Money doesn’t grow on trees, although fund managers and bankers certainly aren’t averse to lurking about in the odd azalea bush judging by the sponsorship line-up at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The annual floral spectacular for 2014 throws open its doors to the public tomorrow. What’s particularly eye-catching is the number of financial…
It’s been my privilege and great pleasure once again to chair the judging for the Headlinemoney media awards. The 2014 awards ceremony took place in London last week; a suitably glitzy affair which The Telegraph described this year as ‘the most significant awards night in personal finance journalism’. You can read about all the winners here,…
I had the pleasure of chairing a roundtable meeting recently which brought together various financial journalists with experts from NFU Mutual, the well-known provider of pensions, investments and insurance. The discussion centred around the Retail Distribution Review, that seismic regulatory initiative which became part of the UK’s financial planning landscape at the beginning of 2013.…
For a Budget which was trailed beforehand as steady-as-she-goes, yesterday’s annual speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the House of Commons was nothing short of stupendous for those involved in personal finance. From money writers making sense of PF issues for their readers, to financial advisers and product providers at the coal face,…
It’s Shrove Tuesday today. A time, traditionally, when people went round singing (or a-shroving) for money at Shrovetide, the day preceding Ash Wednesday and the start therefore of Lent. If the religious connotations are too much then why not just celebrate good old Pancake Day? For the record, I like my served plain but with…
It’s been a week since the Brit Awards/Mastercard/House PR brouhaha. You know the one. #PricelessSurprises and all that. Some commentators, puce with rage at the time, have only just returned to a normal state. Others may never make it back at all. This is the story in Press Gazette which set tongues wagging around the media.…
The annual Headlinemoney awards poll to find the UK’s best financial public relations executives is due to go live tomorrow. So I thought I’d share a mildly uplifting experience which happened earlier this week. Namely, I received an apology from the PR manager of a major financial institution. It’s not the first one I’ve ever…
I was honoured last night to carry out the MC duties for a pensions dinner where the bulk of the 30 or so dinner guests were drawn from senior money journalist ranks and the guest of honour for the evening was the pensions minister, Steve Webb MP. This annual dinner is the brainchild of the…
It’s the middle of January and I’m still reading items by investment experts telling me which markets to pile into during 2014 and those to swerve (in the same way as if you’d just received an invitation to appear on Benefits Street). As stock market watchers and lovers of index funds will know the Footsie…
News emerged over the weekend that the Post Office is extending its pilot scheme in the current account market. The Telegraph claimed the developments as an exclusive and the Financial Times, amongst several other money media outlets, also ran a story on the subject. Both items were follow-ups from a story which first appeared in May…
Money doesn’t grow on trees, although fund managers and bankers certainly aren’t averse to lurking about in the odd azalea bush judging by the sponsorship line-up at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The annual floral spectacular for 2014 throws open its doors to the public tomorrow. What’s particularly eye-catching is the number of financial…
Andy is one of the most knowledgable and perceptive finance journalists I’ve known. He manages to combine deep understanding about a huge breadth of topics with an ability to get at the heart of an issue. He’s passionate about his profession and developing young talent for the future. I’ve always appreciated his ability to understand the commercial aspects of any debate, and importantly he’s damn good fun to be with.