Financial Times Subscription

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11th Oct '24 by Prof Calculus

10 comments 723 reads

Hello

Appealing to the community was thinking of subscribing to the FT (probably digital ) has anyone had any experience good and bad .

Also at renewal do they offer you good deals to stay with them ?

Any feedback really appreciated

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About the Author

Prof Calculus

Premium Member

10 comments

BnB

12th Oct '24

I have a subscription that includes premium content. For investing purposes alone I find it of limited use relative to company-specific subscription services like Morningstar or Stocko. For macro, it is mildly helpful but redundant since my bank keeps me up to date with a daily bulletin. In fact the sensationalist tone that financial journalists are wont to adopt can be downright misleading. And I ignore all their predictions as a matter of principle. It does however offer a broad range of well-written insights into global affairs and the occasional insight into individual companies. And it is more neutral (soft centre left in reality) than any other source I can find. Nice to read over breakfast and a quick re-scan at tea-time. But my investing performance is not greatly enhanced by the effort, if at all.

Caper4

12th Oct '24

My thoughts exactly . I also subscribe to the CNBC premium service which I find quite helpful as my focus nowadays is purely on the US markets

Lochinver

12th Oct '24

I just buy the weekend hard copy FT - excellent all round paper with no political bias. Good for macro and world affairs, not much UK focus, a good money section and a good arts section as well.

jonno

12th Oct '24

In my opinion The FT has the best journalistic coverage of any UK newspaper, although some might say that there is little competition. Very good for the macro view on world and national events. There are also some good articles on large companies, UK and global and occasionally on specific industries. The premium content subscription gives you access to the digital version of the FT and on the home page you can tailor your viewing to areas of particular interest such as UK companies, interest rates, inflation, Brexit related news etc.

However as BnB notes there is generally very little company specific news on UK mid and small caps, which is where I invest.

I took a month's trial for £1 with the option to cancel, otherwise the monthly subscription from memory, was £59. The customer service was excellent, but I cancelled at the end of the month's trial as I considered that the annual cost in excess of £700 was expensive relative to the benefit I would derive.

Prof Calculus

12th Oct '24

Thanks everyone for the feedback ....really appreciate it.

martinji

12th Oct '24

FYI for people who might not be aware, many councils have library arrangements where publications are available in digital form for free if you have a library card, accessed via pressreader app. You simply register on the app, choose your local library/council (if they are participating, but my impression is the majority do), stick in your library card number and you're away. More details here

https://care.pressreader.com/h...

This doesn't cover the FT (at least where I am), but I am accessing Moneyweek, The Economist, Barrons weekly for no charge, for economic overviews and some sector and company focus. There's a wealth of other publications too, in terms of daily broadsheets it has the Guardian and the Telegraph, plus numerous local papers and lifestyle magazines.

I look at it as repaying a decent chunk of my council tax :)

N0vice1Nvest0r

13th Oct '24

Where are you? I'm UK and cant get The economist.

BenHazz

13th Oct '24

I'd have to agree with you the Jonno in all respects. If you can get it on the cheap it's well worth it, certainly the most well written and unbiased news outlet. However, full price hurt my pocket too much to justify it. Maybe in 30 years when I retire and have time to read it cover to cover!

MoseleyRed

14th Oct '24

I used to have a subscription with the FT but I cancelled it. Unless the other posters here, I found that there was a left leaning political bias which felt like it was at the level of student politics. I was often frustrated by the poor quality of the analysis.

Like other posters have said, I don't think it particularly adds anything for investing purposes.

I cancelled my subscription and I have never been tempted to read another copy since.

ken mitchell

14th Oct '24

I also stopped buying the FT years ago. I’m not bothered by any political bias but I bought it for the sort of information that is available in spades on this site. There is still (when I occasionally buy the weekend edition) hardly anything useful about shares or Investment Trusts, and if there is anything it’s often poor quality. The exception was the superb Lord John Lee, but he has now written his last FT article. . Surely the FT focus is primarily Business? And it’s very overpriced!

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Prof Calculus

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