Back in 1998, the author Michael Lewis, then a columnist for Bloomberg, wrote as follows:
"When historians of everyday life look back on 20th-century American capitalism they will be astonished by the role played by our stockbrokers. Certainly, it will be hard for them to explain to their readers the willingness of a prosperous American to hand his life savings over to a more or less perfect stranger in the mistaken belief that a) their interests are identical and b) the stranger has some special insight into the stock market. The reader will regard us with the same awe that we now regard those brave and seemingly mad souls who rode in wagon trains and fought Indians simply to get to California."
When Michael Lewis wrote that piece I was working for Merrill Lynch (Private Banking) and my role was not altogether dissimilar to that of a stockbroker – I was being paid to advise private clients about the management of their portfolios. At around the same time, the market capitalisation of Merrill Lynch – the largest "full-service" stockbroker in the US – had just been overtaken by that of Charles Schwab, a discount stockbroker operating largely online. It was clear to me that the tectonic plates of the financial services world were starting to slide. Within a year or so, I had elected to move on, leaving large banking institutions behind me forever.
Did you miss any of the great presentations from our record -breaking event on the 25th of March? Now you can browse through and check out the insights of top commentators including Jim Mellon, Tom Stevenson, Gonçalo de Vasconcelos, and Justin Urquhart Stewart.
by Nick Sudbury| Funds| 5 mins. to read One of the advantages of using investment trusts is that if you get the timing right you can benefit from the strong performance of the underlying assets and a narrowing of the discount.
by Zak Mir | Trading | 1 mins. to read The latest news regarding Imagination Technologies (LON:IMG) really has been something of a shocker, with the company taking quite a hit from Apple's decision to walk.
by Filipe R Costa | Economics | 6 mins. to read Financial markets have been on an impressive run since Donald Trump was elected in November. The S&P 500 is up 10.7%, the Dow is up 13.1% and the MSCI World (which is a proxy for developed markets) is up 9.9%.
by Evil Knievil | Evil Diaries | 1 mins. to read Further analysis: readers will recall that last week the question of the analysis of the £60bn claimed by the EU from us arose since it was clear that nobody seemed to know the answer.
Material contained within Master Investor Magazine and its website is for general information purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon by individual readers in making (or refraining from making) any specific investment decisions. Master Investor Ltd. does not accept any liability for any losses suffered by any user as a result or any such descision.
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