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Market Commentary May 2022

Market Commentary May 2022

Introduction April was not a good month for world stock markets. We report on a dozen major markets in the Bulletin: they were all down in the month, with the honorable exception of the UK’s FTSE-100 index, which managed a gain of just 29 points. Why was it such a poor month? The war in …

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The Subscription Scam

The Subscription Scam

The UK seems to be moving inexorably towards becoming a subscription economy. It is now estimated that 65-70% of UK households are signed up to one or more subscription services, with figures from Barclaycard suggesting that the subscription economy is worth £323m a year. Whether it’s Netflix or Spotify, coffee, razor blades or fresh fruit …

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Poor Lady

It’s Unfair! But how Unfair?

It is now a well-documented fact that the pandemic was good for billionaires. According to Oxfam’s annual report on global inequality – always released to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos – the pandemic saw a new billionaire created every day. The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their collective wealth between …

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Financial Commentary April 2022

Market Commentary April 2022

Introduction Once again, the market commentary for our clients is dominated by events in Ukraine. As in March, we have included a special section on Ukraine and – as before – we must stress that ‘at the time of writing’ very much applies to the comments. This month’s market commentary was written on Friday April …

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Millionaire

You’ve Made the Taxman a Millionaire

Publisher, entrepreneur and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin was almost certainly the most-quoted figure of his generation. He is popularly credited with ‘a penny saved is a penny earned’ and, in Advice to a Young Tradesman, Franklin wrote, ‘Remember that time is money’. In November 1789, Franklin wrote to a friend in France: ‘Our new constitution is …

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Working From Home

It’s Work. But Not as We Knew it…

We have written previously about the changes employees want to see post-pandemic. They want a better work/life balance; they want to work for companies whose values they share – and they want their employers to recognise that it’s not just the pay packet at the end of the month. Other things are equally important.  These …

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Market Commentary March 2022

Market Commentary March 2022

Introduction Not the election of Donald Trump, not the US/China trade dispute. Not even Brexit. In all the time we have been writing this Monthly Bulletin, no single issue has so completely dominated a month’s news – or threatened to have such serious consequences – as the outbreak of Coronavirus in China. That was how …

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