| Happy holidays Commenting on 2021, the UK DIY investment platform InvestEngine’s managing director Andrey Dobrynin writes that investors have increasingly turned to ETFs for a simple, low-cost way to put their money into the stock market.
"This year has seen record inflows, with investors pouring billions into popular funds such as iShares Core MSCI World ETF and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF," Dobrynin says.
"As stock markets have continued to recover following their Covid crash of early 2020, many investors have enjoyed good returns from ETFs tracking equity indexes." He also notes that commission-free investing is no longer a novelty of app-based start-ups, writing that even some of the biggest platforms are moving in this direction.
"At the same time, some of the pioneers of ‘free’ investing are reaching scale, showing that this customer-friendly business model can be sustainable.
"It comes as no surprise that the ‘old guard’ investment platforms are changing their ways. It reinforces what we have seen with our customers for some time: investors want an accessible app-based service, user-friendly features and the lowest cost possible."
In our In My Opinion this week David Wood, Managing Director of Luma’s International Business also address the challenges of an increasingly competitive and cost-constrained world, but takes a slightly different tack, asking how can wealth managers differentiate themselves? Wood believes that one way is for them to offer clients highly tailored advice, Wood says, and to use platforms offering technology solutions to achieve that aim.
Wishing you all happy holidays. The Wealth Adviser newsletter will return in the first week of January.
Beverly Chandler, managing editor, Wealth Adviser
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