Avoid special characters in field values

Field values are picky when it comes to which entries are valid and which ones are not.
Lesson learned today when GS (GS.2017.SR1.1088) threw an unspecified error while trying to create project TMs. After some research, we found that one of the field values contained an invalid character in the picklist. The value was "Kevin's translation". It worked perfectly fine when the TM update was done, but it did not like it when we tried to create project TMs. After removing the apostrophe from the string (which only seems to work by removing and re-entering the entire field value) the problem was solved.
Does anyone know of a list of offending characters to avoid? I am aware that the usual suspects &;:%<> and probably a lot more don't make it unharmed through an import from TMX but a comprehensive list would help us all.
For SDL development folks listening here - how about some sort of validation of entries when they are first entered before they cause grief? Shouldn't be too difficult to do. This applies to Studio and to GroupShare.