Now we are at the start of 2025, we wanted to take a moment to share our favourite parts of the seminar with you, as well as share further information and articles we’ve worked on over last year to give you more information on some of the topics covered in each presentation.
Funds
James Timpson’s dry wit and clarity explained the changes in the market across the year, covering actions around the globe. Not only did he run through the essentials that the Office for National Statistics have put in or taken out of their CPI (Consumer Price Index) shopping basket, he also took the time to cover inflation, global worries, the market’s reaction to the various elections across the world (especially in the UK and US) and the Japanese equities collapse on 5th August. The latter gave a peek behind a curtain many clients don’t see, as he shared how Courtiers reacted to the news, clarifying that communication was the most important step both internally and externally (the latter through our monthly market updates). The next day, the Nikkei index bounced up again, but it gave a fascinating insight into how we react to such market ‘wobbles’. The Magnificent Seven also garnered a look, showing how they were still high, but dropping from last year.
All of this led to discussing Courtiers’ Fund performance and returns, which James said he was “really pleased with” as we had delivered “strong returns”. You can see these returns in the chart below:
For more information about what’s happened with our funds over the year, you can see that Trustnet praised both the Courtiers Total Return Growth Fund and the Courtiers UK Equity Income Fund, while Portfolio Adviser praised the Courtiers Investment Grade Bond Fund.
Investments
Jake was up next, divulging “where and how we’ve been deploying your capital this year.”
Moving across the world to discuss aspects in each market, he explained how we’ve splashed on MPC Container Ships since 2023 and ‘waited’ on Barclays, plus how the struggles in the Middle East gave us an opening to get into Mercedes in Germany. Unipol Gruppo in Italy has paid back at five times earnings (earnings meaning how much it’s made in profit against our initial investment), but it was the Magnificent Seven he focused on the most.
We’ve spoken about how the Magnificent Seven have acted as a pendulum on the market in a few previous articles, whether listening to Gary explain it here and another on how we are looking to small caps to limit our S&P 500 Magnificent Seven exposure. This seminar though, the conversation expanded to explain that while the US, Taiwan and India are running high, “Everything else is at a discount” and “being prudent pays”.
Other articles around our exposure and investments over this year include Three impacts on our funds – Courtiers Wealth Management, November’s CIO Talk: The time for bonds is over – Courtiers Wealth Management and our article on the FTSE and UK opportunities Best FTSE forward – Courtiers Wealth Management.
Economics
Finally, Gary took to the stage to give a broader overview of where the UK currently sits, where it’s been, and where it may go in the future.
Running through the way the government measure debt and how it’s calculated shows it’s how you tell it, rather than the numbers, that is the real focus. There are three ways to narrate debt: Net Debt (showing everything owed less what’s in the bank), Net financial liabilities (which adds in the portfolio numbers, which for the government includes over £230 billion of student loan fees) and Net Worth, including all assets.
Then there are real wages for households, which shows that, actually, households are doing OK at the moment, with net worth coming in at £11.07 billion – far more than the £2.5 billion debt attributed.
With innovation, high university scores, strong friends and an abundance of capital, it’s no wonder Ray Dalio’s Great Powers Index 2024 marks the UK as high in happiness.
Want to read more? Gary shared his views on GDP, infrastructure and fiscal policy over the past few months, as well as what Trump’s presidency could mean for markets.
A final word:
After the presentations, the Client Seminars moved into a Q&A session, with questions answered by Jake, James and Gary on stage. As we said above, we have collected some of these questions, as well as others asked on the day we didn’t get round to, and put them to Gary in this video, alongside full summaries of the Client Seminar for you to enjoy.
Join James Timpson, Head of Asset Management, who talks about Markets and Courtiers Funds in Coming Up Trumps: A Review of Markets in 2024, Jake Reynolds, Asset Management Director, as he talks about Courtiers Investments in Charting the Course: Navigating Markets in 2024 and Gary Reynolds, Chief Investment Officer, as he discusses economic policy and Government Debt in The Good, The Bad and the Not so Ugly.
If you have any questions to put to any of the teams, please speak to your Courtiers Financial Adviser or get in touch through the Contact Us page.
