Mark Lyttleton is an investment strategy expert with interests in more than 30 different businesses. In addition to providing entrepreneurs with strategic and financial support and advice, Mr Lyttleton also worked for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Blackrock, overseeing the UK Equity Retail Team. In this role, he was credited with growing the fund’s assets from $250 million to $4 billion. This article explores potential private sector investment trends for the coming months.
- Ethical Investing
According to a report published by The Times, more money has been flowing into funds that focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in recent years. Flows into ESG and ethical funds doubled in the 12 months to June 2020, according to data from the Hargreaves Lansdown investment platform, and have continued to grow in the more recent past.
Experts suggest that the pandemic reinforced interest in more diversified portfolios integrating ethical investments, with many experienced investors speculating that the economic fallout from COVID-19 could be repeated if the world fails to reduce carbon emissions. You can learn more about ethical investing by viewing the attached PDF.
- Healthcare
Healthcare investment came to the fore throughout the pandemic and remains prominent as we move through 2022. As Brewin Dolphin investment manager John Moore explains, healthcare was not considered interesting from a growth investment point of view, since it focused on ageing. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 crisis highlighted that we need more innovation in the healthcare sector, something that is long overdue. Obviously there was a need for a vaccine for coronavirus but the fact that patients were forced to stay away from hospitals drove demand for virtual care technologies and smarter, cleaner ways to look after an increasingly unhealthy global population.
Experts predict that European healthcare stocks will continue to struggle for some time. I am more optimistic that companies focusing on the overall wellbeing of patients, rather than just taking another pill, have a bright future. Learn more about the rise in virtual healthcare in the United States by viewing the attached infographic.
- Cryptocurrency
I am often asked about Cryptocurrencies, given their stellar returns over the last decade. Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that function in a similar way to normal currency in that they are a potential store of value, but without the usage (or potential guarantee) from banks and other middlemen. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which achieved a 525% return for investors over the 12 months to January 2022, but has subsequently fallen sharply.
Investors have a variety of crypto investment options to choose from depending on their risk tolerance, from widely used digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to a wide array of tokens with different utilities from Decentralised Finance to Gaming to Web3 Design to pure speculation.
Recent news from crypto has not been positive, with the spectacular, and rapid failure of Luna/Terra, where $40bn was wiped out overnight. My view is that crypto isn’t going away, there will be winners and plenty of losers so be careful and do some research before buying anything. Learn more about how cryptocurrency works by viewing the attached video.