Tempus Fugit… so plan how to live it well

Love Song – Abi Morgan
Great financial planning goes beyond the numbers. In my opinion, its about aligning your values and lifestyle to achieve the goals or outcomes that you want. Financial planning, when done well is really about putting the financial architecture around such a plan – a Financial Plan. If this is my assertion then surely it becomes pertinent to ask about values, aspirations and lifestyle as well as all the usual questions about investment risk and so on. I have yet to come across another line of work that actively prompts and achieves this for people and believe that a well thought through values driven financial plan can make a significant difference to the quality of life that you enjoy and share with others.
By now, you will have gathered that I enjoy film, theatre and music – in fact pretty much all arts. Last night I saw a new play by Abi Morgan, the British playwright and screenwriter that seems to have come to the attention of the media due to her film work success with Shame and The Iron Lady as well as Sex Traffic, Brick Lane and  The Hour. The play called “Love Song” is currently showing at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith (one of the coolest theatres in London). The play follows a couple in their early years interwoven with their twilight days. It is a thoughtful and at times moving story, plotting the hopes, fears, joys and sorrow of a fairly typical relationship. In part it prompts the audience to consider how and what we remember, whilst also pointing to the sadness and inescapable reality that time is short. 
When I meet with clients, all are naturally at various stages of their journey, some are better able to articulate their plans and hopes for the future than others. This is not to suggest that others don’t have them, just that in my experience many find it harder to answer questions that have not been posed quite as directly before now. As a result, it is generally my experience that it takes some time to really get to the heart of… well the heart, and why patience and regular reviews can be revitalising and illuminating. This is the bit about my job that I love the most. Some call if financial life planning, for me its doing my job as a financial planner as well as I know how.
Love Song is showing at the Lyric until 4th February and stars Sian Phillips, Leanne Rowe, Edward Bennett and Sam Cox. It is produced by Frantic Assembly. After London the play moves to Glasgow and then to Cardiff.
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
Tempus Fugit… so plan how to live it well2023-12-01T12:48:00+00:00

Bonuses Cut – No not the Banks, but perhaps your with-profit policy?

1991: Shadows and Fog – Woody Allen
Financial Planning ought to be more like a light to guide rather than a fog to muddle, yet that is sadly the position that as an Independent Financial Adviser, I find myself having to navigate. Take one of my pet dislikes – “With-Profit Funds”. To my mind this has always been akin to wizardry with the promise of smoothing the “peaks and troughs” of the investment markets into a flat, but upward trending line. Every year a bonus is added and cannot be removed and at the end of the policy (maturity date) a final bonus or terminal bonus is added.  This has nothing to do with the bonuses that RBS or other Banks pay. This is an amount decided upon by the Insurance company concerned. What’s wrong with that? some would ask, to which my response is – it is almost impossible to ever get a real value or any sense of what the policy might actually be worth at maturity. Certainly there are annual reports and guides that might provide helpful indications about the fund, its make-up and so on, but these are also rather difficult to make sense of.
Today Standard Life has announced its bonus rates that will be applied tomorrow. The press release is, frankly rather glowing “Most plans have increased in value in the year to 1 February. Many customers are enjoying the benefit of valuable guarantees built up over the years on their with-profit plans”. However, what is unclear in the 6 page press release is that despite this statement, most bonus rates are staying the same and some of them are being cut. The numbers are also woefully small, for example a unitised with profits bond has a bonus rate of 2.50%. Guaranteed rates have been honoured, but we’re only talking about 3 or 4% at the most here. Other unitised life policies have seen rates cut from 1.25% to just 0.75%. Not exactly heart-warming. In practice, something like 750,000 policyholders will see bonus rates cut. Standard Life used to be a leading light in the With-Profits market. Their performance has been better than this, so there is a degree of prudence being shown by effectively holding back money, but one has to ask is this really any help to investors that want to plan for their future.
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
Bonuses Cut – No not the Banks, but perhaps your with-profit policy?2023-12-01T12:48:01+00:00

Banking Licensed to Thrill? Latest Cash ISA Rates

1989: Licence to Kill – John Glen
In an attempt to provide a holistic financial planning perspective, I’m putting the latest top rates here, with links to the relevant institutions. As an Independent Financial Adviser (or IFA) I have no vested interest in any of these organisations as an IFA is impartial . Please remember to have a look at the detail also remember that only the first £85,000 per Bank (actually per Banking License – full list here) is covered under the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) should the bank go bust. The news today is that Santander has seen a 40% drop in profit, though this is due to ring-fencing money for the claims for mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI).
Instant Access Accounts
Building Society: Nottingham 3.25%
One Year Deposit
Online: AA Savings 3.60% (AA is Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group)
Building Society: Barnsley 5.00% (part of Yorkshire Building Society)
Two Year Deposit
Online: Clydesdale Bank 4.01% (part of National Australia Group)
Bank: Yorkshire Bank 4.01% (part of National Australia Group)
Building Society: Melton Mowbray 3.51%
Cash ISA Variable Rate
Online: AA Savings 3.05% (part of Bank of Scotland / Lloyds Banking Group)
Bank: Santander 4.00%
Building Society: Newcastle 3.05%
Cash ISA Fixed Rate
Bank: Halifax 4.40% (part of Bank of Scotland / Lloyds Banking Group)
Building Society: Barnsley 5.00% (part of Yorkshire Building Society)
I would encourage you to review recent blog posts from me – just type in Cash ISA into the search feature and this should list them. I have commented on issues to beware of in relation to some of the top rates and I will reaffirm that I would not personally classify the Barnsley account paying 5.00% as a deposit account. It is an investment and in my humble opinion should be classified as such.

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
Banking Licensed to Thrill? Latest Cash ISA Rates2023-12-01T12:48:01+00:00

Winning Is Everything… or is it?

2011: Win Win – Thomas McCarthy

Great financial planning is all about figuring out what you want to achieve and putting this into a values based workable financial plan to achieve the results you want. Invariably life changes, so the plan needs reviewing and sometimes it is necessary to make dramatic changes. The assumptions we make and the strategies applied are tested against real experience. Financial Planning is not about winning, but it is about getting results.

In sport, the combination of the right sequence of results, will lead to someone being either a winner or not. Indeed in sport, to become “the best” you have to ultimately face the best and compete to win. As Andy Murray has found today in Australia, playing the best (Novak Djokovic) is the required experience and ingredient in order to progress towards becoming the best. Sport and in particular tennis, is particularly unforgiving – consistently playing at the highest level is vital in order to become a “winner”. A momentary lapse can be the difference between winning and losing. Sadly for Andy Murray, the Wimbledon Mens Champion and current world number one proved too much today (but only just) in an enthralling match.
Financial planning and investing is not really like this. There is no “winning” the goals are not to beat other people, or the market, but to ensure that your goals are achieved. This does not mean that investment performance is unimportant, on the contrary, it is highly significant – but in the context of getting the results you need to achieve, which may mean taking very little investment risk or a lot – depending on your goals.
However, like sport, if you want your financial planning to deliver the results you are looking for, you need to find the right coach (financial planner) and have a proper strategy. Times will be testing, sometimes more effort is required, sometimes risks need to be taken, at others – perhaps a more cautious approach is necessary. Vital skills include knowing the difference between quitting and changing.
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
Winning Is Everything… or is it?2023-12-01T12:48:02+00:00

Nest: Auto Enrolment Dates

1937: Love Nest on Wheels – Keaton
Financial Planning for businesses and organisations, large or small have been given the revised dates for NEST or auto-enrolment of staff into a pension scheme. The Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, is keen to make auto-enrolment work. The financial planning implications of NEST are significant. For starters, all employers, irrespective of size must, by law, set up a pension scheme. Millions of people will be joining a pension scheme for the first time or a new scheme. A good pension scheme that is easy for employers to operate will be vital and Steve Webb is ideally looking for the system to be a “no brainer”.
The dates for the roll out across Britain are listed on the DWP website which can be found by clicking here. In essence though, small firms with less than 30 staff will begin auto-enrolment from 1st January 2016 – some 4 years off. The largest companies, with 250 or more staff begin this October, any firm with 50-250 staff must begin auto-enrolment from 1st April 2014.
Many employers are getting their pension scheme sorted out early to ensure that their system works and that they have a good pension scheme for staff. Of course, it also helps them look good and ahead of the game, which in times where possibly salaries are not keeping pace with inflation, this could be seen as a good compensation. NEST will require employers to contribute 3% with employees contributing 5% (less tax relief) so employers need to be planning for additional expenses and employees need to be planning for pension contributions that for many will be higher than most currently pay.
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
Nest: Auto Enrolment Dates2023-12-01T12:48:03+00:00

Taxing the House

1957: House of Numbers – Rouse
 Sophisticated financial planning, often involves making the best of the tax system. Independent Financial Advisers are not Accountants, but there is some degree of overlap. To generalise, an Accountant tends to work with historic tax, whereas an IFA or holistic financial planner will attempt to use tax allowances in the current tax year and be planning for tax in the future. A good financial plan will consider tax advantages where appropriate. Often we work with Accountants. That in mind, here are a couple of pointers about tax items currently in the media.
Firstly the Liberal Democrats are fairly keen to introduce a Mansion Tax. That is, a tax on residential properties worth £2m or more. This would be an annual tax of 1% of the value of the property (thus a minimum £20,000). So those with large homes need to consider the possibility of this being implemented by the Coalition Government. On a similar theme, the Chancellor, George Osbourne, is reviewing those people that are avoiding (not evading) the Stamp Duty on property purchases in the UK when the property is bought through an offshore company. This is something that seems to have become commonplace in London and the Home Counties over the last 10 years. The sums involved are significant as Stamp Duty on property valued at more than £1m is 5% (so a minimum of £50,000).
The 31st January 2012 is rapidly approaching for people to submit their tax returns online. There is a penalty of £100 for not doing so on time. However due to a planned strike by HMRC staff, the taxman has decided to provide an extra two days grace due to the strike which may have resulted in rather more people being fined. The taxman also warned people about paying tradesmen in cash as invariably this is not declared as income by the tradesman. As a consequence this is lost revenue to HMRC and therefore the rest of the UKplc. It is essentially a tax-dodge if someone does not declare their income correctly, this is illegal and known as tax evasion. The Spurs Manager, Harry Redknapp has been in court this week attempting to explain his own actions and I am sure that this is an experience the rest of us would wish to avoid. Mind you, it seems that some politicians do not appreciate that tax avoidance is legal and tax evasion is not.
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
Taxing the House2023-12-01T12:48:03+00:00

I had to share this…lessons from a forgotten disaster

1944: Lifeboat – Alfred Hitchcock
As a holistic financial planner dedicated to making things better for clients I am largely in full support of what the FSA are trying to do, in order to provide a better financial services industry for the UK. However whilst at a recent ICAEW event, I heard a really good analogy about “good intentions” (we were discussing some unintended consequences of new rules). It isn’t mine and I make no apology of pinching it from Les Cantalay who has done a great job and gave a very good talk. Anyhow, he showed a picture of a ship “The Eastland” (which was launched in 1903) in the docks and then another a couple of years later showing her  capsized whilst in the Chicago docks, having just taken aboard some 2,500 passengers and looking rather like a picture of the current Costa Concordia disaster, which, in terms of loss of life, looks mercifully insignificant by comparison. The reason for the capsize? well it turns out that following the sinking of the Titanic (which will have been 100 years ago on 15th April this year), new regulation meant that ships had to carry more lifeboats (Lafollette’s Seaman’s Act, 4th March 1915). Within 4 months, The Eastland capsized as the new lifeboat regulation made her too top heavy. Passenger deaths from the Titanic: 818 – from The Eastland: 844. A huge loss of life, mainly women and children and largely an unknown disaster.

Yesterday, it was announced that the new regulator (that will replace the FSA) will have the power to ban financial products without any consultation. Whilst on the face of it, this does appear to be a good thing (when products are frankly “a load of rubbish”) this sort of action can lead to chaos as those stuck in the products cannot easily exit. It would be far better to have clear guidance and rules that financial products must follow to be available. This might mean requiring pre-approval from the regulator before a product is launched (though this would likely lead to bureaucracy and delay as well as possible loss of competitive advantage). However, I would argue that this is probably better than having a class of products that are unregulated which advisers must be at least “considering” to retain their “Independent Financial Adviser” status from 2013 under the new rules. I can only foresee yet another avoidable disaster.

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
I had to share this…lessons from a forgotten disaster2023-12-01T12:48:04+00:00

VAT, IFAs, RDR, FSA, DFMs, HMRC and more confused acronyms

2008: Chaos Theory – Marcos Siega 
As a forward thinking financial planner, keen to ensure that our clients get the very best advice, last night I attended a seminar at the Chartered Accountants Hall in London. The focus of this was in relation to the interpretation of VAT rules and how this will be new for most financial advisers from 2013. Anyone that knows Solomon’s, will be aware that we have always operated on a fee basis. Anyway, (yes it was a dry topic) there has been something of a spat between the HMRC, FSA and IFA trade bodies as there is a significant degree of uncertainty about what is and what is not liable to VAT, so as you might imagine a fair number of advisers are not only concerned about charging fees for the first time, but also becoming VAT registered. One interesting point, was that under current understanding, any IFA that uses a Discretionary Fund Manager (DFM) service will have to apply VAT to this. In recent times, many IFAs have been encouraged to outsource their client investment services to “Discretionary Fund Managers” and continued to be paid as though looking after the client money. I have not been tempted by this, primarily because for our clients this is largely an unnecessary additional cost and one that does not appear to provide better results for clients. Anyhow, if the ICAEW interpretation of the rules is right anyone who has an adviser that uses DFMs will have a further 20% of VAT to add to the bill, making outsourcing investment advice less attractive.
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
VAT, IFAs, RDR, FSA, DFMs, HMRC and more confused acronyms2023-12-01T12:48:04+00:00

How to use LinkedIn

2001: The Business of Strangers – Stettner
As a holistic financial planner my main role is to help my clients. Normally that means creating a workable financial plan, getting investments right and making sure that clients achieve their goals. However there are other aspects too – such as putting clients in touch with others that can also help them through my own network of connections – such as Accountants, Solicitors, Marketing Specialists and Business Consultants to name a few.
Yesterday I invested time in gaining better knowledge about social media as the more I read about the way people connect now and in the future, it seems that this is something that  a forward-thinking successful business, organisation or service will need to master. So I spent a highly valuable day with social media expert Phil Calvert who specialises in helping IFAs around the world with this topic. He provided really helpful insight into a variety of social media applications such as LinkedIn and has given me much to think about and put into action. He demonstrated how whilst originally considered to be little more than a business job site, LinkedIn is an invaluable business tool to enable networking, sharing, understanding, communicating and a great search engine. In essence it helps to communicate who you are and business wisdom is that “people buy people”. So whilst networking and LinkedIn can appear to be a collection of business strangers, it can, when used correctly (suggests Phil)  be everything that Facebook is not and rather more.
I shall be taking his challenge seriously and will be improving my use of LinkedIn and many other aspects of communicating with clients and contacts, so do keep an eye on my LinkedIn profile and link to me. If you have a LinkedIn account, I now have some tips to share on how to make this a better business tool.
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
How to use LinkedIn2023-12-01T12:48:05+00:00

More Unintended Consequences?

1932: Winner Take All – Roy Del Ruth
The efforts of Europe to sure up the way that everyone borrows money and how Banks lend money has broadly been welcomed. After all, it was primarily the overborrowing that caused the credit crunch. You may be aware that Banks need to lend more carefully… which in theory is a good thing, at least if one assumes wisdom and care are linked in this instance. As a result they have to hold more reserves themselves and effectively ask borrowers to do the same with larger deposits. Interestingly here in the UK loans are not treated as being in default until they are 180 days in arrears. In Europe and in the new proposed legislation this is 90 days… so what? well the so what is that Banks use this as a part of their risk pricing and consequential fees to the borrower. In short, if the rules are applied in Britain in the same way, without doing anything else, we are likely to see borrowing costs increase. I dare say that Banks will take the opportunity to charge more because more work needs to be done proving the loan is “safe” and ultimately it will be borrowers that lose out and I doubt anyone will be too surprised that Banks will probably come out on top.
As you hopefully know, I do not arrange mortgages, this is work that I tend to refer to a mortgage broker. However, how you plan to repay debt, with a proper debt reduction strategy is a different matter. Importantly I believe that most debt is not good, so it should be minimized or cleared, there are occassions though when debt can work powerfully for your advantage. But be warned, utlimately all debts need to be repaid. Lenders tend to hold property as security and here in the UK, debts must be serviced with significant consequences for those that fail to do so.
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
More Unintended Consequences?2023-12-01T12:48:06+00:00
Go to Top