James has over a decade of experience running MPS and managed accounts for intermediaries. After graduating from Northumbria University with a first class degree in Finance & Investment Management, James joined a regional DFM, where he most recently served as Head of Investments. He joined AJ Bell Investments in 2023 as a Fund Manager. James is a CFA charterholder.
26 June 2026
AJ Bell Investments: UK political change doesn’t mean market doomsdayKeir Starmer’s resignation has added another layer of political uncertainty for UK investors. But for the AJ Bell Fund range, the investment message is more balanced: UK equities, particularly large caps, still offer attractive valuations, useful diversification and a currency-sensitive earnings profile that can help offset domestic uncertainty.
T...
23 June 2026
How AJ Bell’s Investments team views regions around the worldSpreading your investments around the world is a popular strategy, but many investors choose to do this solely through a global index fund. It’s not a bad start; however, it might not be offering the broad exposure you’d expect.
These funds tend to be weighted heavily towards the US, often with 60% to 70% of assets in that part of the world, and...
10 June 2026
AI’s second wind: where investor confidence is growingAI has been arguably the largest factor shaping markets for the past few years and despite investor nerves around the price of some AI-focused companies, markets are still charging ahead. But while the first few years of the AI theme left the US with the biggest benefits, the fastest growth is now happening in emerging markets ex-China.
In the...
6 May 2026
April market review: How equities bounced back while bonds flounderedAfter a chaotic March, April allowed investors to take a step back and process the situation in front of them. What markets saw, by and large, was a return to the norms of earlier this year.
The US made a strong recovery, as the Morningstar US Market index rose 7.2% during the month, while the Morningstar UK Index climbed up 2.4%. The indices are...
21 April 2026
How AJ Bell funds performed in the first quarter of the yearDespite a rocky March for markets due to the war in Iran, six of the nine funds in the AJ Bell range ended the first quarter of the year with a positive return.
Across the past month, we’ve seen the effects of the US-Iran conflict trickle down through the market, most prominently through the rise of energy prices and a shift in interest rate...
6 March 2026
The Iran conflict: what it means for AJ Bell fundsThere have been big moves across the price of shares, funds, bonds, oil and more over the past week after the US and Israel attacked Iran. US President Donald Trump has indicated the campaign could last several weeks, but it could extend beyond this timeframe with no ceasefire in sight.
The situation has caused disturbance in markets, and while...
25 February 2026
The US market might be more promising than it seemsInvestors’ obsession with the US seems to be waning as returns from the country’s flagship S&P 500 index slowed from 24.5% in 2024 to 17.9% in 2025 and made an uncertain start to 2026.
So, it may seem surprising that in our latest rebalance, the AJ Bell investment team chose to increase the proportion of assets we hold in the US. Notably, our...
22 January 2026
How AJ Bell funds are shifting their asset allocation this yearEach year, the AJ Bell investment team reviews their fund range and prepares for the changing market environment by tweaking the fund allocations.
Although the fund range will consider many of the same factors, the specifics of the adjustments will be on a fund-to-fund basis, to account for different risk levels. This year’s asset allocation...
11 December 2025
Why the AJ Bell investment team favours the UKInvesting in the UK when the economic environment feels weak might feel counterintuitive. While the perception of the UK economy is turbulent, the stock market has told a very different story.
As of 3 December, the FTSE All Share has returned 21% this year, near double the returns from the S&P 500 for UK investors. So, what is going so right for...
12 November 2025
Are AI opportunities better outside the US?When AI comes up in market conversations, the US usually quickly follows. This is for good reason. It holds many of the heavyweights, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet. But it is far from the only region that’s benefitted from the AI boost.
On the other side of the globe, emerging markets have made their own market niches. These have...
