Five things your clients will call you about this week

This weekend the national papers warned consumers off structured products but backed fixed rate bonds.

Mansion Tax

A piece in Saturday's Mail says communities secretary Eric Pickles has confirmed the government will not bring in a "mansion tax".

The tax on high value property, announced by chancellor George Osborne in the Budget, will penalies middle class families "who are already paying enough" Pickles said.

Fixed rate bonds

Saturday's Telegraph told savers to use fixed rate bonds to beat inflation, after inflation for July was announced at 4.4% last week.

The piece said 5% interest rates are only available on high deposit stocks and shares ISAs, and warned fixed rate bonds are only on the market for around a month; so expect your clients to be in a hurry if one has caught their attention.

Equities and Property

The Independent on Sunday ran a short piece claiming IFAs and their clients are rejecting stocks and property.

According to Legal & General (L&G) research featured in the article, just 72% of IFAs expect to invest client money in equities in 2012 compared to 92% last year.

In 2010, L&G said, 44% of IFAs expected to invest client money in property, compared to 24% who expect to do so next year.

Structured Products

Saturday's Guardian carried a damning article about structured products that may have put clients off the vehicles.

The piece drew on research conducted by Which? last year where it included structured products in a list of the most "useless" financial products.

It went on to quote Miles Standish of Fisher Investments, who claimed: "[Structured products] have high levels of hidden fees, so the cost of the guarantee may not be worth the price paid [and] the guarantee itself may not be all it appears.

"Perversely, the danger is that they attract both people who should not take on any risk, as well as those who could, and I would argue, should take on more risk, but through a well-structured equity portfolio, where they could get a greater return."

Squeezed Middle

First thing this morning the Daily Mail ran a piece online using research from Markit and YouGov, which claims household finances are in a worse state than during the 2009 recession.

The piece claimed debt rose more sharply last month than in any of the nine previous months while take-home pay fell and unemployment rose. Two-thirds of households are now dipping into their savings to make ends meet, the research claimed.