Podcasts from The Big Call

Smart beta is sold as a way for private investors to follow sophisticated investment strategies at low cost. These include value (looking for cheap shares) and momentum (investing in companies where the share price is rising fast.) Ed Bowsher discusses the pros and cons with David Stevenson of ETFstream, Nicolas Samaran of Invesco, and market strategist Richard Wiggins.

Interest rates and bond yields are slowly starting to rise in 2018, so it’s a good time to ask what investors should do with their money as we begin to return to a world of monetary normality. Is it time to get out of bonds? Or stay in shares? Ed Bowsher asks James Butterfill, investment strategist, Sean Corrigan of Cantillon Consulting and Russ Mould of AJ Bell.

It’s pretty easy to find investments that can pay you a chunky 5% or 6% yield. The challenge is to find investments where the dividend is sustainable and won’t be cut. Ed Bowsher heads to the “Big Call: Dividend Debate” conference and finds out several tips on how to do this by speaking to: Edward Lam of Somerset Capital Management, Mark Baker of Link Asset Services, Chanchal Samadder of Lyxor and David Stevenson of ETFstream.

Dividend investing isn’t just for retired people who need an income from their share portfolio – it can also be a rewarding strategy for younger investors who can reinvest their dividends. Ed Bowsher finds out more from Adam Laird of Lyxor, Oliver Smith of IG Smart Portfolios, and Laura Suter of the Telegraph.

ESG investing, also known as ethical investment, is a big growth area in investing, especially in ETFs. And it doesn’t just make you feel virtuous, it can also boost your investment performance. Ed Bowsher finds out more from Veronique Menou of MSCI, and John Ditchfield from Castlefield Advisory Partners.

Commercial property has had a good run recently. Does that mean you shouldn’t include any in your portfolio? Ed finds out from Mark Callender, head of property research at Schroders, Colm Lauder of Goodbody stockbrokers, and Scott Longley of ETFstream.

After the market wobble three weeks ago, it looks like share prices will probably be more volatile in 2018. How should investors position their portfolios to cope? Should they put money into ‘diversifiers’ like Gold? And can ETFs help? In the latest edition of the Big Call, Ed Bowsher finds out by chatting to Oliver Smith of IG Smart Portfolios and Sean Corrigan of Cantillon Consulting.

Ed Bowsher gets the lowdown on the latest developments in the ETF world. These include using artificial intelligence to pick stocks, as well as ETFs that invest in themes such as marijuana and electronic gaming.

Will markets carry on rising this year? Is Gold the best insurance policy against something going wrong? And how will the ETF industry evolve? Will ESG be the big theme of the year? Ed Bowsher finds out from James Butterfill of ETF Securities, Adam Laird of Lyxor, David Stevenson of ETFstream and John Davies of S&P Dow Jones.

As the Bitcoin price reaches record highs, Ed Bowsher speaks to three experts to find out what will happen next: Dominic Frisby, author of 'Bitcoin: the future of money', Russ Mould of AJ Bell, and Ryan Radloff from XBT Provider.