In the decade that has passed since Last Word Media first opened for business we have said ‘Hello’ to an awful lot of good things and ‘Goodbye’ to an awful lot of rubbish.
I am not sure where regulation sits in this ‘say hello / wave goodbye’ but we have certainly welcomed in a lot more than we have ushered out of the door in that time. Will we be saying the same about the next 10 years?
And what have been the biggest changes of the past 10 years, since October 2005 when Last Word Media – in the form of International Adviser – was launched?
We no longer have:
10% GDP growth in China; a tightly-closed financial industry in each Asian market; an era of stagnation in Japan; BRICs as a viable investment category; interest rates; a lack of global financial products approved for sale in Asia; Lehman Brothers; Blackberries as anything other than ‘a work phone’.
We do have:
A link between stock markets in Hong Kong and China; Mainland asset managers with products launched in London and New York; fund passporting schemes covering the region; global reaction to China’s market volatility; Japan as one of the most favoured investment regions in the world; Asia preferred within emerging markets; an era of low commodity prices; smartphones and tablets that allow us to do all things financial from a portable electronic device, including accessing vast amounts of real-time information.
And we also have:
Ageing populations in much of Asia; a second generation tasked with taking over family wealth in China; people retiring for longer; more asset millionaires on the back of QE as prices for stocks, bonds and real estate rocketed; more people working for multinational companies who no longer plan to retire in their native countries.
And some things have been and nearly gone. QE anyone? And I am not sure whether we are living in a more globalised world, a more decoupled world or simply a more complicated world brought together by rapidly-increasing technology. Robo-advisers, anyone? “Hello, fintech!!”; the global financial crisis is behind us though the repercussions will live with us for at least the next 10 years…
…and what about the next ten years then? What do you think we will be writing about on Last Word Media’s 20th anniversary?
Or, more importantly, what would you like to see being written about in the coming 10 years?
Email me to let us know and we will collate your thoughts, predictions and heartfelt desires about what the next decade holds across all of Last Word Media’s brands (International Adviser, Portfolio Adviser, Expert Investor Europe and Fund Selector Asia) on 3rd December.
The significance of 3rd December is that the evening before this we will be hosting our 10th anniversary party where we will be celebrating the last 10 years, coupled with the introduction of our bold new look for the next 10 years and beyond. We hope you’ll enjoy it.
