Category: Wealth in Practice

Investors in risk assets will be pretty satisfied with the first half of 2024.  Most funds delivered sustained positive results.  Investors were rewarded in almost all asset classes, with equities up over 15% in Euro terms, bonds delivering continued yield, and gold and silver both reaching their highest prices in over a decade. Read Moneycube’s … Continued

Investor interest in money market funds has exploded in the last 18 months.  In 2023, global value of funds in the money market increased 17% to US$ 9.9 trillion according to ratings agency Fitch.  So what’s a money market fund, why would you want to invest in one?  What are the advantages… and the risks? … Continued

Zurich Prisma funds are one of the best-known multi-asset ranges in Ireland. Against comparable funds, they are consistently at or near the top of their peer group. In fact, around 100,000 people in Ireland have invest in Prisma. So what are Zurich Prisma funds, how do they perform, and should you invest in them? What … Continued

For much of the 2010s, investors stuck loyally to TINA.  The mantra was that in an era of rock-bottom interest rates, There Is No Alternative to investing in equities. But with central bank interest rate hikes over the last three years, investment wags pointed out that TARA had arrived on the scene: There Are Reasonable … Continued

China’s stock market hit a five-year low in February. As China celebrates new year, what’s gone wrong? It’s not long since investing in China was the big new opportunity in investment markets.  Alongside the west coast of the US, it was a region of the world capable of building trillion-dollar tech firms.  It had a … Continued

Until six months ago, the Magnificent Seven was a film.  And though there were once the Seven Sisters, these seven companies which dominated the global energy industry – and the stock market – have long faded in prominence. But the exceptional growth in seven mainly technology stocks during 2023 has seen them take the title. … Continued

2023 is ending with momentum. Markets have enjoyed a sustained rally over the last eight weeks, spurred by growing hopes that a ‘soft landing’ can be achieved for the economy while inflation is tamed and interest rates fall. But that disguises a year that was far from plain sailing for investors.  Even at the halfway … Continued

Recovery in the equity markets is spurring hopes that the market for IPOs will pick up in the year ahead.  Read on to discover what that could mean for investors. November was a strong month in investment markets, with Europe recording its best growth since January (the Eurostoxx 600 was up 6.4%), and US markets … Continued

2022 was the worst year for bonds in decades, and the wait for a recovery has continued for most of 2023.  Now there are signs that’s changing. Stabilising inflation, more sensible pricing, and the prospect of interest rate cuts in 2024 makes the bond market look more interesting as the year draws to a close. … Continued