January 2011 - Financial Planning in Wimbledon

Barclays to cease Financial Advice

Barclays financial advisers have today been told that the Bank will no longer be providing financial advice and that their roles will therefore be ending. The reason given by Barclays is that the business of in-person financial planning is not viable. This is in the context of some very bad press and very hefty fine and the industry changes (RDR) being introduced. As a result Barclays will move to an execution-only online service (in other words, D-I-Y finances online).

Whilst many IFAs have long criticised the low quality of advice from Banks and few will be genuinely sorry to see them leave stage right, this does mark a signficant development. In essence, when a massive multinational cannot make sufficient profit and therefore run a sustainable business, this does prompt questions about the way in which financial advisers are being asked (told) to operate.

The sad truth is that those lacking wealth and financial security are the ones most needing to build a future for themselves that means that they are not reliant upon the State benefits. Something that we all probably agree is a key objective. Ironically just as product costs are being more closely scrutinised and reduced, the result is that fewer and fewer people can actually afford decent advice and there will be far fewer providing any from 2013.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Barclays to cease Financial AdviceDominic2023-12-01T12:52:14+00:00

That’ll be £93million sir…

Last week I blogged about the FSCS decsion to split a £93m bill amongst IFAs, well today my invoice arrived. I did my very best to contain the desire to sound like Victor Meldrew – to no avail though. Mind you, it wasn’t just me that was somewhat taken aback by the second invoice in 6 months a number of others have too. The reaction was priceless. See what some of them had to say with their respsonses to this contained within the Money Marketing (FT trade press) article.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

That’ll be £93million sir…Dominic2023-12-01T12:52:14+00:00

Caught out by Chinese Money Laundering

At the weekend I ordered a takeaway chinese meal and paid by cheque. I was contacted yesterday by a very embarrassed young man, asking if I would be able to supply a second cheque as he had accidently put his clothes containing my cheque and several others through the wash. He popped over to collect the new cheque and presented me with my mangled, faded original one.

I have to admit that I don’t quite know where this sits with the FSA and European Union regarding money laundering, as often the law is open to interpretation and our friends in Europe speak several different languages, I am hereby making it known that although this is not the sort of money laundering that the FSA mean, just in case, I have disclosed the incident to anyone that may be concerned. Yes this is a bit of a gaff – not a big one, unlike the amusing FATF GAFI that is the genuine name for the Financial Action Task Force. There’s something of a Peter Sellers movie in this I’m sure of it.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Caught out by Chinese Money LaunderingDominic2023-12-01T12:52:15+00:00

Blog Revamp

My blog has been tweaked, revamped and refreshed. Let me know what you think.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Blog RevampDominic2023-12-01T12:52:16+00:00

Ghost or Deadman Walking?

I wonder if you have seen the latest AVIVA TV advert for life assurance. For once, an insurer has not pulled any punches on the traditionally off-limits subject of death…or at least the impact of it upon a family.

Paul Whitehouse (Harry Enfield’s chum) plays the ghost of a father that has since departed, only obvious at the end of the piece. I don’t have any advantage in promoting AVIVA – its a decent advert and I reckon a pat on the back to their marketing team on this one. Not everyone has life assurance, fewer still have a Will, fewer still have an Enduring Power of Attorney… all rather important for anyone that has anyone else financially dependant upon them.

Here’s the advert. What do you think?

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Ghost or Deadman Walking?Dominic2023-12-01T12:52:16+00:00

Another Big Mess

Let me be very clear. I do not like being ripped off any more than anyone else. It seems to me though that there is a sense in which compensation should be paid if the rip off was deliberate or just plain negligent, not simply because a risk that was known didn’t work out as hoped.

The FSCS who seem to be spending a reasonable sum advertising and encouraging people to complain are expected to annouce a £93m levy for 2011 to IFAs shortly – according to Money Marketing. That is money that my firm and many others collectively have to stump up to cover the cost of firms that have… shall we say.. got it wrong.

£93,000,000!

There is no opportunity for IFAs to contest this – we basically just have to roll over and cough up our share of £93,000,000. It makes no difference how good our firm is, the bill is simply split – like “going Dutch”.

The obvious conclusion – much of our fees actually go towards covering the cost of compensating people that have been poorly advised by lesser advisers, reducing our own profit and threatning the sustainability of our own business. This makes little sense, but there it is. Any suggestions?

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Another Big MessDominic2023-12-01T12:52:17+00:00

Social media is not what it seems

I came across this 30 minute video in which Douglas Rushkoff discusses some alternative views about marketing and the rise of social media marketing. Provocative, insightful and to the point. Thanks to think tank company Peter, Sarah & Friends for bringing this to my attention…via Twitter. I hope that this is of value to those of you that work within any organization, particularly with a marketing interest.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Social media is not what it seemsDominic2023-12-01T12:52:17+00:00

The Consumer Experience

Last night I watched Mary Portas swing into action in Channel 4’s new series “Secret Shopper”. her assessment of customer service in the high street is pretty much spot on…in that there isn’t much. I don’t consider myself that unusual when it comes to shopping – and generally wouldn’t need advising not to part with my money if I wasn’t happy and tend to only go to shops where I think I have fair chance of being treated fairly…or better still treated well.

Of course it got me thinking about my own business. Can I say that we provide a truly unique service that is always brilliant? well I’d like to think so, but I know that this is never going to be 100% of experiences. I do believe that we treat people fairly and I enjoy the company of my clients and over time we become close. However, there is always more that could be done (or at least that’s my mindset). I have limited time and resources, but Mary’s changing room idea in her programme was great – I could do with something as revolutionary for my own firm and our services. OK, we invest in IT and I am expecting to annouce more improvements for clients shortly, but… we need something altogether more RADICAL with ENERGY.

So, I am hereby welcoming fantastic, knock-out ideas to make the experience of financial planning (all those data entries, reports, charts etc) rather more… enjoyable. I’m not naive enough to think that financial planning is “sexy” – we all know it isn”t, we also all know that it is important, yet most people do not behave as though it is. Something needs to change – for the nation, not just my firm, else we are destined to become a nation of overspenders that end up dependant upon the State… the bank of you and me.

Mary, if you read this – you are inspiring, but if I have one criticism – it would be not to have a go at the boss infront of the staff. Chris George, the CEO of Pilot took a very large bite into humble pie and I think this would have been better said to him alone. I don’t think many of us would have coped better than he did in the circumstances – on camera.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

The Consumer ExperienceDominic2023-12-01T12:52:18+00:00

Rising interest rates? soaring inflation? Don’t Panic?

Today I went along to one of the better market briefing seminars (there are a great many of them as you may expect). The media have been screaming about rising levels of inflation and how we are all due to face “soaring interest rates”… at least that was the headline I saw last night on the way home. The media are very much like the character “Corporal Jones” from Dad’s Army… “Don’t Panic!” being his regular cry, whilst doing precisely that.

Step up some sensible Fund Managers, with some reasoned logic and plenty of experience in the form of INVESCO Perpetual and the scene surveyed looks a little different. Yes there may be further bumps in the road – Neil Woodford thinks the UK recovery needs another 2 years. Markets though, are generally undervalued. Inflation… well yes it’s there, but the devil is in the detail and they don’t seem to be expecting any sudden shocks or dramatic rises… interest rates may tick up a little, but not much…the US are currently terrified of deflation which is far harder to pull an economy out of (ask the Japanese). As for the Eurozone crisis? There are some undervalued Spanish stocks – just because they are Spanish (!) and caught up in the sovereign debt crisis – the general view seemed to be that most of the problems with sovereign debt have been priced into the market and there is little real chance of Germany leaving the Euro as this would be self-defeating with a high Deutschemark making German goods expensive… yes it’s likely that Irish and Portuguese debt may need to be re-worked and eveyone might take a “haircut” but in the worst scenario a capital loss of 10% was suggested… which in terms of investment speak is small compared to any normal investment market.

Full marks to INVESCO Perpetual for another very good commentary, some common sense (I hope) – which in summary is: steady as she goes, keep to the course and expect the odd bump now and then, but any long-term investor is currently buying at fairly underpriced values. Of course by the time we next convene it may all have changed – such is the joy of financial markets and the crystal ball gazing… sorry I mean economic forecasting.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Rising interest rates? soaring inflation? Don’t Panic?Dominic2023-12-01T12:52:18+00:00

Money for Nothing…Dire Straits

I have been in a fairly acerbic mood today having spent time ploughing through the quality end of my trade press online and in the traditional paper format. I was struck by a couple of stories that reminded me that a number of the people “in charge” or at least in positions of power seem to have grown up in the 1980’s and have somehow connected the Dire Straights hit “Money for Nothing” with their general raison d’etre.

First my goat was wrangled by Euroblundersrus having read an article in Money Marketing suggesting that Countries bailing out those, wait for it (technical term)… bankrupt nations should not be paid their agreed level of interest, but be doing it out of the goodness of neighbourlyness. Well, we’re not talking about lending a bag or sugar or fixing a leaking drainpipe… but bailing out nations that have messed up their public services and promised money that they don’t have. So to suggest that the risk of doing this is not rewarded is plainly a failure to understand risk or business or money…which is a little bit of a short-coming if you are working in the European Parliament presumably to encourage nations to act responsibly and in manner that is not delusional.

Secondly I read another article suggesting that people (that’s you AND ME) do not understand that Absolute Return funds can go down as well as up. I know its a complex subject, but even Dell Boy knew that nothing goes up forever and that there are risks in everything. Yet we are being told that the term is misleading people…well is it? if you see a fund called an Absolute Return Fund.. do you assume it can only go up? Perhaps I’m wrong on this.. but the sort of people I advise are not covered in velcro and fuzzy felt,only coming to life when a puppeteer is around.

The world doesn’t give us all that we would like it to. We won’t always get what we want. Good times come and go, but there are inescapable life truths that are, well… inescapable.. money is not free, even if we are in dire straights.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
Call us today or visit our website for more information and to arrange a meeting

Money for Nothing…Dire StraitsDominic2023-12-01T12:52:19+00:00