July 2011 - Financial Planning in Wimbledon

Quietly Brilliant?

You may have heard of the Blackberry or the iphone or indeed a variety of other handheld devices. One that to many in the UK is a relatively new player is HTC. They have virtually doubled their profits in Q2 against Q2 in 2010 to £380m HTC is based in Taiwan and manufacturers smart phones and is listed on the Taiwan stock market. I believe that HTC are the only manufacturer currently producing a handset with 3D capabilities.

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

Quietly Brilliant?Dominic2023-12-01T12:49:27+00:00

Is water the new gold?

Anyone with a pulse will appreciate that this is a planet covered largely by water, but unfortunately, drinking water is fairly scarce in many parts of the world and no doubt you will be aware of the drought that is occurring in East Africa. Water is a precious, life saving commodity. There are many that believe that it is a resource that is running out, particularly due to the way many industries use such vast quantities in production processes.

So it ought to be an incident of note when a business from Hong Kong makes an offer to buy one of the UK’s water companies. Northumbrian Water were approached at the start of the month by Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited (CKI). The Board have agreed to permit CKI to conduct due diligence. The initial offer is 465pence per ordinary share. Northumbrian Water is a UK listed share.

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

Is water the new gold?Dominic2023-12-01T12:49:28+00:00

Chances of winning

The news that the biggest EuroMillions jackpot of €185million was won by a British couple Colin and Chris Weir may tempt others to believe that they too can win the jackpot. Certainly €185million is a lot of money to win and I have to say that I have a number of concerns about anyone winning (or inheriting) very large sums suddenly. Whilst the attraction of great wealth is something that appeals to most of us, as we all know, money can be very divisive. I wonder how many well-wishers and friends are truly able to cope with such dramatic changes in “fortune”. It would seem that this is something that Bill and Melinda Gates also have concerns over and have plans to gift most of their wealth to charity rather than their children. I believe the same is true of Warren Buffet who plans to give away 99% of his personal wealth.

The chances of winning the main UK lottery are apparently 14million-to-1. That is a very small chance. In investment terms any financial adviser suggesting that you will lose all of your capital in 13,999,999 occasions out of 14,000,000 would probably not attract many clients. So rather than listen to those that wish to make their fortune, perhaps time should be spent listening to those that have. Here is probably the world’s most successful investor Warren Buffet.

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

Chances of winningDominic2023-12-01T12:49:28+00:00

Best Cash ISA rates

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

Please remember that this is not advice, but simply a list of top rates out there. Check with the Bank first, I also suggest checking MoneyFacts.

One Year Deposit
Best online: First Save 3.50%
Best High Street Bank: Santander 4.05%
Best Building Society: Yorkshire 6.01%

Two Year Deposit
Best online: Bank of Ireland 4.00%
Best High Street Bank: NatWest 3.75%
Best Building Society: National Counties 3.76%

Instant Access
Best online: Coventry BS 3.10%
Best High Street Bank: Santander 2.50%
Best Building Society: Nottingham 3.25%

Fixed Rate Cash ISA
Best online: Clydesdale 4.50%
Best High Street Bank: Clydesdale 4.50%
Best Building Society: Clydesdale 4.50%

Variable Rate Cash ISA
Best online: Santander 3.30%
Best High Street Bank: Santander 4.00%
Best Building Society: Newcastle 3.00%

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Best Cash ISA ratesDominic2023-12-01T12:49:29+00:00

Beans means…buck$

The worlds favourite coffee shop (Starbucks) has announced plans to reorganise its global operations, at the moment only 20% of its revenue is generated from outside of the US. The plan is to create three new regions, each with its own president to oversee operations. It is interesting to see how a giant coffee company carves up the world into China and Asia Pacific, Americas, EMEA (Europe, UK, Middle East, Russia, Africa). Michelle Gass has been names president of Starbucks EMEA.

It may interest you (it may not) that in Q2 of 2011 there were 10m Starbucks cards activated worth £128.8m. If you are a card user you will appreciate the mechanics of reloading a card. There were 14.3m reloads in Q2 worth $341.1m at an average of $24 per reload. Big numbers from the big coffee house that began life in 1971 as a single outlet in Pike Place Market, Seattle.

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

Beans means…buck$Dominic2023-12-01T12:49:29+00:00

Co-operative financial services to close

On Friday, the Co-operative announced that it is pulling out of providing financial advice. CFS is now in the process of rearranging itself making something like 670 of its financial advisers redundant. This is in part due to rising regulatory costs and presumably a decision about their ability to deliver a workable service with the new rules for advisers from 2013 (all advisers have to charge fees from 2013 and remove commission).

Royal London are now in talks with Co-operative over the sale of its life assurance and asset management businesses. AXA are also in the frame to take over some of the assets and perhaps some of the branch-based staff. They will be offering AXA products. The IFA arm of the Co-operative Bank was sold off last year. The Co-operative has been an advocate of ethical investment and it is not clear this has been effected. This is not good news for many people that have modest levels of savings and want ethical investment, reducing the choice further.

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

Co-operative financial services to closeDominic2023-12-01T12:49:30+00:00

There be Gold in d’em hills…and silver…and…

Fresnillo, the silver mining company recently published their Q2 figures to end end of June. Their overall Q2 production of silver increased by 8.8% and by the way, they also increased gold production by 20.6% over the same period in 2010. These are record levels for Fresnillo largely due to the successful start-up of production as the Saucito mine. The company is on track to achieve the full 2011 production targets – anticipating production of 44 million ounces of silver and 400,000 ounces of gold. Fresnillo plans to double production from the new Mexican mine by 2015.

However the news is better-sweet, during the same period Fresnillo “suffered two fatalities of unionised personnel” and contractors at various operations suffered five fatalities. Mining is hazardous. You will recall the 33 miners that became trapped in a mine in Chilli who were working at the San Jose gold and copper mine. Fresnillo are a UK FTSE listed company and about the 42nd largest company listed on the UK stockmarket and representing about 0.6% of the FTSE100. Fresnillo has 4 main mines at Fresnillo, Cienega, Herradura and Saucito.

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

There be Gold in d’em hills…and silver…and…Dominic2023-12-01T12:49:31+00:00

Stressful Tests

Summer is here. Schools and Universities are working towards the end of their academic year. Many pupils and students will have had to sit examinations over the last few weeks. My daughters both sat exams. May and June are usually fairly stressful for students. So imagine the news from Friday evening that now nearly 3 years after the credit crunch really took hold the European Banking Authority published its 2011 results.

Ninety banks have been “stress tested” from 21 countries. Sadly eight banks failed the stress tests and a further 16 are frankly “borderline”. That’s roughly a quarter – not terribly impressive. The stress test essentially looks at capital available to the bank in the event of disaster. Levels of capital adequacy have been previously agreed. As a result many banks have been “repairing their balance sheets” the problem with them doing this is that they are building up their own reserves rather than lending money to stimulate economic growth. So all of these 24 banks will have to do further reparation to their balance sheets, which means further sluggish lending.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Stressful TestsDominic2023-12-01T12:49:31+00:00

Best Cash ISA rates

Please remember that this is not advice, but simply a list of top rates out there. Check with the Bank first, I also suggest checking MoneyFacts.

One Year Deposit

Best online: Norwich & Peterborough BS 3.55%

Best High Street Bank: Santander 4.05%

Best Building Society: Yorkshire 6.01%

Two Year Deposit

Best online: Bank of Ireland 4.00%

Best High Street Bank: NatWest 3.75%

Best Building Society: National Counties 3.76%

Instant Access

Best High Street Bank: Santander 2.50%

Best Building Society: Nottingham 3.25%

Best online: Coventry BS 3.10%

Fixed Rate Cash ISA

Best online: Clydesdale 4.50%

Best High Street Bank: Clydesdale 4.50%

Best Building Society: Newcastle 4.20%

Variable Rate Cash ISA

Best online: AA Internet Access 3.35%

Best High Street Bank: Santander 4.00%

Best Building Society: Newcastle 3.00%

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Best Cash ISA ratesDominic2023-12-01T12:49:32+00:00

Up up and away

Well, I’m now at the start of my summer holiday and many thousands of people will be over the summer. Flying is one of those stressful moments for the infrequent flyers and a huge amount of trust and faith is placed in the pilot and the aeroplane. As a passenger on a commercial flight, we don’t kick the tyres to check the pressure or ask to see the pilots license – something that we might otherwise do in many other aspects of “normal life”. This collective “faith” is very difficult to challenge.

It may be of interest to learn how most commercial pilots get paid. Well, they have a basic salary and of course a pension scheme. However most of their pay comes from a bonus. A 747 captain with experience can earn over £100,000. Bonuses can be earned by saving fuel. In general the higher the aeroplane flies, the more efficient. So whilst you climb to the heights of the skies, so too does your captains income.

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

Up up and awayDominic2023-12-01T12:49:32+00:00