Author: Matthew Carson

It’s easy to accumulate a mass of financial paperwork over the years. One quick scan of each letter usually leads to putting it in “the paperwork drawer” to be properly considered at a later date. There is always “something more important going on”, but at some point in everyone’s life it is time to sit down and fully consider their financial situation. Retirement seems a long way off when you’re in your twenties, but when you have hit fifty you … Read More

It can be said that some people find the idea of approaching a Financial Adviser very daunting. The general perception is that the adviser will sit them down and bombard them with lots of “noise” about short term stock market movements, the future direction of interest rates and the fund performance of the latest ‘hot’ investment fund. This couldn’t be further from the truth at BRB, where we will concentrate on the aspects of investing that actually matter. We also … Read More

Unless you have been travelling the Silk Road or sailing across the Atlantic, you will no doubt have been following the referendum debate and narrowing polls in Scotland with interest. Wherever your sympathies lie, it would not be unreasonable to have some concern about what this means for your portfolio. As you are no doubt aware, financial markets hate uncertainty, and that is exactly what we have today (and will certainly have more of if the outcome is a victory … Read More

Although the final legislation is not yet in place, it looks likely that you will be able to cash in the whole of your private pension plan from April 2015 (as long as you have attained the age of 55). There are positives and negatives to be had with regards to the new regulations. For some people the instant access to the cash will be beneficial, as they need the money straight away to spend in retirement, or to pay … Read More

The BRB Investment Committee has recently completed a comprehensive review of the investment fund selections within the BRB investment process. As our investment process is based on proven academic evidence and long term data, we have not and do not expect to make any major changes to our investment approach, although we are constantly looking for new types of assets and methods of investing that would satisfy our stringent criteria. Once we have decided on the types of assets in … Read More

Every parent would like to help out their children financially. It’s probably already an important part of your retirement planning, to gift money to your children or your grandchildren in the future; and why not? It’s a great idea. However, it isn’t quite that simple. Something you may need to consider is how much you are able to gift. It can sometimes be difficult to predict how your own finances will be affected should you gift money to a family … Read More

Too often, money gets a bad press. Just in the past few weeks headlines have reported that “Yes, the stock market is rigged”[1] and “City watchdog to probe 30m financial products”[2]. At the same time, investigators are still looking into the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates and the rate that underpins most savings and mortgages. It is hardly surprising that people are put off saving and investing when there are so many scandals. But it’s not all bad news: … Read More