Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 15 May, 2023. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Financial illiteracy
The majority of young people entering adulthood are ‘financially illiterate’, which could harm their ability to make good financial decisions in later life, new research from Compare the Market and MyBnk has revealed.
Research by the two organisations, with support from the Centre of Economics and Business Research (Cebr), found that only two in five (41%) young adults are considered financially literate.
Chris Gilchrist: Saying goodbye
I recently received the third and final instalment of payment for my shares in Fiveways Financial Planning, the IFA business I set up with four colleagues in 2012.
This is the end of my involvement with providing advice, though I hope to go on receiving it for many years.
Quote Of The Day
The ongoing effects of the global pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis are having a major toll on the mental wellbeing of the nation as demand for mental health support services continues to grow.
– Ian Ranger, head of claims and medical underwriting at Canada Life, comments on Mental Health Awareness Week, which starts today
Stat Attack
UK households are still holding billions in accounts that pay zero interest, despite rapid rises in interest rates and high inflation eating away at household savings, says Bowmore Asset Management.
£233bn
Is being held in zero-interest accounts in 2023.
£109bn
More than double what was held in zero-interest accounts in 2013.
0.1% to 4.25%
Even following the Bank of England’s repeated increases in interest rates since late 2021, savers have continued to add to zero-interest accounts, rather than shopping around for better deals.
£231bn
Was held in zero-interest accounts in November 2021.
4.5%
The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates again, and savers are being warned to consider moving their money into higher-interest accounts as soon as possible.
10%
The current inflation rate means ISAs and fixed-rate accounts provide much better value as inflation continues to eat away at the value of savings.
Source: Bowmore Asset Management
In Other News
Evelyn Partners is building its presence in the West Midlands with the appointment of a new financial planner to its Birmingham office.
Nick Hathaway is a chartered financial planner and joins from Jerroms Financial Planning, where he has worked since 2018 and where retirement planning and NHS pension work with senior clinicians were areas of specialism.
He started his financial services career in investment management with EFG Harris Allday before a transition to financial planning. He received the ‘Most Meritorious’ award from the Birmingham Insurance Institute for both completion of the Diploma in 2020 and Advanced Diploma in 2022, of which there is only one recipient each year.
Hathaway has been hired to help facilitate the growth of the Birmingham office.
Working with both our professional services colleagues in Birmingham, and some external professional services firms (particularly law practices), Evelyn Partners is seeing a growing demand for our expertise as our reputation, presence and brand continue to build across the West Midlands.
National IFA partnership Continuum has added chartered financial adviser Stuart Anthony to the London arm of its nationwide team.
He joins Continuum from Alexander House Financial Services, an appointed representative of Quilter, where he was an independent financial planner.
Anthony, who has over ten years of experience in the financial services industry, said the three-way partnership between client, adviser and Continuum was one of the key attractions of joining the Continuum partnership.
Schroders has appointed Peter Hall as chair of Schroders Wealth Management and Mary-Anne Daly as global head of wealth management.
Hall will continue to oversee Schroders’ global wealth strategy and chair the Cazenove Capital and Benchmark boards.
Daly retains her role as chief executive of Cazenove Capital, while also taking ultimate responsibility for the wealth management offices in the Channel Islands, Switzerland, and Singapore.
She will chair the boards of Schroders Channel Islands Ltd. Schroders Bank AG, and Schroders Asia Ltd.
In recognition of the support that he provides to Daly in the daily management of Cazenove Capital, Dominic Emmerson becomes deputy chief executive of the business.
From Elsewhere
Kemi Badenoch flying to Switzerland to discuss post-Brexit trade deal (The Guardian)
US crypto tsar promises crackdown on digital platforms (Financial Times)
Pension savings platform Smart secures £75m funding injection (Sky News)
Did You See?
Catch up on Money Marketing’s most popular stories this week. The FCA warns firms of Consumer Duty deadline and insights from Money Marketing Interactive Leeds. Read more here.
