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Ten questions to ask your financial advisor before handing over your cash

The Bernard Madoff scandal has sent ripples of fear through investors around the world. If the wealthy and well-connected people who put money into Madoff’s fund can be fooled, they ask, what hope is there for the rest of us?

But there are ways in which ordinary investors can help minimise their chances of buying into an unsafe fund. With the help of Justin Urquhart Stewart, of Seven Investment Management, we have put together a list of ten questions that investors should ask their financial advisor before handing over any money.

The experts' top 10 investment picks for 2009

It takes a brave investor to put money into stocks and shares after the carnage that has taken place in 2008.
But for those individuals ready to tuck away a bit more money for the future, Times Money has come up with a list of ten funds to buy in 2009.
We asked ten investment experts for one recommendation each, with no restriction on the type of fund or the risk level. Here are their choices.

Don't follow the herd

Although people like to think of themselves as independent-minded souls the reality is that, when it comes to investment, they tend to follow the herd.

Unsung heroes

Some investment groups are natural headline grabbers while others shun the limelight

Lies, damned lies and statistics

The person who coined the phrase “there are lies, damned lies and statistics” had a point. It’s all too easy to use a particular set of figures to prove a point.

Every dog has its day

Each year a number of financial experts produce a list of ‘dog’ funds, which have performed consistently poorly over a number of years when compared with their peers.

Your flexible fund

Many people expected that the new rules governing investment funds, known as UCITS III, which came into force in April 2004, would lead to many equity fund managers making use of the greater flexibility they offered

Beware bond funds

The latest performance figures for corporate bond funds make grim reading for the private investors who have poured millions into them over the past five years

Don't neglect your Isas

This is traditionally the ‘fallow’ time for investors in Individual Savings Accounts (Isas). After the rush to buy an Isa before the end of the tax year in April they tend to fold their arms and forget about these tax-efficient investments until the season starts again next January.

The temptations of overseas property

This month’s launch of the New Star International Property fund promises to be one of the most significant of the year for the industry as a whole.

Fund managers are like fine wines

When Tony Blair steps down as Prime Minister next month after a decade in Downing Street he will be the longest-serving Labour premier in history and one of the longest-serving of all time from any party.

Pushing the frontiers out

An up and coming fund management group is set to go where other fund groups fear to tread when it launches a new investment trust next month.

Multi-managers have their uses

Whether you love them or hate them, multi-manager funds can provide canny investors with a wealth of information

Questions to ask your hedge fund manager

So now it’s official - UK private investors will be able to put their cash into funds of hedge funds from early 2008.

Is this a New Dawn for Japan?

The Japanese stock market has experienced so many false dawns since the early 1990s that commentators are wary of being too optimistic about it for fear of being proved wrong again.

Principles and profits can go hand in hand

Ethical investors will be heartened by two pieces of news this week

Should you invest in Russia and China?

The stock markets of both Russia and China have boomed in the past year, propelling funds investing in these countries to the top of the performance tables.

Slaughtering sacred cows

Unit trust investors are continuing to pour money into commercial property. It was the single most popular asset for private investors putting money into funds last year.

Fees are no guide to performance

Fund charges across Europe are rising, but investors are not getting better performance for the extra money they are paying.

Build your team from the back

Most fund managers like to emphasise their positive stockpicking abilities when they talk about how they run their funds.