How long are you investing?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2023 • 8 min read

How long are you really investing?

As you know, we use a risk profiling tool, indeed if you have been a client for some years you will know that these have evolved over time. These all tend to test how you feel about investment loss. It’s a bit like throwing a snake into someone’s lap and asking them how they feel about snakes.

In all my time as an adviser I have never met anyone that likes to see the value of their investments reduce. Yet of course they do from time to time – and time is the key word, or perhaps concept.

Investment returns come from companies providing “solutions” to society at large. This results in products and services being sold for a profit and investors in those companies share the rewards of the endeavour. Wherever you are now, take a moment to consider all the things in front of you, to your left and right, including your attire, and perhaps the medication and food you have already ingested today. It’s made, but almost none of it is made by you.

Risky business?

Almost all investment theory works on the assumption that whatever can reduce in value the most is more “risky”. Cash tends not to reduce in value much, except for the impact of inflation or the bank failing. Shares can alter in price dramatically in the course of a few hours. So to simplify, shares are classified as high risk and cash low risk, with Bonds (and there are numerous types) classified as a little higher risk than cash as they provide return of capital and fixed income, much like cash.

Getting the balance between how much you should hold in cash, bonds and shares will dictate your returns (we call this asset allocation). How long you invest for is also a key part of the results. Unfortunately we live in a world obsessed with the short-term and immediate, yet you will almost certainly be investing for the remainder of your life, which I hope is a rather long time.

The interactive chart below shows 1 year returns, 5, 10 and 20 year returns with increased allocation towards shares from Bonds. In this instance the chart uses purely UK data for UK shares and UK Bonds, our portfolios are actually global, but this will hopefully provide some help with long-term thinking and what “risk” really is.

Figures reflect back-tested data for the period 1926-2020. In cases where the minimum return is a positive number, the red bar still portrays the min return but with a positive percentage.

You can draw your own conclusions, using the intelligence bestowed upon you, or you can listen to the the latest ideas about what will happen in the next 12 months, I would advise and suggest taking a much longer-term approach. For the record, the UK stock market is only about 5%-7% of the world stock market, depending on the value of the pound, which is why our clients invest globally.

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How long are you investing?Jemima Thomas2023-12-01T12:12:37+00:00

Taxing your savings

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2023 • 10 min read

Prize – Back to winning ways? Or simply more tax on your savings?

Despite the cold weather and general sense of grey, there are some silver linings. On 24^th January 2023 NS&I increased the interest rates on various accounts.

If you are one of the 870,000 or so people who hold NS&I’s Direct Saver, Income Bonds or Direct Cash ISA, you will now get a little more interest. The interest rate paid on Direct Saver and Income Bonds will increase from 2.30% to 2.60%, whilst the interest rate on Direct ISA will increase from 1.75% tax-free to 2.15% tax-free.

Those of you who like Premium Bonds and remain optimistic of jackpot winnings (less likely than being struck by lightning), the prize fund rate will also increase from 3.00% to 3.15%, effective from the February 2023 prize draw. This follows the rate increasing from 2.20% to 3.00% on New Year’s Day.

NS&I has also increased the interest rate that it pays on its Junior Cash ISA from 2.70% tax-free to 3.40% tax-free, meaning that 80,000 under 18s will benefit from extra interest on their savings, though why anyone would want to hold cash for 18 years is beyond me …

Media spin means that we can confidently say that “today’s changes mean that Income Bonds are now paying their highest rate of interest since 2008” which is of course since the infamous credit crunch. The prize fund on premium bonds is also at its highest level since the great crunch.

The odds of each £1 Bond winning any prize will remain fixed at 24,000 to 1, with the changes meaning that the number of prizes worth £50 to £100,000 will increase from next month’s draw (February 2023). In short, if you have at least £24,000 in Premium Bonds you would be unlucky not to win at least £25 (the smallest but most common prize, paid out on over 2.6m Premium Bonds).

There are an estimated 119 billion premium bonds in issuance. The £1m jackpot is paid out on two bonds every month. So there is roughly a 1 in 59 billion chance of winning the jackpot in any month. It will not surprise you that I don’t believe that reliance on such odds is a good strategy for your future, but I certainly would acknowledge that it’s a little bit of fun.

Current and new Premium Bonds prize fund rate and odds:

Current prize fund rate	Current odds	New prize fund rate (from February 2023)	Odds from February 2023 (no change)
3.00% tax-free	24,000 to 1	3.15% tax-free	24,000 to 1

Number and value of Premium Bonds prizes:

Value of prizes in January 2023	Number of prizes in January 2023	Value of prizes in February 2023 (estimated)	Number of prizes in February 2023 (estimated)
£1,000,000	2	£1,000,000	2
£100,000	56	£100,000	59
£50,000	111	£50,000	117
£25,000	224	£25,000	236
£10,000	559	£10,000	590
£5,000	1,116	£5,000	1,177
£1,000	11,968	£1,000	12,573
£500	35,904	£500	37,719
£100	1,159,432	£100	1,280,509
£50	1,159,432	£50	1,280,509
£25	2,617,902	£25	2,376,161
Total £299,202,350	Total 4,986,706	Total £314,347,875	Total 4,989,652

Variable rate savings products:

Product	Previous interest rate	Interest rate from today (24 January 2023)
Direct Saver	2.30% gross/AER	2.60% gross/AER
Income Bonds	2.30% gross/2.32% AER	2.60% gross/2.63% AER
Direct ISA	1.75% tax-free/AER	2.15% tax-free/AER
Junior ISA	2.70% tax-free/AER	3.40% tax-free/AER

Can you get better rates elsewhere? Of course you can! Remember that non-taxpayers and basic rate taxpayers have the personal savings allowance in 2022/23 of £1,000 of tax-free interest. At an interest rate of say 3%, you would need £33,333 on deposit before tax is triggered. Higher rate taxpayers only have £500 of the allowance, so at an interest rate of 3%, you would only need £16,660 on deposit before tax is triggered. A year ago, you would have been hard pressed to be taxed on £100,000 of savings when interest rates were under 1%.

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Taxing your savingsJemima Thomas2023-12-01T12:12:38+00:00

If Carlsberg made politicians

… they wouldn’t look much like the current bunch. As I write, it’s Monday morning, a new day, new week, new Chancellor and the continued conversation around whether the current Prime Minister is (or ever was) fit for purpose. The new Chancellor was handed the ultimate hospital pass and elected to pretty much shred his predecessor’s “mini budget”. Most people have an opinion on this and I’m going to make the wild assumption that you will have yours already.

So what has changed? The underlying problems that all countries have is income versus spending, this sounds familiar to anyone who has a financial plan. The only real difference is that a country doesn’t have an expiry date … at least in the normal course of life, and barring the ultimate catastrophe, we expect our nation to continue into the future, well beyond ourselves. As a result, money needs to last and debts ultimately need to be repaid or at least sustained.

So where are we in terms of your tax … essentially where we were a few months ago. Some rising taxes (full details yet to be released) and rising inflation, though hopefully this will begin to abate due to the recent interest rate rises, but we aren’t through the woods yet.

The supply chain problems caused by Brexit, the pandemic and a war in Ukraine have all pushed prices up and delayed delivery of many goods. The knock-on effects are significant and particularly to Britain, who deliberately decided to end global trade agreements and still do not have one with the United States.

Price rises lead to pressure on personal spending, savings levels tend to fall (hence interest rates are increased to encourage saving and reduce spending). Businesses face a cycle of holding off rises whilst trying to remain competitive but facing serious challenges on most fronts, from the very basic ‘heating the building’ to agreeing international contracts where the pound is ‘precarious’. We have been here before and there are always casualties. What has vexed (and angered) markets recently in particular has been the unwillingness to state assumptions in the plan.

Your financial plan always needs to be adaptable. We review this together every year. Perhaps some changes need to be made, but remember that your portfolio is global and not UK centric. The UK stock market is about 6% of the global market. So, let’s keep things in proportion. The problems are not unique to the UK (except Brexit). Facing problems is always better than ignoring them.

It would seem likely that 2022 will be one of those negative years for markets. The brave see this as an opportunity to buy cheaply; the nervous panic and sell. Those with a long-term mindset know this truth but how it is felt is always a challenge to our nervous system. Those with the best financial planning are those that adapt in the short term but stick to the long-term plan, for probably the best planning in the world …

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

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If Carlsberg made politiciansJemima Thomas2023-12-01T12:12:43+00:00

WHY YOU REALLY DON’T WANT A FAKE GUCCI

TODAY’S BLOG

WHY YOU REALLY DON’T WANT A FAKE GUCCI

I imagine you have been around long enough to know the name of fashion house Gucci; you are likely to have come across the occasional Gucci store in one of our big cities or at an airport, the familiar logo and green/burgundy stripes. I very much doubt that your first experience of Gucci is a poster for the new film by Ridley Scott, who once again proves an inability for editing a film under 2 hours, which is a little amusing when there isn’t a single stitch or fabric cut in the film either.

Anyway, I did not know the story of Gucci (sorry) and to be plain, I am not sure I do now. The Romans were responsible for many myths and yet it appears that successful families in Italia (and elsewhere) continue to ignore all the warnings about families, legacy and wealth.

Despite its length, I enjoyed the telling of a family determined to self-destruct, failing to communicate about anything important, all the while offering the appearance of family unity. The hills of Rome, Tuscany or Milan are insufficient to bury the deeply seated gripes that one branch has against the other. Like lonely Jupiter, judging from on high, nursing grievances about the trivial yet punishing with wrath.

THE OBSESSION WITH CONTROL

It often all boils down to control. We are all probably tempted to believe that we have rather more control over things than we really do. Money corrupts most people, not everyone. I would suggest that it is more likely to corrupt those that seek to control (or power).

I believe that there is very little in life that we can control. I say this as a planner, presumably yours. Hopefully you have heard me say something like this before. I cannot control the markets (nobody really thinks that I can) I cannot control the future and I certainly cannot control who is elected and the policies that are introduced. We can all agree on this. Yet the truth is we cannot control very much of anything. We can try, we can plan, we can prepare, we can repeat, learn, gain experience but I cannot even really control how my body reacts or functions. I know its not popular to say so, but that doesn’t make it untrue.

Acknowledging how little I can actually control has been a lifelong journey for me, one that I suspect and hope is far from over. Obviously within a financial planning context we have “controls” and monitor these, responding appropriately based upon accumulated experience. Truthfully, we control costs as far as possible (I cannot control what others charge). We control asset allocation within a comfortable range. We control our own output, but not entirely devoid of externalities that dictate a degree of what makes up “advice”.

CATWALK VALUES

To my mind, we focus on what is important and attempt to encourage our clients to do the same – whatever “important” means to you. In the main, the common themes are relationships and a self-identity, not yachts, grand gestures or bank balances. Yet we cannot control relationships either, at least, not in any healthy way. The uncomfortable truth is that it has something to do with letting go. Something our clients have to sit with on occasion, letting go of control, trusting our advice and processes to ultimately come good. This is always easier to do when things are going well and tested when they do not.

Sadly, the Gucci family, at least in the film-story, forgot all that was important. The fake Gucci bags being a metaphor for their own lives. Quality comes from crafted time, not short-cuts. I’d suggest that the things that are truly important to you are products of time, probably many, many years.

The House of Gucci is streaming at a platform to your living room. The makeup is certainly impressive. Here is the trailer, the film stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek and Jared Leto.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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WHY YOU REALLY DON’T WANT A FAKE GUCCIDominic2023-12-01T12:12:53+00:00

HIGHER OR LOWER?

TODAY’S BLOG

BY WHAT MEASURE?

I am conscious that whatever we measure, it never really captures “life”. 2021 has been a good year for our clients and the business. We have taken on new clients, helped reduced debt and costs, improved asset allocations, interest from deposit rates, used tax allowances and reliefs. Some have been reassured of their retirement plans, others have brought forward theirs. We have moved you out of expensive arrangements, ring-fenced funds, protected families and businesses and reduced hassle. Markets have risen (this is not our doing) so valuations are up.

Yet these are reductive measurements. Many of us have had significant difficulty coping with pandemic life, the isolation and inability to do many of the things that we assumed normal. Family members, friends, colleagues have suffered with health, frightening diagnoses, and some, sadly life itself. Some have been furloughed, lost their business or job, those of you working within the NHS or teach have been under tremendous pressure. So yes, returns have been up, but few of us believe that this is the measure of life.

HIGHER OR LOWER? PLAY THE HAND YOU HAVE

Knowing this, every time this year we bear witness to the folly of making predictions. My in-box will be full of “Our Expectations For The Coming Year” or “What Portfolios Should Look Like For This Year”. As we take the long-term (decades) approach I can generally dismiss this as unhelpful noise, designed to evoke anxiety than allay fear. I’m reminded of the 1980s TV Show “Play Your Cards Right” where Bruce Forsyth would reveal cards to players simply shouting “higher” or “lower” than the value of the one previously. Often, I find myself wondering if the investment world is really any better – after all, its meant to be about deploying capital so that good businesses can innovate, improve and expand the goods or services that they provide.

Yet we will see headlines and bylines all attempting to generate anxiety, here are a few that I am expecting.

Are Markets About to Collapse?
Has the property market overheated?
Is cryptocurrency your sure bet to financial freedom?
Is the Bond market about to bomb?
Will the crisis in (fill in the blank) impact your portfolio?
Billions wiped off markets
Top Funds for (insert year)
Pension storm warning: tax relief is likely to change in the Budget
Chancellor plans to scrap (insert point of pain).

I don’t know how this new year will work out for each of us. Some of the above may happen, it may not, the Negative Event World Service (NEWS) wll certainly attempt to stoke anxiety and we can rely on something else always tempting the promise of “better”. I can safely say that we will age, taxes will become due and health, love and friendship are things to cherish and work on. None of us are immortal.

Thank you for paying some attention this year, you are a much better audience than last year. We will continue to call you to look up and look ahead, whilst being aware of the past and context of the present. To be blunt, let us worry about the noise, focus on what you are good at and what you get value from.

Welcome 2022 – we go again.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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HIGHER OR LOWER?Dominic2023-12-01T12:12:57+00:00

BROWN PAPER PACKAGES

TODAY’S BLOG

BROWN PAPER PACKAGES…

It’s that time of year when the parcels arrive in brown paper packages, tied up with strings and yes I’m sorry I cannot help but fill in “these are a few of my favourite things” such is the embedding of “The Sound of Music” in my psyche having raised a family that love musicals and Julie Andrews in particular!

I was struck by something I saw online – “Is there anything more saccharine than The Sound of Music”. Red flag, hold the phone, don’t overreact! I know musicals aren’t to everyone’s liking, and yes, it’s not Tolstoy, it is the Hollywood version of a true story, so some sugar and spice (or lack of) are part of the package. I didn’t think it was quite “fair”. This is after all, a story about the repressed being oppressed and finding a way to liberate themselves in more ways than simply crossing the alps to Switzerland, but perhaps I should try to see the other point of view.

It did get me thinking about the actual story, which is a little more real-life gritty. So perhaps a bit more background is necessary. Firstly, Georg Von Trapp (31) married his first wife Agathe Whitehead (20) on 14 January 1911. Agathe was the daughter of Robert Whitehead a highly successful engineer who designed the Whitehead torpedo. Her mother was part of the Austro-Hungarian nobility and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and outbreak of war resulted in the family assets being frozen and forbidden from leaving the country. Georg was a naval officer having followed his family vocation that had resulted in elevation through the social ranks to nobility. He became an early submariner commanding the SM U-5 and was decorated for the sinking of various British, French, Italian and Greek vessels. Their first child Rupert was born in November 1911, over the next 10 years they had six further children. As we live with covid, 100 years ago scarlet fever was much more common and in Christmas 1921 five of the children suffered from scarlet fever during an epidemic, including Agathe who eventually died as a result at the age of just 31 in 1922.

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA?

In 1926 Von Trapp hired a novice from the local Abbey in Salzburg, Maria Kutschera. Maria’s own mother died when she was 2 and her father left her with his cousin to care for her whilst he travelled the world to manage his grief and died when she was 9. Despite a difficult childhood she completed school with good grades and eventually received a scholarship to the State Teacher’s College in Vienna from which she graduated in 1923. At age 19 she entered Nonnberg Abbey intending to become a nun.

Within a few months of her position at the von Trapp home, Georg asked her to marry him and according to Maria she returned to the Abbey to seek advice from the abbess. They married in November 2027, Georg being 25 years older unlike Julie Andrews who was just 6 years younger than Christopher Plummer (unusual for Hollywood). Maria wrote that she was really marrying the children, that she wanted to be a nun, she liked Georg but did not love him. They had their first of three children in 1929.

FINANCIAL RUIN

The Whitehead family wealth was largely held in England, but by 1935 with growing tensions in the now land-locked Austria from a hostile Germany, Georg transferred the savings into an Austrian Bank which unfortunately collapsed, resulting in the loss of most of the family fortune. The family had to discharge most of their servants and lived on the top floor of their home whilst renting rooms to others.

One tenant was a newly graduated young catholic priest, Franz Wasner who taught the children music. German soprano Lotte Lehmann heard them sing and suggested they perform paid concerts with Wasner as musical Director. Germany took over Austria in 1938 and Georg was offered a commission in the German Navy, he declined and it is also alleged that he declined an invitation for the family to sing at Hitler’s birthday. Later that year the family left Austria by train initially to Italy and headed for the US via London. They returned for a singing tour of Europe in 1939 avoiding the Third Reich but by September made their way back to the safety of the US, where they lived for the remainder of their lives. Georg died in May 1947 from lung cancer. Maria eventually died in March 1987.

On reflection, perhaps The Sound of Music is rather saccharine, by comparison to the difficulties that the von Trapp family experienced. The basic skeleton of story is there, but many of the traumatic, life shaping experiences are glossed over. What is interesting from a financial planning perspective is how quickly fortunes can alter. Within no more than two decades the Von Trapp’s had lost their wealth, their status, their home, their country. They took on a new vocation, touring as a family singing group.

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

Unlike the Von Trapp family, with good financial planning, assuming that your lifestyle doesn’t become significantly more elaborate than it is, we work together to ensure that funds survive you and that you provide a legacy for those you wish to. Whilst we can never know the future (fortunately) we can prepare for it as well as possible, doing our best.

One of the main advantages of a global stock market is the ability to diversify assets around the world, reducing risk of permanent loss considerably. Your portfolio now has between 16,000 and 30,000 securities – that’s an enormous amount of diversification around the world.

Anyway, as the year draws to a close, perhaps Julie Andrews will be on screen again. Wherever you are this Christmastime I do hope that you receive some packages, some perhaps in brown paper tied up with string.

So long, farewell…

The Sound of Music (1965) Directed by Robert Wise

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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BROWN PAPER PACKAGESDominic2023-12-01T12:12:59+00:00

IS YOUR COUNCIL TAX BILL RIGHT?

TODAY’S BLOG

IS YOUR COUNCIL TAX BILL RIGHT?

The average Band D council tax set by local authorities for 2021/22 will be £1,898 an increase of £81 or 4.4%. The total Council Tax requirement for the year is a whopping £34.4bn – billion! An increase of 1.3billion.

If you believe your property is in the wrong band, you can challenge it through the Valuation Office Agency to get your property revalued and moved into a different, cheaper band. There are some criteria you have to meet, so you’ll need to have some concrete evidence for your challenge to be successful.

For example, if there have been changes to your property that would make it less valuable than the original valuation – part has been demolished, or it is a house that has subsequently been converted into flats. Or there may have been a change to the property or local area that would have changed the valuation of the property, such as roadworks that have been built that would have affected the rateable value of the property.

TWO SIDES OF A NEIGHBOURHOUD

If there have been changes to your property that would make it less valuable than the original valuation – part has been demolished, or it is a house that has subsequently been converted into flats. Or there may have been a change to the property or local area that would have changed the valuation of the property, such as roadworks that have been built that would have affected the rateable value of the property.

You can also get your band changed if mistakes have been made when the rating was carried out. If your council tax band has been incorrectly calculated, not only will you enjoy lower bills, but you’ll get the money back that you had overpaid, all the way back to when you started paying the wrong amount. If you’ve been in your property for a couple of decades, this could be a big chunk.

But beware – challenging your council tax band can deliver bad news as well as good – you could end up increasing your council tax bill by the agency deciding that you should be in a higher band. This could even affect your neighbours, with the potential to make you quite unpopular down your street. That planned street party for the end of the pandemic, may create a few awkward moments.

Here’s a link to the Council Tax site.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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IS YOUR COUNCIL TAX BILL RIGHT?Dominic2023-12-01T12:13:03+00:00

DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME – A TALE OF A SIMPLE MIND

TODAY’S BLOG

DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME – A TALE OF A SIMPLE MIND

Reminders on my phone are a necessity. This singular function is one that I use to organise my life, attempt to not forget to do things, and often be in the right places at the right times. I truly believe that I would be lost without this very simple tool. However…

Setting yourself reminders is a very manual process – you create them, set the date on which whatever the task is must be completed. Most crucially, it is all too easy to change the due date on these reminders and push them back over what is, inevitably, a multiple-month stretch. If this process were automatic and unchangeable to prevent procrastination (which over the years I have come to believe is something of an art-form) I am sure that I would achieve more, all within a much more reasonable time span. We are creatures of habit, however, the discipline required in the early stages of forming GOOD habits is crucial in maintaining them for the longer term. This got me thinking about automated finances, which is a concept that I have been hearing and reading about a lot during my studies.

AUTOMATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Andy Hart, in his excellent podcast ‘Maven Money’ which I would highly recommend, states that automating your finances is one of the most important things that you can do. This means setting up standing orders or direct debits (whichever is more appropriate for the scenario), in order to ensure that your money goes to the places that you want and need it to go. One of the main focuses of this technique is saving, whether this be for a house, other large projects or emergency funds, though the same technique can be used to help yourself in many other ways – desired monthly pension contributions, for example, is another goal that this technique could be used for.

Not only will you never forget to make these savings/contributions ever again, but you are likely to become even better at budgeting for all other aspects of your lifestyle without these funds even coming into consideration – with the comfort of knowing that these funds have contributed towards achieving your financial goals and strengthening your financial plan.

MONTHLY SAVINGS HAS SOME OTHER ADVANTAGES

Some of you may have already seen our short video that explains pound-cost averaging. In a very clear way, this video explains how there can be a great benefit to making contributions to investments on a monthly basis, essentially meaning that you will always end up paying the average price over a particular period of time rather than being at risk of paying over the odds.

It’s ironic how we often forget the things worth remembering but remember the things worth forgetting. I have included our video above about monthly budgeting and setting up your bank accounts, to help make this entire process much easier.

Daniel Liddicott
Trainee Financial Adviser

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 Dominic 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

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

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PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

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DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME – A TALE OF A SIMPLE MINDJemima Thomas2023-12-01T12:13:05+00:00

NEW YEAR, SAME OLD PROBLEMS

TODAY’S BLOG

NEW YEAR, SAME OLD PROBLEMS?

The year finally draws to a close, thoughts turn to resolutions for 2021. Perhaps thinking 12 days ahead is easier than 12 months. Yet we all hope that the vaccine will be rapidly and successfully deployed so that we can pick ourselves up and face a new year, with some degree of reduced anxiety.

This may take a while and so can I urge to you complete your 10 Minute Challenge items. If you really cannot bring yourself to tick off these important tasks, can I ask you to simply jot down on a piece of paper your plans for 2021. Then send it to me as an email (preferably placing it on the portal).

FORGET THE RESOLUTIONS – MAKE IT EASY

I am not interested in resolutions. Most of us find these rather like hopeful pie-crust promises – easily made, easily broken. No I am after some of the practical goals and tasks that you want to get done this year, things that I can have input into or help with… so that’s things like (and of course any such list it not exhaustive and needs adapting to your circumstances).

Your bank balance – rates are awful, but what is your comfort cash balance?
Your monthly savings level (how much you want to squirrel away each month)
When you intend to retire
If you are retired, what challenge are you facing in 2021?
What income you need
Clearing or reducing your mortgage
Your job or career – any changes to work patterns, promotions, redundancy concerns?
Expectations for your business or perhaps starting one (or another one)
Where you live – any plans to make alterations to anything that requires finance?
Any big purchases? Electric car? Alternative energy?
How you will measure 2021 as a successful year.

You will appreciate that some of our clients work in the NHS, we also advise a few teachers. Most of us will have some time to note down some thoughts. PLEASE send these to me. This is precisely what proper financial planning is all about – where your life, values and money all meet. You may think your plans are not terribly ambitious or hanging on the hopes of “normal life resuming”. I offer no judgement, simply want to know so that we can do an even better job for you in 2021.

Enjoy New Year’s Eve and the zoom calls with your friends and family. We will be ready to go again on Tuesday and I look forward to it.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

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GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

NEW YEAR, SAME OLD PROBLEMSDominic2023-12-01T12:13:11+00:00

TOMORROW’S WORLD

TODAY’S BLOG

PLANNING A FUTURE

The more I read or hear about the impact of the pandemic on real people I am reminded of how important it is to have a sense of the future. There is little doubt that many of us have been struggling with the practicalities of living detached from friends and family, or frankly anyone that we may not know, but form a part of our ordinary lives.

Monty Don made the point that having something to look forward to is ever so important, which is part of the reason why so many people love and enjoy gardening. Those of us with gardens have benefitted this year from fairly good weather and the ability to take more time to enjoy our open spaces. Many have remarked that during the Spring when were in the full lockdown phase, they observed the natural world in way that seemed to be a glimpse into a bygone time, of no cars or aeroplanes – to see and hear nature, as may have been observed centuries ago.

TOMORROW’S WORLD

You will probably remember the BBC1 programme “Tomorrow’s World”. It was something of a TV fixture for many people, irrespective of age. When I grew up there were only three TV channels and “Children’s television” officially ended just before the news, but programmes really didn’t stop appealing to children. Perhaps you will remember James Burke, Michael Rodd, William Woollard, Judith Hann and Maggie Philbin all explaining various inventions which would perhaps become commonplace lifestyle improving solutions. Many of the “predictions” turned out to be some way off the reality, others were quite clearly an early prototype.

Anyhow, it got me wondering about the importance of having a vision for the future. We have seen some welcome reassessment of the past, we cannot change it, but we can at least learn to understand it differently, specifically its impact on the present.

A PLACE IN TIME

Without a grasp of history and a hope for the future, I would argue that it is easier to become overwhelmed by the present. Today I could probably find shows like Tomorrow’s World, but I’d really have to hunt them down from not simply hundreds of channels but different media sources and they certainly would not be what the majority watched, all experiencing the occasion at the same time, which I also believe to be pertinent to our sense of time.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HOPE

The book of Proverbs has an interesting phrase “without vision the people perish”. That’s a pretty bold statement and of course, has been interpreted in all sorts of ways and probably used to justify all sorts of ideas. If I may, can I simply offer it as an acknowledgement of the value of having a sense of tomorrow. Having hope.

Many of us, (perhaps all of us) have had moments of despair at the current circumstances. Whether that is concern about health, family, friends, loneliness, financial pressure, worrying if your business (or your friend’s) will survive, if you will ever get to enjoy the things you did before… Then there is a very deep despair that overwhelms and leads to some believing that they have no future and so end the pain.

DON’T UNDERVALUE YOUR FUTURE

The future is something I discuss all the time with clients, but I have to admit that simply having a sense of a future itself (whatever that looks like) is rather more important than having no vision at all. Please get in touch if you need to talk or simply want me to listen. Perhaps your plans have altered, maybe some priorities have changed. Alternatively, maybe you know someone that I may be able to help to get their plan for their future into shape.

And for your amusement… here’s the team at Tomorrow’s World looking back at the 1970s as the new decade was about to begin from roughly 4 decades ago – which is typically how long people “work” for a living and increasingly how long retirement may last…

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

TOMORROW’S WORLDDominic2023-12-01T12:13:11+00:00

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