Worldwide Financial Planning

The US central bank received a boost after Donald Trump lost a case at the US supreme court over his attempt to fire Fed member Lisa Cook. New chair Kevin Warsh has promised fewer hints about the direction of interest rates, but removing the threat of presidential interference will help maintain the Fed’s credibility if it has to talk markets up or down in future.

Good financial planning makes the future self, real. Not vague retirement. Not “later”. A real person, in a real home, with real heating bills, real food costs, real medical needs, real holidays, and a real desire not to ask the children for money!

This week saw the price of oil return to its pre-conflict level as Brent crude hit $72 a barrel. The price is still above the $67 average seen in January and February, reflecting the run-up in the days before fighting began.

Markets fall. Do something. A fund has a poor year. Do something. A technology fund sits at the top of the table. Do something quickly before everyone else notices, even though everyone else has clearly already noticed, hence the table.

Kevin Warsh, the new boss of the US Federal Reserve, has been keen to make his mark. The US and UK central banks both left interest rates unchanged, as expected, but Warsh has signalled that he wants the Fed to say as little as possible about where rates are heading. What little he did say suggested he sees inflation as too high, and, with the US economy growing strongly, bond markets now expect rate hikes.

I have never understood why your pensions or investments should behave themselves because of an investment diary review date. Should stock markets know how to behave just because you have a date in your diary?