In the spring, a surge was reported in the number of people enquiring about and opening savings accounts, as they sought to secure the best rates, before interest rate cuts fed through to savings rates and to benefit from a secure home for their money.

For UK savers, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) can provide a safeguard adding a valuable level of

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a widespread impact on all aspects of our finances, including retirement planning. However, while recent stock market volatility undoubtedly poses a challenge, particularly for those close to retirement, it is important not to allow the outbreak to derail your plans.

A resilient retirement plan

One thing the pandemic has vividly

Most of our clients have multi-asset funds of some description. Not everyone will have Aviva funds but we thought it was interesting to share their house view from Guillaume Paillet,

You can watch the video interview with Guillaume here. or read the summary below

Week in review

• COVID-19 continued to dominate headlines in what was a mixed week for equity markets. •

I was really interested to see how our communications had been received, since we couldn’t see clients face to face. We have been picking up the phone, using every video app available, sending e-mails and even resorting to the postal system.

Average scores across the board for telephone, letter and e-mail communications were all 8.5/10 or higher, with telephone calls

• Values based investing is our preferred term for what some might call “ethical”, “sustainable” or “socially responsible” investing.

• Vales are personal, so fund managers may differ in opinion as to what constitutes “ethical”

• You can apply negative criteria to help choose which funds might match your values e.g. a fund that does NOT invest in tobacco manufacture and

Putting off retirement has been a feature of modern life for some time as state retirement age gets pushed back and the prospect of a longer life makes retiring at 60 very expensive.

However according to research by Legal and General it looks as though the economic disruption as a result of the Corona Virus outbreak has given an increasing number of would be retirees

I keep reading that we will begin a new normal, that everything will change and nothing will ever be the same again. Thanks to the pandemic lockdown we have learned new habits and discovered a different way of living. I’m not sure. I think that after a period of time, things will pretty much revert to how they were. I’m not saying that some good won’t come of this. I’m

I’m no psychologist, but part of my job when Marketing FMB is to think about what messages will hit home when talking to clients and potential new clients. I’ve just been listening to a webinar by Dr Thomas Mather from the Behavioural Insights Team at Aegon Cofunds to learn more about how people make decisions about their finances.

95% of our decision making comes from