News & updates
News & Updates
FCA not yet done with DB transfers
After collecting data from all transfer specialists in the market, the FCA is 'concerned and disappointed' with the number of transfers from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution pensions and is promising further action. Why is the data either surprising or...
You can’t trust the experts to pick winners
It’s one thing for ordinary individual investors to fall into the trap that good past performance makes it look like a fund manager has got star quality. Private investors’ long-time favourite Neil Woodford, Britain’s answer to Warren Buffet, has well and truly sprung...
Surviving a Marxist experiment
In a new paper we address clients' questions about the possible consequences of a Labour Government able to force through an overt or hidden Marxist agenda, together with possible mitigating actions. Read the paper . From the Introduction "Fowler Drew’s approach to...
Rough justice: why (and when) we use ombudsmen
We have rarely seen the advice community as incensed as by the recent FCA-mandated decision to increase the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) maximum award from £150,000 to £350,000, to embrace the larger size of awards arising from transfers from Defined Benefit...
Opting out of the active-management problem
What are we to do about Neil Woodford’s shockingly bad performance? One answer, and possibly the only important one: don't put yourself in this position again. Opt out of active management altogether and go passive. Many investment ‘stars’ over the years have...
An argument for (part) contingent fees
The Work and Pensions Select Committee has called for written submissions to its enquiry into the merit of a ban on 'contingent charges' in the case of transfers from DB pension schemes to personal pensions. Our distinctive approach to fees generally has been driven...
Where the risk is hidden in CDC
Our response to the DWP consultation on CDC focuses on a level-playing field for risk disclosure. We ask for fair and not misleading communication of the risks, preventing any use of 'money illusion' to hide the risks that DB pension plan sponsors and financial...
Is private equity worth it?
Private equity is one of the investment opportunities Fowler Drew clients choose to pass up when they retain us. New research points to why this is sensible. New research; but not a new idea. The theory that private equity merely exposes investors to systematic risk...
Fowler Drew differs from typical investment firms who seek ‘alpha’ for alpha’s sake, instead harvesting low-cost ‘beta’, building towards target outcomes that clients get to define. Their assumptions about how markets behave seem sensible and plausible to this non-expert client. The focus on outcomes helps us to understand what we are doing and why. It’s self-contained, neat and tidy and very suitable for busy lives.