When the financial crisis finally abates investors will once again warm to money-making themes and climate change is about as big as they get.
But where there's a popular theme there's also a bandwagon on which plenty of funds are happy to hitch a ride.
Money Observer editor Andrew Pitts quizzes John Shakeshaft, chairman of Ludgate Environmental Fund, on what sets his investment company apart.
Templeton's Dr Mark Mobius needs very little introduction. You are better off listening to him than us.
So, here is Money Observer editor Andrew Pitts talking to one of the world’s formost authorities on investing in emerging markets.
Deals in the City are famously done over linen-draped restaurant tables and leaning against marble bars tops. The more wine, the easier the deal, no?
Apparently the crunch has come. So has the deal-flow dried up with the wine-flow, or is everyone reaching for the wine list and the pocket calculator?
No-one know better the answer to this question than Richard Balls, boss of the legendary Balls Brothers who have been oiling the City's wheels for 150 years.
Research: Balls Brothers
The rise and fall of commercial property has been rather flung into the background amid the sinister sound of major banks crashing around our ears.
But of all those professionals who can tell us investors what it is like literally on the ground in the City, it is a man who has been putting tenants in offices for 27 years.
So here is Stephen English, man of property….
Research: Montagu Evans
I’m a self-employed commercial property surveyor, advising retailers. (I used to work for Montagu Evans from 1967-1971 and i established my practice in 1975.) Commercial property investment is allegedly a long-term investment yet the players and their advisers are thinking short-term; what’s wrong with them? Actually, I think it’s good the buying and selling of investments has stalled: tenants are fed up with landlords chopping and changing and causing no end of management hassle for tenants and some attitudinal stability would do a landlords a power of good.
Edmond Jackson is so dedicated to the cause of the private investor that he has never actually got around to getting a job.
He is a well-known and well sought-after commentator and the major reason for this is that he knows what he is talking about.
So, without further messing about, here is Edmond…
Feidhlim O’Broin has spent 30 years of his life managing pension funds. It is therefore not surprising that he is an eager advocate of long term investing.
So here he is explaining how to make your grandchildren rich…
Research: Smile Techniques
Daniel Godfrey has been at the helm of the Association of Investment Companies since, ooo, well for ages.
Actually, since it used to carry the rather stuffy moniker of Association of Investment Trust Companies.
But there’s been a lot of change and more than the odd drama in the sector since then. Question is, was he going to tell us about it?
Mark Twain famously said that a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top. It follows then, that if you want to invest in mining you should get someone who knows what they are doing to do it for you.
Almost no one on, or indeed in, the earth is as good at that as Graham Birch, manager of the hugely successful BlackRock World Mining Investment Trust.
It also follows that if you really want to get to the bottom of it then get another expert to ask him. So here is Andrew Pitts, the multiple award winning editor of Money Observer magazine.
Research: BRWM.L
But what does he think about Warhammer?
What’s with the Simon Le Bon haircut?
Ralph Silva of Tower Group is a commentator much in demand for his robust views on the state of health of the banking industry.
The words credit crunch are used so often now they have become almost a cliche.
But how long will it go on, when will we see the end and what is going to be the long term effect?
In good times Nomads make great money as they bring the lifeblood of new issues to the Alternative Investments Market.
In bad times they are in a world of difficulty with few or no IPOs there is little to keep them in a living.
Yet their unique view on the state of the market can give us all useful guidance. Oriel Securities’ Andrew Edwards is certainly worth a listen.
The old cliché has it that as far as the stockmarket is concerned one should go away in May and come back again on St Leger Day. What? And miss out on all the fun? Reeling retailers. Broken banks. Crunching credit. There’s so much more than mere capital accumulation, yield and dividend. Not only are there bargains out there but also more than the odd laugh. Click on the portfolio to see how our writers have got on against the market.
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