With savings rates still weighed down by the lowly bank rate, savers who are increasingly frustrated by low returns are increasingly turning to Peer-to-Peer lending for a better return on their cash. Leonora Walters examines the peer-to-peer market, where lenders can comfortably get up to 8 per cent interest by lending to other consumers or businesses. She also looks at the potential risks and some alternative high income opportunities.
For those who thought building societies were becoming something of an anachronism, think again. Nick Louth examines the remnants of this once widespread sector, how it has survived and thrived since the financial crisis and how investors can plug into the building society success story through Permanent Interest Bearing Shares or PIBS.
In this week's Shares I Love feature, Henderson's star UK smaller companies fund manager Neil Hermon highlights an aerospace and defence play which he has held in his portfolio for more than five years and during which time it has trebled its profits.
The Trader Dominic Picarda's passion for equities has been reignited in recent weeks as the fourth quarter rally has finally found its feet and pressed on. In this week's column Dominic examines the various global indices and gives his verdict on their outlook for the final few weeks of the year. Elsewhere, in this week's video Dominic looks at gold mining equities as a way of playing the gold price.
Want an ETF, but don't want to tightly track an equity index or commodity price? Leonora Walters highlights the increasing number of 'smart beta' ETFs which have been issued recently to provide more bespoke returns, whether they be low volatility or tracking bonds indices based on a country's GDP.
