Hot money backs cold space
By Holly Mackay, Founder & CEO
13 Feb, 2026
This week, Boring Money data reported a new high of 13.3 million DIY investment accounts in the UK, with a total of £572 billion invested by people without an adviser. More than 6 million accounts have been taken out in the last 5 years as investing gets more mainstream.
That said, most DIYers still feel a bit confused and have a niggling doubt that they might be doing something daft. The Government and regulator are doing something about this, and there are plans afoot to enable firms to do more to help customers, without crossing the line over into the heavily regulated and expensive advice world.
This is one of the reasons why I think NatWest announced a £2.7 billion deal this week to gobble up Evelyn Partners – a wealth manager which also owns DIY investment platform Bestinvest. The plan? For banks to move away from a long reliance on credit cards and mortgages and to make more money from investments and pensions. Or, as the Board packs put it, to democratise investing and do more to help their millions of customers. Expect to see more from your high street bank over the course of this year.
From the high street to Space
One of the most interesting topical innovation themes I hear about is the lovechild of 2 megatrends, AI and space. Elon Musk is planning to merge his rocket maker, SpaceX and AI start-up xAI, and there are lots of beardy blokes with hoodies getting very excited in America about this.
Current owners of SpaceX – that’s any reader who owns Scottish Mortgage or Edinburgh Worldwide, for example – will be diluted (end up owning a bit less) as the company issues more shares to pay for all of this. There isn’t a lot we can do about this, ‘cos guess who owns most of the shares and controls the shots? Monsieur Musk.
Here’s the Idiot’s Guide to the business case behind the merger. AI development powered by space infrastructure. Data centres, which we need to generate amusing cat videos on Instagram and fire everyone who makes spreadsheets for a living, create an awful lot of heat. And space is very cold. Factories will re-locate from Dagenham to the Moon. Where presumably 20-somethings will be happy because they can all work from their affordable Moon-y homes.
Last week, SpaceX asked regulators for permission to launch 1 million satellites to build an orbital data centre system. Today it has about 9,400.
There is a race on to launch the first AI-themed IPO. An Initial Public Offering is when a company enables Joe Public to buy its shares on a stock exchange, effectively offering us the chance to own a slice of the company in exchange for our money. SpaceX has said it wants to be ready in June, but OpenAI and Anthropic are also contenders. Despite the hype, there is limited money out there, so everyone wants to be first for our cash.
And back down to Earth
Looking at more proven terrestrial opportunities for our money, this week we have published the best-selling funds, ETFs, and Trusts for January.
Amidst the tech share price wobbles, gold and silver remained standout stories. Jupiter’s Gold and Silver fund hit the bestsellers as did Lazard Emerging Markets, which has about 60% in Asia and 20% in Latin America. This week’s sponsor, JPMorgan Growth and Income Trust, hits some bestseller lists. And the Seraphim Space Investment Trust remains popular as interest increases. But buyer beware – there’s a lot of hot air with rockets, so don’t get giddy and forget the basic rule to be diversified and mostly boring!
On boring... two final notes. I heard a flower seller in the City try to sting some poor bloke for £85 for a dozen red roses this week. I’m not regulated to give financial advice, but I will say that you can get a bunch of lovely daffodils in Tesco for £1 and give your love a cheque for £80 tomorrow and still be better off.
And secondly, for those seeking to quell their ardour tomorrow, this article suggests how you might get ahead in advance of changes to the tax rules coming our way from April. You may sneer, but what could be sexier than a brown letter from HMRC with details of a tax rebate?!
Have a lovely weekend, everyone. With an English Mum and a Scottish Dad, I wish all of our rugby-loving readers good luck tomorrow!
Holly
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