We're going to start with three important statistic before we get on the politics of long term care and increasing AI worries for markets.
IHT liabilities hit £7bn despite fewer estates paying. Money Marketing obtains lots of comments from experts in a neat analysis.
Workplace pensions have risen to £166.1bn despite rise in opt-outs as FTAdviser reports. Nine in 10 UK employees eligible for automatic enrolment (AE) were saving into a workplace pension in 2025, although opt-out rates have risen to around 11-12 per cent, DWP statistics have revealed. That opt out rate may begin to worry policymakers.
Annuity rates reached an 18-year high of 7.75% in July as Professional Adviser reports.
The big political story of the week is the announcement that care reform is to be accelerated.
We have heard all this before. Indeed in the past three decades some 22 reviews and reforms have been suggested and, mostly, shelved.
What is interesting however is that this time the government is pointing this out and the Prime Minister Andy Burnham is promising change with his reputation on the line if it doesn't happen.
The British Medical Journal points out that the Baroness Carey review of care has been brought forward a year with reforms likely to follow.
It writes that "Casey was originally tasked in 2025 with making recommendations for how the government could rebuild the adult social care system to meet the current and future needs of the population.
"Burnham’s announcement came after he had warned earlier this week that unless social care was reformed the health service would “collapse under the weight of trying to care for people.".
The Institute for Government points out that you cannot separate the care issue from politics amid talk of a political consensus.
IFAs probably shouldn't expect change in the next couple of years but in the medium term it may prove significant. Octo Members considers the issue and potential implications for financial and care planning with the headline Burnham simply cannot U-turn on this. Care will be reformed or lose him an election.
In market news, we are seeing increasing nervousness around technology stocks prompting this analysis from the FT about the problem with stock nicknames in this case 'the Magnificent Seven'.
Perhaps even more importantly, the FT is also suggesting that markets are correct to be worried about AI as valuations fall and it suggests a more fundamental shift.
Investment Week in its Deep Dive describes AI as the 'most consequential economic event' of recent times.
Federated Hermes Ltd CEO on Korean AI stocks Saker Nusseibeh talks to Citywire's Heart of Wealth webcast to explain what's going on with Asian AI bets, and why he would back them as a fundamental investor describing them as the same play but much cheaper than US stocks.
None of this suggests that advisers should be shifting client portfolios dramatically, but it might make sense for investment committees to be considering the economic shift.
But there is at least one other red flag making global news. As the Hindustan Times reports Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness unwinds its hedge fund with up to $24B after leveraged AI bets failed.
Royal London's Jamie Jenkins reviews three years of Consumer Duty for Citywire New Model Adviser.
