Author: Aisha Mahmood
Aisha Mahmood
Aisha Mahmood trained in economics and spent ten years in financial planning before moving to journalism. She worked at a fee-based advisory firm, specialising in retirement income and intergenerational wealth planning, and spent two years at a robo-advisor building the content that was supposed to make people trust algorithms with their pensions. She writes about savings, pensions, tax-efficient investing, and the personal finance decisions that keep people awake at three in the morning. She explains jargon only when she has to and cuts it when she can. Aisha lives in Birmingham. She thinks financial literacy should be on the national curriculum and that most savings ads are aspirational fiction.
Liam Coleman has been appointed Liam Coleman FOS chair on a permanent basis, taking up the role on 10 October for a three-year term after the Financial Conduct Authority secured Treasury approval for the appointment. Coleman, who had been serving as interim chair for the previous year, brings a career spanning financial services, regulation and public sector leadership to one of the most scrutinised bodies in UK retail finance.For investors and savers who rely on the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) as a backstop when disputes with their banks, insurers or investment providers go unresolved, the stability of leadership at the…
The Financial Conduct Authority has put forward an FCA 90-day illiquid fund notice requirement that would fundamentally change how retail investors access their money in property and other hard-to-sell asset funds, under consultation paper CP26/35. For anyone holding such funds inside a SIPP or general investment account, understanding the proposal’s scope and timeline is more pressing than it might first appear. What the FCA is proposing The rules, as drafted, would apply to non-UCITS retail schemes (NURS) where at least 50% of assets are invested in inherently illiquid holdings. Those funds would be required to offer redemptions no more than…
The Financial Conduct Authority has published a consultation proposing a minimum 90-day notice period for redemptions from property and other illiquid retail funds, a move that would directly affect SIPP holders, platform operators and model portfolio providers who currently access these assets through daily-dealing vehicles. The FCA illiquid retail funds proposal was released on 8 October 2026, according to Apolifina, and sits within consultation paper CP26/35.What the FCA illiquid retail funds proposal actually requiresUnder the proposals, non-UCITS retail schemes (NURS) with at least 50% of assets invested in inherently illiquid holdings would be required to offer redemptions no more than…
The Money Marketing Awards 2025 have recognised standout performers across the UK financial advice profession, with the latest results pointing to firms and individuals shaping the quality of retirement and wealth planning available to savers. For investors relying on professional advice to navigate pension drawdown, inheritance tax planning and income sequencing in later life, the firms and advisers being recognised at industry level are worth understanding.Money Marketing Awards 2025: retirement advice in focusWingate Financial Planning has been named Best Retirement Advice Firm at the Money Marketing Awards 2025, one of the most closely watched categories in the profession given the…
Brooks Macdonald CFO appointment brings a seasoned finance director to the helm of the listed wealth manager, with Money Marketing reporting that Lucy Tilley will take up the role on 12 October, replacing Katherine Jones, who has stepped down from the board with immediate effect.Jones joined Brooks Macdonald two years ago. Her departure is described as immediate, with no transition period disclosed. For long-term shareholders accustomed to monitoring the governance of their holdings, an unplanned CFO change at a wealth manager is the kind of event worth pausing over, even when a capable successor is already named.Tilley’s background spans wealth…
Financial advice firm consolidation dominated debate at the Money Marketing Interactive conference, held on 6 October 2026 at County Hall, London, where panellists argued that the size of a practice tells investors remarkably little about the quality of counsel they will receive. Victoria Hicks, chief executive of Melo, opened the discussion bluntly: both the best and the worst financial advice she has encountered has come from small businesses. Greg Moss, who runs Eleven.2 Financial Planning, broadly agreed, acknowledging that ‘big can be good or bad’ before admitting, with some candour, that he ‘hated a lot of’ small firms despite owning…
The Scottish Friendly Fidelity acquisition of pension and annuity in-payment books of business completed on 7 October, with the financial mutual confirming it has taken on £2.3bn in assets and around 35,000 policyholders from Fidelity International. The deal lifts Scottish Friendly’s total assets under management to approximately £6.8bn, a material step-change for a mutual that reported £4.4bn in assets under management at the end of 2025, up from £4.3bn a year earlier, according to Money Marketing. What the Scottish Friendly Fidelity acquisition means for transferring policyholders For the 35,000 customers moving across, the practical question is continuity. Scottish Friendly has…
UK equity fund outflows extended their run in September, with investors withdrawing a net £858m from equity funds while adding more than £1bn to bonds and cash, according to data published by CB Insights on Calastone. Rising yields have made lower-risk assets increasingly attractive, and the shift now looks less like a tactical adjustment and more like a structural reappraisal of portfolio positioning. UK equity fund outflows deepen as the trend enters its second year Calastone’s Fund Flow Index showed equity funds recorded their 15th month of outflows in the last 16, taking year-to-date net withdrawals to £5.45bn. Looked at…
Low-risk portfolio construction is overdue a fundamental review, investment experts told delegates at the Money Marketing Interactive conference, arguing that the assumptions underpinning cautious strategies for much of the post-financial-crisis era may no longer hold in an environment shaped by persistent inflation, elevated interest rates and deepening geopolitical uncertainty.For those managing SIPPs or advising clients approaching retirement, the warning carries particular weight. The cautious, bond-heavy portfolio that preserved capital and generated income reliably for a generation is, according to panellists, no longer the straightforward safe harbour it once appeared.Low-Risk Portfolio Construction Under ScrutinyThe critique centres on duration risk and the…
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