Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Thursday 7 August 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Retail fund inflows hit £2.9bn in first half of 2025
UK retail investors added £438m to funds in June, pushing total inflows for the first half of 2025 to £2.9bn, according to the Investment Association (IA).
This marks a turnaround from the first quarter’s £1.9bn in outflows, with a more positive second quarter bringing in £4.8bn.
Mixed Asset funds led inflows, attracting £2.6bn. This represents their first consistent period of inflows since 2021. In June alone, the sector saw £502m in inflows, driven by demand for 40–85% equity strategies.
Phil Wickenden: What advisers really want from a model portfolio
Financial advisers are famously clear about what matters when choosing a model portfolio service (MPS). If you believe the surveys, advisers pick their portfolios with all the clinical precision of surgeons: performance first, cost a close second, and client suitability always top-of-mind.
But if you look beneath the reassuring surface of adviser polls, the truth is considerably more nuanced — and altogether more human.
Advisers say they’re performance-driven, but market reality suggests otherwise.
Quote Of The Day
Growth is sluggish, borrowing is maxed out, and Labour has boxed itself in with spending promises and strict fiscal rules. This means tax hikes or spending cuts – or indeed – both are now seemingly inevitable.
-Nigel Green, CEO at deVere Group on impending tax hikes.
Stat Attack
Research from Unbiased found that women have fewer assets than men throughout their working lives, with the gap being most significant in their 50s. This trend reverses after the age of 70, when women’s assets surpass those of men, largely due to factors such as inheriting wealth.
The study highlights include:
60%
Women are projected to own 60% of UK wealth by the end of 2025.
£60,000
On average, women have £60,000 less in assets than men.
45%
Of women are more likely than men to have an inheritance as part of their overall asset wealth.
28%
Of female advice, seekers plan to leave assets to a male partner.
57%
Of men plan to leave assets to a female partner.
Source: Unbiased
In Other News
HSBC Life (UK) has launched new tools to help financial advisers with estate planning, as their research shows a high number of clients have yet to take action on this important issue.
With Inheritance Tax receipts continuing to rise, HSBC Life (UK) aims to support advisers in meeting the growing demand for assistance.
The new resources include a dedicated website section and a comprehensive manual, covering various aspects of estate planning, including wills, trusts, and Inheritance Tax.
This initiative is designed to help advisers deliver good outcomes for clients under the new Consumer Duty rules.
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WTW has partnered with UK-based health data analytics firm Klarity to help life insurers improve pricing accuracy by integrating data from wearable technology into underwriting processes.
Traditional risk measures often overlook key health indicators like resting heart rate, recovery rate, sleep quality, and activity levels. Klarity’s new AI-powered risk scoring tool uses 12 years of health data, spanning over six million life years, to generate individual mortality scores based on data from smartwatches and other wearables.
WTW tested Klarity’s model using U.S. data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and found it provided more precise mortality risk profiles than traditional methods. The model was able to better classify applicants, identify hidden risks, and potentially qualify healthier individuals for better rates.
From Elsewhere
UK house prices rise by the most in six months in July, Halifax says (Reuters)
The winning stocks always rule — but never quite like this (Bloomberg)
Dozens more countries face higher taxes on exports to US as new Trump tariffs come into effect (The Guardian)
Did You See?
Dan Cooper’s latest Behind the Headlines addresses the UK’s retirement savings crisis, a daunting task for the revived Pensions Commission. Millions aren’t saving enough, and future retirees face lower private pension incomes, demanding urgent government action.
Auto-enrolment (AE) boosted workplace pension participation, yet many believe it’s sufficient, and voluntary saving hasn’t grown. This leaves a significant gap, despite AE’s initial success.
The Commission’s remit excludes increasing AE contributions and the triple lock, despite calls. This limitation worries experts, seeing a missed opportunity amidst the cost-of-living crisis.
The Commission will instead focus on public behaviour, education, and fostering better long-term savings habits.
