Compass Wealth matters

 The stock market often appears to be a complex and risky place in which to invest money. The latter is of course correct: there is risk in almost any action, even inaction carries risk of some sort. Therefore a huge industry has been created over the past century, where experts (fund managers) offer to take care of your money and invest it wisely. According to  a Boston Consulting Group Study  in the asset management industry now manages over $100 trillion dollars. Fund managers operate in a very wide range of disciplines, such as Global Equities, Asian Bonds, Australian Commodities, American Tech, Growth stocks, Cautious Investing and so on. Their primary claim is that they possess the skill and knowledge to "beat the market" over a given time period. So what does "beating the market" actually mean? You hear in the news how the stock markets of the world performed on a certain day. On good news they tend to rise, on unexpected bad news they tend to fall. This perf...

 An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is where a company or Government raises capital from members of the public (and institutions) by offering the chance to buy shares in a firm or State-owned enterprise. Cash in exchange for some ownership and control of the business. Back in the 1980's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expressed her desire to make Britain "a share owning democracy", as she sold a number of State-owned enterprises. There were political and (pressing) economic reasons for her doing this and the legacy is a contentious one. However this may be the first major example of a Government actively encouraging the public to participate in IPOs. There were huge advertising campaigns that anyone living in the UK at the time will remember. Such as the sale of British Gas with the " If you see Sid, tell him " series on television. Thousands of people then invested in the stock market for the first time. Similar privatisation campaigns occurred in other Western ...