Ian Cowie



Profile:
Full name: Ian Cowie

Area of interest: Personal finance

Journals: The Daily Telegraph

Email: [mailto:ian.cowie@telegraph.co.uk ian.cowie@telegraph.co.uk]

Website: Telegraph.co / Ian Cowie

Blog: Sailing blog / Ian Cowie

Representation:

Network:



Biography:
Education:

Career: Joined The Daily Telegraph in 1986, became personal finance editor 1989, also has a sports blog (August 2007) about Yachting

Current position: Personal finance editor

Viewpoints/Insight:

Controversy:

Books:

Latest work:

TV/Radio:

Awards/Honours: Headline Money Awards 2007: Columnist of the Year; The Wincott Foundation Award 2006/07: Personal Financial Journalist

Advisory posts:

Speaking/Conferences:

Other:



The Daily Telegraph:
Column remit: Retail investment: "covering everything from pensions to property"

Section:

Role: Personal finance editor

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:ian.cowie@telegraph.co.uk ian.cowie@telegraph.co.uk]

Website: Telegraph.co / Ian Cowie

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 1050 words



Articles:

 * into Japan needs strong nerves - and a stronger stomach'' - Appetising it was not, but it did seem entirely apt that my first meal in Japan should include a dish described as "two kinds of jellyfish with pickled vegetables" - 8th March 2010
 * should ask themselves why they are staying in cash'' - The Bank of England's decision to switch 70pc of its staff pension fund into index-linked gilts was a heavy hint about what to expect - 22nd January 2010
 * will Skipton's interest rates change affect you?'' - What can homebuyers do about the Skipton rule change and are mortgage rates elsewhere on the way up? Ian Cowie asked the experts - 21st January 2010
 * of retirement disappear for millions'' - More than 20 years ago, the fraudster Peter Clowes told me: "I could have paid them all – if only I had been given more time." - 14th January 2010
 * the emerging markets party over?'' - Too many people are tipping China for the comfort of long-term investors - 31st December 2009
 * shares beat property'' - How many realise that shares remain ahead of property over the past quarter century? - 18th December 2009
 * bashing smokescreen conceals sharp tax rises for everyone'' - Middle England has been 'sold a dummy', accountants say, because all the hype about bankers' bonuses may obscure the fact that ordinary workers will pay six times more tax in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) - 9th December 2009
 * top-rate pension tax relief while you can'' - Next Wednesday's pre-Budget report will be bad news for high earners - 4th December 2009
 * have begun taking profits from shares that are heavily dependent on the consumer'' - Those of us who kept our pension funds fully invested in shares throughout 2009, despite all the worldly wise men warning of disaster to come, have enjoyed an extraordinary stock market rally - 27th November 2009
 * fees: why the Supreme Court was right to stand up for beastly bankers'' - Nobody ever won a popularity contest standing up for the banks but the Supreme Court decision is good news for the vast majority of customers who do not borrow without permission and currently enjoy fee-free banking while in credit - 26th November 2009
 * you want to own a bank, then buy one with overseas exposure'' - The decision for 3m Lloyds shareholders with the £13.5bn rights issue is a genuinely difficult one - 6th November 2009
 * will do a better job than our banks'' - Supermarkets are planning to increase their banking services – and they will probably do a better job than traditional banks - 30th October 2009
 * expenses: Why MPs are unlikely to trigger any embarrassing by-elections'' - Some MPs ordered to repay excessive expenses are, apparently, plotting a backbench revolt. They are considering resigning before the General Election and triggering by-elections - 22nd October 2009
 * praise of 'irresponsible lending' and profitable borrowing to buy'' - If you think "more regulation" is the answer, then consider it possible that you are asking the wrong question - 19th October 2009
 * you put your pension on a politician's promise?'' - Britain’s state pensions are Ponzi schemes on a scale to make the fraudster Bernard Madoff blush - 9th October 2009
 * the Anglo-Saxon gold came to be buried'' - Even in the eighth century, investors worried about inflation eroding the value of paper assets and wondered if they should buy something more tangible... - 2nd October 2009
 * HMRC figures show taxes will have to rise – and steeply'' - The Treasury's predictions of tax revenues last week were depressing but HM Revenue has a far bleaker set of figures - 26th September 2009
 * regulators must act now to safeguard Sipp savers from a dangerous loophole'' - The Equitable Life debacle taught me never to keep too much of my pension in one place – and the news that Sipps suffer from inadequate statutory protection is another reminder - 20th September 2009
 * to time stock markets at your peril'' - Anyone who acted on the old City adage – sell in May and stay away until St Leger's Day – should be feeling a bit foolish as the gee-gees run in the race of that name at Doncaster - 11th September 2009
 * Beatles, the taxman and a tax rate of 79pc'' - From April, those earning more than £100,000 will have their personal allowance confiscated - 10th September 2009
 * the tax on heroes now'' - It's always funny when propaganda goes wrong and Gordon Brown's whistle-stop tour of Afghanistan last weekend provided a corking example - 4th September 2009
 * consensus that this rally has gone 'too far, too fast' should boost our hopes the FTSE will breach 5,000 soon'' - The perennial pessimism about shares has left many experts feeling foolish - 29th August 2009
 * last rites for the 'live now, pay later' culture?'' - Economic doom and gloom is bad for most businesses, but there are a few "scattered bright features" - 26th August 2009
 * cuts by stealth – yet another penalty on thrift'' - A little-noticed change to state pensions is going to leave many women worse off - 22nd August 2009
 * this the phoney recession?'' - Anyone who is still in work and can remember the economic slump at the start of the 1990s may be forgiven for feeling the credit crisis has been something of a non-event so far - 6th August 2009
 * for wounded: the fourth Duke of Westminster to the rescue?'' - Inheritance Tax offers a precedent that could stop the Government cutting soldiers' compensation - 1st August 2009
 * a disastrous decade for shares, but the odds are still in their favour'' - The past decade has been unusually bad for equity-heavy pension funds, but investors should look to the next 10 years - 1st August 2009
 * are dealers' profit margins too wide?'' - With gold trading around US $952 (£580) per ounce this week, that means many vendors are accepting less than £120 per ounce - 24th July 2009
 * now have MPs realised that some of the lowest-paid pay higher marginal rates of tax than millionaires'' - Why has it taken so long for MPs to wake up to the fact that some of the lowest-paid are paying higher marginal rates of tax than millionaires? - 8th July 2009
 * pensions apartheid is here to stay'' - When I first started to write about financial apartheid in Britain's retirement funding system more than a decade ago, I did wonder if I was over-egging things - 26th June 2009
 * prices: further falls look likely'' - Lenders say house prices are rising again. But other indicators hint there is further to fall - 13th June 2009
 * Tragedy of MacBroon enters its final act'' - Comment: MacBroon cuts an increasingly ghoulish figure in Whitehall and, more importantly, on YouTube - 6th June 2009
 * a pay cut could boost your pension'' - Most people will prefer the bird in hand, but those who can afford a longer view may find it profitable to take a pay cut today and build a bigger pension for tomorrow - 30th May 2009
 * taxman doesn't like collusion – what will he make of MPs' identical explanations?''' - MPs should beware of singing from the same hymn sheet on expenses – the taxman may suspect collusion - 30th May 2009
 * and you'll miss it – why you can't time investments in emerging markets'' - When I wrote in this space last week about the remarkable recovery in emerging markets, I scarcely expected events to move forward so quickly. Brazil, Russia, India and China – the BRIC markets – were battered last year but have bounced back in 2009 - 27th May 2009
 * expenses: Why should MPs retain risk-free pensions while the rest of us face an uncertain future?'' - Comment: You may think I am just being silly – or perhaps going soft in the head – but I must admit feeling a pang of pity for Speaker Michael Martin this week - 23rd May 2009
 * expenses: Chris Mullin MP wants to shoot the messenger – me'' - If MPs were taxed like the rest of us, they might be more careful about the taxes they impose on the rest of us - 16th May 2009
 * long as there are people with more money than sense, this asset class should thrive'' - Most modern art fails the skip test; as in, you wouldn't take the stuff home if you found it in one. But the same is true of art from any period. Most of it is rubbish - 5th May 2009
 * end of the world? Life insurance premiums tell a different story'' - First, economic catastrophe. Then a pandemic. Yet, instead of more doom and gloom, I would like to bring you some good news this bank holiday weekend - 2nd May 2009
 * top-earners will be hit by the highest tax in 20 years, our MPs escape Scot-free'' - Perhaps my most practical objection to Chancellor Alistair Darling's attack on high earners and their retirement funds is that it does not go far enough. It should, for example, be extended to include MPs' pensions and their highly-questionable expenses claims - 25th April 2009
 * 2009: Income tax hits highest level in 20 years with clampdown on loopholes'' - what the Budget means for you - 23rd April 2009
 * Chancellor Darling dare to extend stealth taxes in his Budget next week?'' - The electorate swallowed the big lie that the Government would not raise taxes - 17th April 2009
 * you think pensions are boring, how exciting do you think poverty in old age will be?'' - Easter's bank holiday provides pause for thought and, despite the worst economic crisis most of us can remember, may prompt some to be grateful for what we've got - 10th April 2009
 * Jacqui Smith. Most political scandals involve money or sex – not both'' - Why MPs don't spare themselves the embarrassment of relying on ridiculous expenses claims and merely vote for an equivalent pay rise - 6th April 2009
 * to be first victims of quantitative easing'' - Why quantitative easing will knock 10pc off pensioners' income - 28th March 2009
 * does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes, as Mark Twain noted'' - After some of the most dramatic economic upheavals in living memory, the FTSE 100 index of Britain's 100 biggest shares has updated its constituents to reflect waxing and waning corporate fortunes - 20th March 2009
 * pension fund that's never had any money in it'' - Perhaps the most shameful aspect of the current financial crisis is that our children will spend their lives paying to clean up this mess - 28th February 2009
 * only rate of inflation that really matters is your own'' - Figures can be deceptive, face value might not be what it initially seems - 21st February 2009
 * cruel to dub the bank directors the scumbag millionaires'' - When failed banker Sir James Crosby wrote to the regulators to resign this week, did he charge them £35 for the letter? - 14th February 2009
 * shareholders are the forgotten losers in the credit crisis'' - Spare a thought for some of the biggest victims of the credit crunch so far: hundreds of thousands of bankers - 24th January 2009
 * Government bangs another nail into savings culture coffin'' - Bad numbers take longer to add up than good ones, so it should come as no surprise that the long-awaited Government statement on Equitable Life should prove such a desperate disappointment - 17th January 2009
 * HM Revenue & Customs living beyond its means?'' - For the first time ever, the taxman will accept payment by credit card this month - 16th January 2009
 * from Brown's blunder on Britain's gold'' - You may not lose £5.5bn, as our former chancellor did when he offloaded our gold, but beware of selling at the bottom of a bear market - 10th January 2009
 * Nationwide stands up for savers with its decision on tracker mortgages'' - The building society's decision not to pass on future rate cuts offers a lifeline to savers, who outnumber borrowers by seven to one - 3rd January 2009
 * biggest Ponzi scheme: Bernard Madoff's or the British Government's?'' - Just as Bernard Madoff is alleged to have relied on payments in from new investors to pay out returns and promote a $50 billion fund that scarcely existed, our Government continues to issue promises which it hopes future generations will honour - 20th December 2008 (Summary of Bernard Madoff news articles here)
 * are punished for thrift by perverse tax rules'' - Some of the poorest and most vulnerable members of society are the victims of this tax fraud - 14th December 2008
 * mortgage safety net has a fair few holes'' - The Government's mortgage help plan is to be welcomed, but it is not yet clear exactly how it will work - 6th December 2008
 * rates cut: borrowers happy but savers may decide prudence no longer pays'' - Borrowers will breath another sigh of relief after rates were cut for the third month in a row but savers – who outnumber them by six to one – may well decide that prudence no longer pays - 5th December 2008
 * £5billion stealth tax on jobs hidden in pre-Budget report'' - No wonder this week’s effort by Chancellor Alistair Darling felt like a re-run of Life on Mars but without the charm, drama or jokes - 29th November 2008
 * in storm over disclosure of taxpayer data to researchers'' - A year after HM Revenue & Customs lost 25m people's personal data it is writing to some taxpayers telling them it will pass on their names and details to a market research company – unless told not to do so before next Tuesday - 22nd November 2008
 * will pay a heavy price for the Bank’s desperation'' - Savers will pay for the Bank of England’s increasingly desperate attempts to bail out overextended borrowers - 7th November 2008
 * to the future as bank says 'save before you borrow''' - It would once have seemed preposterous for anyone to seek a loan equal to several years' income without demonstrating any ability to save - 1st November 2008
 * tax or treat time for the self-employed'' - More than 9m people required to complete self-assessment tax returns need not be spooked by the new deadline set for Halloween - 27th October 2008
 * we in danger of turning Japanese?'' - Japan's stock market has lost 75 per cent of its capital over two decades - it might be enough to bring tears to your eyes - 22nd October 2008
 * Office 'shamrock' guarantee sounds too good to be true'' - The idea that governments cannot go bust shows how little we learn from experience - 5th October 2008
 * lottery is the least of pensioners' worries'' - Norwich Union aims to pay people with a posh address smaller pensions than those living in poorer areas, as it reckons your postcode can help predict how long you will live - 26th September 2008
 * paying to prop up subsiding house prices – and why they must act soon'' - Some people may wonder how Chancellor Alistair Darling can afford to forgo £600m of precious tax revenue to prop up subsiding house prices - 22nd September 2008

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