pension needs at the time? If the UK residential property market is going to tank further in 2009, why buy a loss? Distressed buy-to-let investors would see me as a gullible buyer and would probably not lower the price. However, a real asset might be a long-term winner especially with the pound collapsing.
If I see an IFA, I will let you know how I got on.
www.searchifa.co.uk

I like Brian Tora article on financial crisis.

I like the moneymarketing.co.uk article by Brian Tora on the current financial crisis by looking at the past. For instance, in the early 1970s there was a three day week in the UK and hyperinflation. Tora says this crisis is all about overborrowing with too much money being lent to the wrong people. However, he is confident that we will get through the crisis, which may be once in a lifetime event but is not unique.
Meanwhile, in Brighton the financial firm Antrams has been offering advice for over twenty years. It can handle complex financial planning issues.
In his regular investment article for moneymarketing.co.uk Tora says he is convinced "central banks and governments will find a way out of the situation created out of easy money and greed". However, I think he might have to exclude the bankers Trichet and King, who seem intent on fighting imaginary inflationary battles. It may be that inflation is used to attack the debt mountain in various countries. However, Trichet and King must be more pragmatic and cut interest rates now. Oil and food prices have come down, although the Bank of England governor must be worried about the level of sterling.