Investing

Nutmeg clients are able to easily change the risk profile of their investments, but is this something you should consider given current volatile market conditions?  

Nutmeg believes that the performance of portfolios should be easy for clients to find – it’s one of the reasons we put the performance of all our portfolio ranges on our website, and clients can see how their portfolios are performing 24 hours a day 7 days a week simply by logging in. However, is checking your investments on a daily basis a good idea?  

Concerns around the so-called ‘three R words’ – the conflict in Russia, the threat of Recession, and the impact of rising interest Rates – is unsettling for many people. But how should investors react? 

In this month’s investor update, head of brand design, Tapas Sharma, speaks with our director of investment strategy, Brad Holland, about portfolios in June. They discuss why the FTSE 100 is holding up better relatively than other global markets, the consequence of rising bond yields, and the trades the Nutmeg investment team have made for the months ahead. 

As we entered 2022, we spoke about the need for investors to brace for a more volatile market environment, after a period of relatively muted volatility in 2021. We knew also that central banks globally were beginning to shift away from record-low interest rates towards a normalisation in policy, an act that history informs us tends to be volatility-inducing as investors adjust to the new regime.  

From current accounts to savings or investing pots, it can be difficult to stay on top of the best place to keep your money. Some people will prefer to shop around and change their accounts regularly, while others may prefer to stick to one or two providers for the long-term. Which is right for you will likely come down to your personal circumstances, but here are some things to consider if you’re thinking about updating your accounts.  

A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of personal pension that offers more choice about where and how your investments are placed than a typical pension administered by a pension fund manager. The changing world of work has led many of us to consider opening a SIPP to give us some control over our retirement savings. Learn how SIPPs and other personal pensions differ and which might be best for you. 

Interest in investing has flourished in recent years with more accessible information and coverage on companies, especially household names in tech such as Apple and Alphabet which are now among the world’s largest. While we do track the influence of individual stocks, the Nutmeg team is instead far more concerned with the indices that house them. Here’s why.

Individual definitions may differ, but a ‘bear’ market is generally when a stock market drops in value by 20% or more from its recent highs. This has happened this week in the US with the S&P 500 index, but there’s good reason why those in diversified portfolios should not panic.  

It’s been a challenging year so far for socially responsible investing (SRI), with portfolios across the board having struggled to deliver positive returns. Though there are several factors at play which have impacted short-term performance, in our view the opportunities ahead remain largely positive for this still maturing theme.  

In this month’s Investor Update, paraplanner Matthew Smith speaks with director of investment strategy Brad Holland about why tech stock performance has raised fears of a bear market in equities, yet some of the UK’s largest companies remain buoyed by energy price rises and a cheaper pound. 

Stock markets have been turbulent since the start of the year and there are signs that a bear market might be coming – this is a sustained period of decline in a market which falls 20% or more from its peak.