Five things your clients will call you about this week

The fallout from the last week’s market turmoil again dominated the money sections of the Sunday papers. But the phenomenon of vanishing advisers and a possible tidal wave of repossessions also grabbed the eye. It's IFAonline's round-up of the weekend's national newspapers.

Market crash

A piece in The Independent on Sunday urged investors to remain calm and sent out a reassuring reminder that although stock markets suffer occasional downturns they usually bounce back.

Repeating Warren Buffett's now legendary quote - "be greedy when the market is fearful" - it said a plunging market provides a golden opportunity to buy tip-top companies at rock bottom prices.

"All you need is the courage to buy," wrote David Kuo.

Another piece in the IOS analysed the soaring price of gold amid the rush to safety. Whilst the author raised the question that gold could be entering bubble territory, Bestinvest's Adrian Lowcock said the precious metal is resilient to hard knocks and remains a good hedge against inflation in times of economic turbulence.

Hargreaves Lansdown's Danny Cox also played down talk of a bubble, noting strong demand and constrained supply will keep its price high.

Vanishing advisers

Mail on Sunday deputy personal finance editor Richard Dyson ran a piece detailing how consumers have been "let down" by financial advisers.

He said extreme financial conditions have led to advisers "vanishing" after "gushing" investments to clients beforehand.

Repossessions

Meanwhile, an alarming piece in the Observer said a slight change in interest rates could result in a "tidal wave" of repossessions. Housing and debt experts, it said, believe thousands of mortgage borrowers are "poised on a precipice", with only a one or two-quarter point rise in rates pushing them into default.

House prices

The Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, looked at the surging prices of houses at the top end of the scale. Drawing upon research from Investec Private Bank, it noted the recent sharp rise in houses worth £1m or more and compared this against the 0.5% fall in prices across the wider market in the second quarter. London, Surrey, Hertfordshire and Berkshire are amongst the million-plus hotspots.

The Mail also ran a piece on wealth adviser Towry taking steps towards a flotation after chief executive Andrew Fisher initially drew up float plans in 2009.

Ratings agencies

In the wake of the controversial downgrade of the US economy, the Mail  ran an interesting piece on credit agencies, noting the big three "have the power to make the most powerful nations tremble".

The agencies, said the paper, make "unsolicited judgements" on leading nations and raised the question of conflict of interest issues arising from fees paid from bond issuers to agencies.

But it said for the time being the big three agencies will remain a "hugely powerful influence" in the global system whether we like it or not.