Merryn Talks Money with Bloomberg senior columnist Merryn Somerset Webb is your key to understanding how markets work – and how you can make them work for you. Every episode features a relaxed but in-depth conversation with a fund manager, a strategist, a Bloomberg expert or just someone Merryn finds particularly interesting in any given week. Listen in for the kind of insights and explanations everyone can use to help them make better saving and investing choices.
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb, speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek, about the latest UK inflation figures, whether there's trouble on the horizon for the bond market and what lessons investors can learn from Australian pension funds. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek conclude their mini-series on UK housing with an overview of lesser-known issues that can arise during the home-buying process. The aim of this episode is to help homebuyers learn the things they didn’t know they didn’t know. Webb and Stepek are joined by Anthony Emmerson, director of London mortgage brokers Trinity Financial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sarah Ketterer, chief executive of Causeway Capital Management, which has over $55 billion in assets under management. joins this week’s Merryn Talks Money to discuss why stocks have rebounded from last month’s bloodbath, and why the US market’s long-held dominance is nevertheless shifting as investors increasingly seek value beyond its borders—in Europe, Japan and South Korea. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb, speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about new proposals to get pension funds to invest more in the UK, whether ISA allowances should be adjusted and UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves's current performance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek continue their mini-series on UK housing, with a focus on conveyance. In this context, that means navigating the paperwork and legal requirements involved in the home-buying process, from making an offer to receiving the keys. They speak with Laura Conduit, a specialist property solicitor and partner at Farrer and Co LLP. The trio discuss how to balance price and value when paying for a conveyancer, common stumbling blocks that can derail a sale and why...
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about the Bank of England's somewhat surprising decision, the 'Buy the Dip' mentality that still surrounds US markets, and the UK-US trade pact. Research Merryn references: https://www.convexitymaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Convexity-Maven-Chekhovs-Gun.pdf See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
In this episode of the Merryn Talks Money UK housing mini-series, hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and Money Distilled author John Stepek delve into the complexities of freehold and leasehold properties with guest Anthony Emmerson, who has worked in the mortgage industry for 20 years and is currently director at Trinity Financial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The dollar is wobbling. Not everyone is mad for Treasuries anymore. The US is likely headed for recession and it looks like the future of technology might be in China. What’s an investor to do? Move with the times, says Gavekal founding partner and Chief Executive Officer Louis-Vincent Gave. In other words, you don’t have to invest in the US, and in conversation with Merryn this week, he shares his thoughts on the best places to move your money. Gavekal Research: https://research.gavekal.com/art...
Not long ago, it was seen as too slow, too expensive and too controversial to play a major role in the future energy mix. Not anymore. Nick Lawson, chief executive of investment firm Ocean Wall, and Jake Jurewicz, CEO and co-founder of modular reactor startup Blue Energy, join this week’s Merryn Talks Money to explain why they think nuclear power is becoming one of the most compelling long-term energy bets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb, speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about why the Nvidia share price is a magic number, falling UK mortgage rates, buying the dip and covid-level shortages caused by tariffs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“ Going into the property market without a buying agent is a bit like going to court without a lawyer,” says Black Brick Property Solutions founder Camilla Dell. “You’d never dream of representing yourself, and yet when it comes to buying property, which is often one of the most significant and largest financial commitments that somebody will do in their entire lifetimes, people tend to do that without proper representation.” On this episode of the Merryn Talks Money UK housing mini-series, Dell...
Renowned UK value investor Ben Whitmore joins host Merryn Somerset Webb to discuss why he left Jupiter Asset Management, the mission behind Brickwood Asset Management (his new venture) and the focus behind its first fund. Whitmore is zeroing in on buying shares of undervalued UK companies. He tells us which companies, and speaks more generally about the trends he's seeing in the markets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb, speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about the recent volatility in the markets, significant increases in gold prices and the role of US President Donald Trump in market shifts and the theoretical versus practical independence of central banks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of the Merryn Talks Money UK housing mini-series, hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and Money Distilled author John Stepek are joined by Paula Higgins, founder and chief executive of HomeOwners Alliance, to tackle the question: are new-build properties a wise choice? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek, continue on with part 3 of their UK housing mini-series, they help answer a listener question on the pros and cons of buying a shared ownership property in the UK. They are joined by Ray Boulger, of independent mortgage brokers, John Charcol. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
(This interview was recorded before the market chaos of this week.) On this week’s episode of Merryn Talks Money , Merryn Somerset Webb sits down with economist James Galbraith, who says there’s a problem with economists. The problem, he says, is that almost all of them are working with the wrong models. They look at economics in terms of equilibrium, as though the natural destination of an economy is “some kind of stable state,” Galbraith says. But absolutely nothing else tends to equilibrium. ...
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb, speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about trade wars, the end to American exceptionalism and President Donald Trump might actually be winning. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-04-09/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-basis-trade-spooking-markets See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
In this week’s installment of Merryn Talks Your Money , hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and Money Distilled author John Stepek continue their UK housing mini-series. On this episode, they question the value-add of mortgage brokers when buying a home in Britain. How essential are they? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It wasn’t long ago that China was considered “uninvestable” and that the “exceptional” US market was the only game in town. That’s not the case anymore. According to Edward Cole, Man Group’s head of multi-strategy equities, nothing is permanently exceptional or uninvestable. Once you accept that premise, the great rotation currently underway makes a lot more sense. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this week's roundup, Merryn Somerset Webb, speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about how US tariffs have highlighted a benefit of Brexit and why they believe the minimum wage is too high. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We're kicking off our special series on how to navigate the UK housing market. Professor Yolande Barnes at University College London joins host Merryn Somerset Webb to discuss the market as a whole: what’s the outlook for home prices, what’s the best strategy when purchasing your first property and why the UK is at risk of an oversupply in houses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Alyx Wood, chief investment officer of UK-focused hedge fund Kernow Asset Management, joins Merryn this week. We discuss his contrarian approach to investing, where he is short, where he is long, and why he's decided to focus on UK equities. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this week's roundup, Merryn speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Spring Statement. They discuss what it means for your money, and why despite the Chancellor’s cuts and tweaks, the UK’s fiscal head room remains inadequate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bloomberg personal finance reporter Suzanne Woolley is back on Merryn Talks Your Money . She discusses her latest in the 'Where to Invest' series, where four investment experts share suggestions on where they'd put $1 million right now. Ideas include European stocks, multifamily housing and art. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
UK billionaire Michael Spencer joins Merryn this week to explain why he’s betting big on Nutshell Asset Management’s trading strategy. There isn’t much everyone agrees on in markets. But one thing you rarely hear an argument against is the importance of trading as little as possible. The higher your turnover, the higher your costs go and the worse your overall performance will be. So find good quality stocks you have faith in and hold them for the very long term—Warren Buffett or Nick Train styl...
In this week's roundup, Merryn speaks with Money Distilled newsletter author John Stepek about Chancellor Rachel Reeves's upcoming fiscal event and what it could mean for your finances. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this week’s personal finance edition of Merryn Talks Money , hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek discuss a selection of reader questions. Among them are why pension planning could be different between men and women, what to consider when choosing an Individual Savings Account in the UK and why dying broke might not be such a bad idea. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Troy Asset Management founder Sebastian Lyon joins Merryn this week to talk strategies for protecting your capital in these crazy markets. They also discuss how the low interest-rate environment hit the UK investment trust industry hard, and the way he sees it rebounding, as well as American exceptionalism and why there are good reasons to be cautious about investing in the US, and his outlook for gold. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
The great John Authers, senior markets editor and Opinion columnist at Bloomberg, joins Merryn and John Stepek for this week's roundup. He talks about his time in Frankfurt, explaining "the biggest turning point for German economic policy at least since reunification, and possibly much longer." He also points out why German companies look like good value ( "take 10 percent out of your Mag7 ETF and put it into a Stocks Industrials ETF, and that will move things very quickly") and whether Wall Str...
There’s no tradeoff between net zero and growth in the UK. That’s the conventional wisdom and the position of the current government. But what if it’s the decline in available electricity that’s causing productivity, GDP and living standards to stagnate? New research from Kallum Pickering, chief economist at Peel Hunt, suggests there may indeed be a connection. He joins Merryn Somerset Webb and senior reporter John Stepek on Merryn Talks Money to explain that the rise of power-hungry artificial ...
