Hello.
I recently took a trip inspired by the 100-year anniversary of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. I semi-recreated the trip from the book, managing Paris, technically passing through Biarritz and Bayonne on my way to San Sebastian. Pamploma also featured.
I actually managed to finish my reread of The Sun Also Rises before reaching Paris. I had anticipated this and brought other reading material, specifically the Calder collection of Scottish Short Stories 1800-1900. It has the usual suspects: Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, James Hogg, Margaret Oliphant, all the folk from the band.
For our purposes, however, I would like to look at a less well-kent story, How We Got Up the Glenmutchkin Railway and How We Got Out of It (catchy) by William Edmonstoune Aytoun. Among stories of the uncanny, faeries, brownies etc, Aytoun’s story is a satire about… the stock market, lampooning what many saw as a bubble in the railways.
The focus is on two fellas who are inspired by Adam Smith and venture into capital investing. However, they bemoan the barriers to investing in quality companies and are rather fruitless in their attempts to back a winner. Naturally, the next step is to share a barrel of whisky, set up your own theoretical railway somewhere made up in the Highlands, collect a cabal of oddities to legitimise your project, invent a a number of metrics that justify the investment case, make a load of money, find your listing oversubscribed, sell your stock on a high, and (nearly) develop a railway as an afterthought.
The story ends with the Glenmutchkin Railway company trying to get Parliament to approve the whole thing, spending three weeks in London at the “the company’s expense”. And they might have emerged victorious if someone had not pointed out “no less than seventy-three fatal errors in the parliamentary plan”, namely, all the stuff they made up. Expenses were paid and shareholders got sixpence a share upon surrender. The last paragraph reads
“Such is an accurate history of the Origin, Rise, Progress and Fall of the Direct Glenmutchkin Railway. It contains a deep moral if anybody has sense enough to see it; if not, I have a new project in my eye for the next session, of which timely notice shall be given.”
Pretty on the nose, eh; two drunkards get rich off pure speculation and most of their time is spent enjoying the wealth they’ve raised, and they intermittently remember they have to pretend to build a railway. Capitalism, in this story, isn’t presented as the good guy – the “deep moral” could be seen as those pesky speculators being “at it” as we are fond of saying up here.
It’s easy to miss that the prominent Highlander in the story is also a parody figure, with tartan romanticism used to sell the business venture and to afford some exoticism to the project. “Look at this Highland railway project, it has a big guy in a kilt attached to it – cannae say much better than that. How many shares can I put you down for?”
In Aytoun’s stories he reflects on what he sees as a rising insincerity and disassociation with capitalism in the 19th century.
The moral that Glenmutchkin can teach us in financial services in 2026, primarily, that it should not to forget what it is there for. Not everyone involved in the railway mania would have been “at it” and some may have really wanted to establish public infrastructure in rural communities.Nevertheless, the satire is indicative of how their behaviour was perceived by at least some.
If the sector disassociates itself from the things that matter to consumers, then this is how it can get looked upon from the outside – greedyand self-serving. We know the reality is not all AUM and benchmarks, it’s a network of things that support life from retirement to homeownership.
A different sector entirely, but this piece about the Post Office scandal places that kind of dissociative executive behaviour in a more modern context, highlighting just how bad things can get and how much you can damage public perception while thinking you are doing your job.
But it is also worth thinking of the pair not just as representative of bad views of the industry, but also victims of it. The pair of capitalists were not rich elites of the 19th century; they were entry level investors who initially tried to do it properly but conjured up the scheme after they found the barriers for entry too difficult to negotiate. This speaks to both access and knowledge. When faced with disappointing initial results, new investors will unlikely try to establish a railway to get rich, but many of them find themselves liable to scams, disheartened by the whole thing, and/or losing significant amounts of money.
Ultimately, financial services operates within an economy and is reliant on consumers, both of which have other priorities and interests. If you are going to raise money with a view to building a railway, the railway should at least form a concrete component of the plan going forward.
The News:
LANG CAT & CLIENT MENTIONS
The big problem with ChatGPT’s financial advice
HomeGame makes it onto this discussion in Citywire.
Source: Citywire Heart of Wealth
Money Box – AI Money Advice and Heating Oil Costs Rise
Mark P appears on Moneybox.
Source: BBC Radio 4
Forget about Space X, here’s how to make money from the final frontier
7IM’s Ben Kumar uses the discovery of the New World to outline his thinking for investing in space stuff.
Source: The Times
Succession challenge: Why advice firms need to invest in the next generation
Our work on the Adviser Barometer mentioned in this piece.
Source: Citywire South Africa
Platform cash debate: Why advisers need a total cost of ownership tool
Rich provides some commentary.
Source: Citywire NMA
Beyond the meeting note: Five stages of AI maturity in financial advice
SOTAN research referenced.
Source: Professional Adviser
Mark Sanderson: Makes sense for FCA to undertake MPS ‘health check’
The Morningstar Wealth MD talks regulation and the MPS market.
Source: Professional Adviser
‘There are better uses for AI in customer services’
According to Alex Cowan-Sanluis, CEO at Platform One.
Source: FT Adviser
ADVISERS
‘I’ve seen small firms give the best and worst financial advice’
A look at behaviour in advice firms.
Source: Money Marketing
Advisers urged to remain ‘alert’ as LPA financial misconduct complaints rise
A freedom of information request revealed that complaints about alleged financial misconduct by those acting under a Lasting Power of Attorney have hit a record high.
Source: Professional Adviser
If financial planners do not embrace open banking, the banks will move in
Oh no, not the banks.
Source: FT Adviser
PROTECTION
Yikes.
Source: The Guardian
REGULATION AND POLICY
70% of wealth lost by second generation – Depledge principal
With up to 90% being lost by the third.
Source: Citywire NMA
FCA: we may need perimeter shift when it comes to AI and advice
Oh right, yeah.
Source: FT Adviser
Advisers aren’t getting worried client calls ahead of this Budget
Less speculation in the press is probably helping.
Source: Citywire NMA
Companies are spending on tech but forgetting the need for accessibility
Whizzy tech useless when folk can’t use it.
Source: FT Adviser
Steve Webb: What auto-enrolment can teach us about social care
Steve Webb uses auto-enrolment as the blueprint for his new proposal to fund social care.
Source: Money Marketing
FCA: targeted support is ‘starting to have an effect’
There are claims that consumers are more likely to make an investment decision after receiving targeted support.
Source: FT Adviser
FCA: lack of plain English in investor documents is ‘terrifying’
The quality of information given to consumers has to be improved according to the regulator.
Source: FT Adviser
Ethical adviser urges government to ‘tax pollution instead of work’
I should imagine there will be views on this.
Source: Professional Adviser
INVESTMENT & WEALTH MANAGERS
Asset managers turn to finfluencers in race for Gen Z investors
What could possibly go wrong.
Source: Citywire WM
AI
£23bn-AUM Moneybox plans to launch AI-led advice service
Eyebrow raised.
Source: Citywire NMA
Warnings that most adviser AI startups will disappear
Paraphrased: If you don’t use it, you are screwed; if you do use it and pick the wrong one, you are also screwed. But no pressure or anything.
Source: Professional Adviser
HSBC adviser cuts put AI advice to the test
Big bets from the bank.
Source: Money Marketing
PENSIONS & RETIREMENT
3mn pension pots worth £18.7bn are currently ‘lost’
According to research by the Pensions Policy Institute.
Source: FT Adviser
Australia’s paragon superannuation scheme still has lessons to learn
A helpful look considering this many see this as an aspirational system for the UK.
Source: FT Adviser
Torsten Bell calls out ‘irresponsible behaviour’ over pension speculation
Probably was right about that. Though the leaking didn’t help either.
Source: FT Adviser
TRADE & ECONOMY
Threat of AI share crash puts world financial stability at risk, says IMF
Excellent.
Source: The Guardian
AI boom risks ‘huge capital destruction’, warns Rathbones’ Coombs
Doubly excellent.
Source: Money Marketing
Healey set to pay for Budget giveaways without more borrowing
Nobody mention the ‘T’ word.
Source: FT
Number of UK Isa millionaires jumps 50 per cent in a year
Lucky for some.
Source: FT
UK economy unexpectedly grows in August despite fall in consumer spending
Oh well, that’s something.
Source: The Guardian
CRAZY CAT STORIES
Brighton cat walking tour to raise funds for City Cat Shelter
For those that may be interested.
Source: BBC News
OUTSIDE THE TRADE
The Post Office Scandal: Why do good people do bad things?
This is an interesting piece and, oh look, its main conclusion is disassociation at a corporate level is damaging. That’s helpful.
Source: cxstories
Sean McKinven is PR account executive at the lang cat
