Investing

As we watch the tragic events unfold in Ukraine, the thoughts of all of us at Nutmeg are with all of the Ukrainian people, and their families and friends who are impacted by the conflict. We know that, just as we have been thinking about the exposure of our portfolios to Russian assets, some of our clients may also be doing the same. With this in mind, we wanted to take a moment to provide an update on our portfolios and the steps we are taking. 

I grew up being very ambitious. My parents were working-class and I always grasped how much more they wanted for myself and my sister. They were immigrants from the Philippines, raising two young girls in South London, working very hard to give us a good start in life. Money was rarely spoken about in the household, nonetheless, I acquired unspoken lessons from them.

Every investor hopes the value of their investments will increase over time. However, sometimes the value of an investment falls, stays flat or fluctuates up and down. When investment values change fast, it is said that financial markets are volatile. But why does market volatility happen? 

Scams come in many different forms and unfortunately, they are getting ever more sophisticated. The tactics used by fraudsters will vary, but all are designed to cheat you out of your money and the financial uncertainty created by the pandemic has created an opportunity for scammers. Knowing how to spot a scam and what you can do if you are the target of one, can help you – and potentially many others – from falling victim.

February brings the dawning of the Year of the Tiger; under the Chinese zodiac system those born this year will be natural leaders, assertive, competitive, and prepared to take risks.  

Fresh into a new year, tapering of monetary support and global economic issues mean we’re expecting a bumpier ride for risk assets, but long-term supportive trends remain very much intact.  

We review the performance and positioning of the Nutmeg Smart Alpha portfolios, powered by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. 

Growing recognition of the collective power of investors has created more interest in socially responsible investing (SRI) – an umbrella term that’s used to describe investing with a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. After three years of SRI at Nutmeg, we spoke to some of our clients about why they chose this investment style.

Just over three years have passed since we launched our socially responsible portfolios, setting out to offer our clients a way to invest in a managed portfolio that incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, while still adhering to the core investment principles we believe are most critical to an investor’s long-term success.

We know that the performance of socially responsible investment (SRI) strategies can be an area of concern for our clients. It’s sometimes assumed that investing with an SRI focus will incur trade-offs when it comes to performance, and potentially lead to lower returns. Here, we lay out how our socially responsible portfolios have performed and what we expect from them in the future.

“I’m getting old, and I need something to rely on”

Since the Covid pandemic first started to spread in early 2020, there’s understandably been much talk in the media around a prolonged economic crisis. When stark warnings like this surround us, our natural tendency can be to take fright and shelter our hard-earned wealth from the turbulence of the investment market.