MJ Mad Dog

Category: Financial Advice

financial advice

  • Week 58 – April 19th – Week 2 of lockdown easing phase 2

    Just checking in regarding my portfolio

    Global equity markets are having the odd weak day, over recent weeks, as investors worry about rising Covid numbers in certain parts of the world (India), earnings not meeting analyst estimates (Netflix) and general market valuations being high.

    I am certainly watching these market movements and fully apricate that we are late in the cycle but I remain unconvinced that we are on a precipice of a significant correction. The reason for maintaining this optimism is, Interest rates are low and will be kept there for some time to come, stimulus measures are still be pumped into markets, and corporate figures, form the US, are on balance still comfortably beating estimates therefore justifying the higher valuations.

    This environment remains positive for equity investing, but I do remain watchful.

  • Week 55 – March 15th – Week 2 of lockdown easing phase 1

    Today we received all the will documents, so that is all sorted.

    I would definitely recommend doing this for peace of mind, especially if you have a family or business.

    You never know what is going to happen

  • Week 55 – March 15th – Week 2 of lockdown easing phase 1

    Portfolio update

    I am delighted to confirm that yesterday we completed March’s monthly rebalance for all 14 MPS portfolios across our active and passive ranges.

    Backdrop to this month’s tactical rebalance: Within the Global economy, there are signs that a rotation is starting to play out from growth to value. Equity markets rose this month but other major asset classes were down for the month of February. Both US and UK equities performed well but emerging markets fell. Being underweight bonds and overweight UK Equities was positive over the month

    The key details of this rebalance are as follows:

    We have reduced the allocation to North American equities which has exposure to growth stocks that are sensitive to rising bond yields.
    We have increased the allocation to Japan where the exposure is more pro-cyclical.
    Overall our Asset Allocation Committee continue to maintain an overweight equity position, based on the medium-term outlook, we believe equities can grind out further gains over the next 12-18 months.
    The next planned re-balance date will be 12 April 2021.
    In the US, a better-than-expected jobs report boosted the Dow and S&P 500, whereas the Nasdaq fell amid another sell-off in technology stocks. The FTSE 100 was the best performer, rising by 2.3% after the budget promised further fiscal support and revealed encouraging economic data

  • Week 54 – March 8th – Week 1 of lockdown easing phase 1

    I wasn’t happy that a delivery from Amazon said that I took the item in, when it was just left on the door step.

    I got £5 credit after complaining, though for some reason it doesn’t show on your account, not sure how that works out.

  • Week 53 – March 1st – Week 9 of lockdown 3 restrictions

    We completed the signing of our will today, because of Covid19 this was done in the solictors car park, thankfully it wasn’t raining.

    I would recommend to do this.

  • Week 49 – February 1st – Week 5 of lockdown 3 restrictions

    Had a chat with my market man as there was a lot going on about short selling this week, thankfully nothing came of it, though it was the first time that my pension portfolio had lost in a week. It had to happen at some point.

  • Week 45 – January 4th – Week 1 of lockdown 3 restrictions

    Making sure that my pension portfolio will hold good for 2021.

    Looking at your question of will there be more job losses after furlough ends in April?

    Firstly, unemployment levels have been rising throughout the pandemic and as of November the unemployment rate stood at 4.8%, a rise of 0.7% over the previous quarter. This seems to suggest that struggling companies are being allowed to go to the wall even with the government support in place. To those that have not lost their jobs this is good news as zombie companies are not being kept alive artificially and the pain of mass unemployment when the support is pulled is reduced.

    We also do not know when the furlough scheme will end as it has already been extended from its previous October deadline and will likely be extended again if the government has to put in place further movement and trading restrictions as we approach the next deadline of the end of April.

    With vaccines being rolled out at unprecedented speeds it is hoped that we will be back to a more normal life by the end of the second quarter, assuming we follow the trajectory of countries such as China that were able to deal far more successfully with the virus than ourselves. This would imply that employment rates would in fact rise, which in turn, could lead to inflation (unlikely for a couple of years).

    As we have all come to understand throughout this pandemic, our leaders are having to be flexible in their approach regularly moving the goal posts making forecasting an even greater difficulty. However, given the course they have sailed to date I believe it unlikely that a huge wave of job losses will be allowed over a short period of time.

    It’s all about STIMULUS.

  • Week 44 – December 28th 2020 – Week 2 of Tier 4 restrictions

    Always good to raise an issue with a provider or service. Today I got 500 points on my Costa card, for saying how I felt about them having people sitting inside in a tier 4 area.

  • Week 44 – December 28th 2020 – Week 2 of Tier 4 restrictions

    Feedback from the year and how my portfolio was doing.

    Thank you for your email and I agree that 2020 was a difficult year on so many fronts. 2021 offers the potential for further equity price growth but this could simply be because there is no alternative (TINA). With the unpresented levels of stimulus that have been put in place to keep economies going through the pandemic we must now be watchful on how governments and central banks row back from these emergency measures and hope that they have learnt from the taper tantrum of 2013.

    According to the valuation I can see this morning the Brewin Dolphin portfolio is now xxxx a gain of nearly 10% since inception in July.

  • Week 43 – December 21st 2020 – Week 1 of Tier 4 restrictions

    Finally!! An early Christmas present, well for me as I voted to leave. They obviously don’t want any other country to leave after this ridiculous long wait!!

    1,645 days after the UK voted to leave the EU, 328 days after we actually departed, the shape of our relationship with our nearest neighbours has been drawn and agreed – only days before the status quo will disappear.

    The deal that will determine how we do business with our biggest trading partner.

    The deal that both sides desperately wanted to achieve.

    But the deal that was not, even though political logic suggested it, inevitable.

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