Share Sounds related to Investing in Funds

This is The Apprentice Investor. Regular listeners to the show will know that our Apprentices are five members of the Share Radio team who've each been given fifteen thousand pounds of virtual money to build their own individual share portfolios. They have a minimum of eight stocks, which they've been buying and selling through The Share Centre. So how are those portfolios? Are they in rude health or in need of the mother of all financial workouts? Apprentices Alexi Phillips and Ruby Johnson have joined Juliette Foster in the studio and standing by with some observations and extremely useful advice is Share Radio's Senior Analyst Ed Bowsher.

Linda Lewis heads over to Snact this week, a company that makes fruit jerky from surplus fruit. She meets founders Ilana Taub and Michael Minch Dixon, asking them how they set up the company. The pair convey their passion for cutting food waste, their aim to collect unwanted fruit from markets and suppliers, and turn it into something that people would want to buy.

This is the Investment Trust show in association with Henderson Global Investors, this week, Lord Flight, non-executive chairman of the Aurora Investment Trust, James de Sausmarez, Director and Head of Investment Trusts at Henderson and Share Radio Senior Analyst Ed Bowsher will be helping Ed Mitchell look at the role of directors on an investment trust, board.

Investment Perspectives: In the wake of the Panama Papers revelations, The European Commission recently announced it would be taking steps to increase tax transparency, and crack down on off-shore havens. Under new proposals revealed on April 12th, the Commission will be putting forward legislation, requiring firms operating in Europe with sales of over £600m to publish details of how much they earn and how much tax they pay on a country-by-country basis. To offer his analysis of the proposals, Ed Mitchell from Investment Perspectives is joined by Alex Cobham, Director of Research at the Tax Justice Network.

This is Crowdfunders on Share Radio, the show that covers the fast-growing world of alternative finance, hosted by Share Radio’s Senior Analyst, Ed Bowsher. In today's show, Ed speaks to the founder of a company that's making pink gin using raspberries. The gin is called Pinkster and you can invest in the company on the Growthdeck platform. Also in the spotlight is an equity crowdfunding campaign for a company that is now in administration. The company is called Rebus, and the question is: did this crowdfunding campaign give investors all the relevant information? And over in the world of peer to peer lending, today's crowdfunders takes a look at the issue of tax. It's especially topical now that the innovative finance isa has been launched - it's supposed to protect any interest you earn on peer to peer sites from income tax.

Investment Perspectives: This is Share Radio's regular look at investing in smaller companies, either directly or indirectly through a fund managed by a full time professional manager. Ed Mitchell's guest today in the studio is Henry Lowson, UK fund manager at Axa Framlington where he has managed the Axa Framlington UK smaller companies fund since may 2012.

Investment Perspectives: As you've been hearing in the news, the International Monetary Fund has warned that Europe faces severe economic and political damage if Britain votes to leave the EU in June's upcoming referendum. In its latest global update the IMF claimed a BREXIT would disrupt established trading relationships and cause "major challenges" for both the UK and the rest of Europe. Campaigners who want Britain to leave Europe say that IMF forecasts about Britain and other countries had been "consistently wrong" and that the biggest risks were "remaining in an unreformed EU". Arguments over whether Britain should stay in our out of Europe are of limited help to investors looking to position their financial portfolios in the run up to the vote. So where are the safe havens to put the money? Is it worth making any plans or should investors just sit tight and see how the drama plays out? Nizam Hamid, ETF Strategist at WisdomTree Europe and he joins Investment Perspectives presenter Juliette Foster, in the studio.

A very good afternoon and welcome to today's edition of the Apprentice Investor. Regular listeners to the show will know that our Apprentices are five members of the Share Radio team who've each been given fifteen thousand pounds of virtual money to build their own individual share portfolios. They have a minimum of eight stocks, which they've been buying and selling through The Share Centre. So, how well are they doing? Are they feeling in a celebratory mood or is it a day for drowning sorrows? Juliette Foster welcomes apprentices Olivia Demetriades and Matt Cox, and Share Radio's Senior Analyst Ed Bowsher.

Can money be made from businesses that follow a social and environmental agenda? You might think the answer to that is "No" yet you couldn't be more wrong? Go through the pages of crowd funding sites and you'll find hundreds of businesses whose financial objectives are underpinned by a strong commitment to social and environment issues. One example is a company called "The Wave". Founder Nick Hounsfield has turned a passion for surfing into a major project that brings together people of all ages and social groups, with the help of a lake and some cutting edge technology. Chris Hines is the project's "Head of Sustainability" while Christopher and Jenna Gordon are investors and members of "The Wave" board. All four of them join Juliette Foster in the studio.

What is peer-to-peer lending? Sarah Pennells looks at the method behind it and how it can help set up a business and how crowdfunding can become a platform to a successful company. Sarah speaks to Karen Kerrigan, Director of UKCFA and Chief Legal Officer of Seedrs; Lucy Bott, Head of Customer Operations at RateSetter, a market place where rates are set by investors and borrowers; and Tom Britton, CTO and founder of Syndicate Room. While Tom and Lucy discuss the differences between peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, Karen looks at women and their attitude towards the latter. Neil Faulkner, founder of 4thWay, also gives advice on peer-to peer lending and any risks that you should be aware of. Sarah also speaks with Gem Misa, founder of Righteous and CauliRice, about her experiences in setting up her businesses using crowdfunding.