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Articles by Robin Powell
What is evidence-based investing?
Evidence-based investing is a way of deciding, not a list of products to buy. Anyone can claim the label, and plenty do, so here are four questions worth putting to anyone who uses it. As a method, evidence-based investing means three things. You work out what the evidence actually supports. You act on it. And you change your mind when the evidence changes. The third part is the one that gets skipped. Nobody owns the term.
When cash pays 5%, why hold shares at all?
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Should you buy an annuity in tranches?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: MoMo Productions/Sakchai Vongsasiripat/Getty Images Most people build an investment portfolio gradually over many decades, through monthly contributions they barely notice. An annuity works the other way. It is bought in one transaction and cannot be undone, often leaving buyers agonising over timing.
What your fund’s top 10 holdings don’t tell you
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For all their talk of investing for the long run, active fund managers like to trade. Take Terry Smith for example, whose flagship Fundsmith Equity fund reported portfolio turnover of 51.8% in the first half of 2026. In his mid-year letter to shareholders, Smith said the fund had started building positions in 12 companies while exiting, or starting to exit, 13 others.
Should you add private equity to your ISA?
Robin Powell Private equity has always been the VIP room of investing. Big institutions got in. You didn't. Now the velvet rope is coming down. From 6 April, the FCA has given the green light to make long-term asset funds eligible for stocks and shares ISAs . But should you add private equity to your ISA? Schroders and Hargreaves Lansdown have already partnered to list the first on a major retail platform. The government, keen to channel household savings into the real economy, is backing the push.
Should you add private equity to your ISA?
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German media group in $767m deal to buy publisher of Daily Telegraph
German news and media giant Axel Springer announced a deal on Friday to buy the publisher of the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in a deal worth £575 million ($767 million). The aim of the deal, according to Axel Springer, is to help the paper become "the most read and intellectually inspiring center-right media outlet in the English-speaking world." "To be the owner of this institution of quality British journalism is a privilege and a duty," said Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner.
Is gold a good investment?
Is gold a good investment at record highs? Millions rushing to buy think so. Academic evidence spanning 200 years tells a different story. From Tokyo to London, from retail investors to professional fund managers, the gold stampede is accelerating. The precious metal hit $4,000 a troy ounce in October 2025 — up more than 50% for the year—on track for its best annual performance since 1979. A record $26 billion poured into gold-backed exchange traded funds during the third quarter.
Is the S&P 500 too concentrated?
If I had £1 for every time I read that index funds are too heavily concentrated in big US tech stocks I would be a very rich man. It is undeniably true. The FT recently reported that the top ten companies accounted for 37.3% of the S&P 500, which, by historical standards, is a very high proportion. Even more remarkably, just 26 stocks made up half the entire value of the index — the lowest number since at least 1980.
Where Does The Good Go?
Cheshta Dhingra talks about how Stewardship in investing has allowed sustainability and profitability to coexist. In today’s dynamic investment world, where fortunes are made and futures are shaped, investor activism has become a potent force for change. This narrative is woven with engagement, advocacy, and sometimes, the strategic decision to disinvest.
Is the trend your friend?
Look in an investment magazine or the money section of a weekend newspaper, and you'll see plenty of suggestions for things to invest in. The ideas are often based on trends or themes that appear to be gathering momentum. It might, for instance, be plant-based meat alternatives or driverless cars, and the reasons for investing always seem so plausible.
Germany’s Lufthansa Cancels Hundreds of Friday Flights Due To Strike
Frankfurt — German flagship airline Lufthansa is cancelling 800 flights scheduled for Friday due to planned strike action by pilots. The cancellations announced by Lufthansa on Thursday represent almost all of the firm's flights out of the main hubs of Munich and Frankfurt, and are expected to affect some 130,000 people.
How professional garden designers approach their outdoor spaces
By Robin Powell May 5, 2022 — 3.45pm What do professional garden designers do with their own gardens? This was one of the questions that lured me to Land Escapism earlier this year. This event, organised by the Australian Landscape Conference, explored our relationship to landscape in general and gardens in particular, with several renowned garden designers revealing their approach to their own gardens. Michael Cooke, based on the Central Coast, has grown his garden over decades.
German cabinet backs landmark climate bill
The German Cabinet has approved a new bill to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions at a faster rate, fixing a goal of becoming climate neutral by 2045. This target is five years earlier than previously planned. The new legislation also sets in stone five-year targets on the path to climate neutrality.
Pacific tsunami warning following New Zealand quakes
© Tourism New Zealand/dpa Wellington (dpa) - A tsunami advisory for much of the Pacific region has been issued, following three major earthquakes off New Zealand on Friday. An 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck about 8:30 am (1930 GMT Thursday) near the Kermadec Islands, some 800 kilometres off the north-east coast of New Zealand's North Island. It followed a 7.4-magnitude quake in the same area, and a 7.1-magnitude quake that struck off the east coast of New Zealand in the early hours of Friday.
Abraham Okusanya: Give closet trackers the PPI treatment
ABRAHAM OKUSANYA is one of the most influential figures in UK financial planning. He’s the founder of the investment and retirement research firm FinalytiQ and of the annual Science of Retirement Conference. He’s also a staunch advocate of low-cost indexing and of greater transparency in the asset management industry. In this interview, Abraham explains how the Science of Retirement Conference came about and how he expects the industry to evolve over the next few years.
Can you really stomach the risk you're taking?
The intellectual argument between evidence-based investing and the big fund management companies is an embarrassingly uneven contest. They have their in-house “research” teams (often closely connected to the marketing department), while we, on our side, have some of the greatest minds in academic finance. Paul Samuelson, Harry Markowitz, William Sharpe, Eugene Fama… How many Nobel Prize-winning economists do you need to convince you that paying for active management is a bad idea?
The wisdom of Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is generally recognised as the most successful, and highly respected, investor in the world. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, has provided excellent returns for its shareholders over many decades. So, what advice has Buffett given over the years to ordinary investors? Well, he’s certainly passed on plenty of it, both in interviews and, in particular, in his annual letter to shareholders.
Apple Asset Management? It probably will happen
I’m not an Apple obsessive. I don’t queue outside the Apple Store at 5am to buy the latest iPhone, and I’m sorry, but £160 for a pair of ear plugs is daylight robbery. But I love my phone, my MacBook and how everything magically syncs with iCloud. It’s simple, intuitive and familiar. So if Apple entered the asset management space and provided a digital investment solution, would I be interested? Yes, I would. Silicon Valley’s encroachment into financial services is already happening.
Harry Markowitz: Why they don't ask me to talk on television
I recently had the great pleasure of spending an hour and a half with Harry Markowitz, one of the biggest names in academic finance. He had so much to say that I’ve divided the interview into two parts, of which this is the second.
Buffett delivers a “sermon" on investing
There are few keener advocates of index funds than Warren Buffett. Over many years, Buffett has consistently stated that indexing is the logical solution for the vast majority of investors. He did it again at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders’ meeting at the weekend — only this time he spoke on the subject at greater length and in even more emphatic language than he has in the past.
Gates Breaks with Apple, Google on FBI Phone Order
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said the US government should be allowed to hack into an Apple iPhone belonging to a gunman who carried out a deadly shooting in California. Gates' view sets him at odds with those of bosses at technology firms Google, WhatsApp and Facebook who have expressed support for Apple's refusal to create a new way — referred to by some as a "back door" — into the iPhone's security system.
Bill Gates Breaks Away from Tech Giants, Sides With FBI on iPhone Hacking
(TNS) -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said the US government should be allowed to hack into an Apple iPhone belonging to a gunman who carried out a deadly shooting in California. Gates' view sets him at odds with those of bosses at technology firms Google, WhatsApp and Facebook who have expressed support for Apple's refusal to create a new way -- referred to by some as a "back door" -- into the iPhone's security system.
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