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The Money Fog

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2024  •  4 min read

The Money Fog

I came across a clip of an interview with female comedian Shappi Khorsandi who was talking about her struggle with money and the particular additional challenges that she faces due to ADHD. She described an inability to understand and manage her finances and whenever someone has attempted to help with explanations, it feels as though she is back in a maths lesson, where understanding and explanation rarely meet. Her ADHD meant then and now that her mind is spinning with distraction which removes the chance of any understanding.

This has resulted in Shappi facing financial problems and the preferred solution is to avoid thinking about it. This results in unopened letters and emails which leads to County Court Judgements and significant difficulties with any financial institution thereafter.

I don’t have ADHD, but I understand that it is a spectrum (like many things) and of course I also struggle to understand a lot of things … I acknowledge that this isn’t the same thing, but I simply wish to state that I understand at least some of the feelings around not understanding.

Unfortunately, the time in which we live means that understanding money is really very important in terms of basic living in both the present and the future. In truth, many of us struggle with numbers and financial concepts. Certainly, there will be people who struggle more than others, but it would seem to me that the financial sector has often deliberately made life more complex and full of jargon than it needs to be.

Shappi made the point that for a long time she didn’t know how to articulate the problem and the help that she needed. She struggles with the administration of her finances and understanding what she sees on a statement. I would argue that this is not exclusively a problem for people with ADHD, but for many people; and indeed as we age, our ability to cope with evolving technology and concepts becomes ever more challenging.

So my question in the thread and here to you, is on one level rather simple, but of course not a simple answer. What can we do to make managing your finances easier? How can we make things more straightforward? Given that we don’t wish to overreach our responsibility and remove any sense of your own agency from the dynamic – we cannot simply ‘do it all for you’, but I am certain that we can improve on what has gone before.

The FCA are aware of the problem, in many respects it is evident in their approach. At one level, they do not believe that most people can calculate 1% of a number, so advisers have to clearly state fees in cash terms not simply percentages. At its heart, the latest initiative Consumer Duty (which builds on the prior initiative of Treating Customers Fairly) is about this, but it’s still all about numbers and not really about helping people to build resources for their financial independence.

I would suggest, politely, that a lack of understanding combined with inertia are the real reasons why people don’t move their savings accounts to better rates of interest or invest cash that they are really very unlikely to need for five years or more. This is not helped by the reality that ‘advice’ comes with lengthy documentation and the litigious world in which we live means that those of us dispensing advice are caught between simplicity and detail for fear of claims in the future about “not understanding”.

Money is complex, partly because it can involve a lot of maths and formulae, but also because the jargon and terminology used make most of us shut down! There is also the very real problem that we are human, most of us are not really interested in money, but in what it can do for us. Having the self-awareness to appreciate that you don’t need to be an expert but need one; but not completing delegating decisions is a journey that you are on. I know it works, but I certainly recognise the size of the emotional step that you have taken, which is easier for some than others.

In this process, trust is obviously an enormous factor and it’s my belief that trust, whilst I can earn it by keeping promises, is at its core instinctual.

The Money Fog2024-10-03T16:54:51+01:00

Are you taking too much?

Dominic Thomas
June 2024  •  3 min read

Are you taking too much out of your pensions and investments?

It would seem that many people are. According to research conducted by NFU Mutual, over half of people accessing their pensions for the first time cleaned the entire pension pot out. If that is even half-true, it’s a concern.

A dig into some of the data suggests that 739,535 pensions were accessed for the first time in 2022/23 up from 420,727 the year before. The research found that over 75% of people taking their pensions were not advised, so will have no recourse. Many will likely have paid emergency tax and failed to reclaim it if they had been over-taxed.

It seems that on one hand the former Chancellor Mr Osborne (I cannot now remember how many we have had since) would be pleased that people are using their own money to fund their lifestyle. However, this sort of data, when viewed in conjunction with the regulator’s concern about ‘retirement income’ and a heavy, detailed questionnaire that seeks ‘big data’ rather than the nuance of real life, leaves me concerned. Osborne made pensions rather like a bank account.  Prior to his changes, there were limits on how much people could access, which whilst often seemingly at odds with reality, at least was a sense check. Today you can blow your life savings as quickly as you can say Ferrari.

The problem is that this might lead to a return to restrictions, in a world where pensions are already ludicrously complex. I hope not, but certainly some reimagining of what a pension pot could and should do for us all is required.

Here at Solomon’s, we plan income withdrawals very carefully for our clients. Many people are lucky enough to have decent old-style final salary pensions (NHS, Teachers, Local Government and old large companies) which provide a good base income.  For all its problems, the State Pension begins at an individually specific time and often there is a gap in the need for income between retirement and the State Pension starting. Of course, some will need and want more and so we plan with all the options in mind on an individual basis.

We model scenarios, attempting to build a plan that has a very high chance of success, which in plain English simply means ‘not running out of money’. However, we don’t know how long you will live and what the future holds (we are neither magicians nor fortune tellers). We use historic data and run multiple scenarios. We stress-test the plan and just as importantly review progress and make adjustments. There are no absolute certainties, but we do our best to ensure that your plan is set up to pay minimal fees and taxes, so that your money has the best chance of lasting as long as you do.

If you know someone who could use our help with this, please send them along. We specialise in working with people approaching retirement and those in it, who have two key questions – will I have enough? And will I run out? (which are much the same).

There are limitless things to spend money on, but not having enough to turn the heating on is a problem no-one should ever have.

Are you taking too much?2024-05-31T14:44:49+01:00

You know when you’ve been tangoed

Dominic Thomas
May 2024  •  5 min read

You know when you’ve been tangoed

I read a recent report which, to be blunt, left me a little speechless (an achievement in itself). To my mind it merely confirms the need for detailed planning rather than a back of the envelope guesstimate. I will concede that anything to do with the future is a bit of a guess, but an educated one, based on relevant data is somewhat more reliable.

Does my Boredom Look Big in this?

I am on fairly safe ground if I suggest that most tedious aspect of working with me is gathering and providing details about your spending. For this we have the Spending Plan (I’ve included the link for you here) but it also needs updating. This is a total pain, but until most of us have confidence that banks will accurately share your data with us via technology (probably no time soon for most of you) then it’s a hard graft.

Anyway, the purpose of it is foundational to any financial plan. If we don’t have a good idea about what income you have and how you spend, then frankly we have as much chance of being vaguely right as any other economic forecast (not very).

Imagine my surprise on learning that the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) increased the amount of the income they expect to provide a single person with a ‘moderate’ standard of living in retirement from £23,300 in 2022/23 to £31,300 this year, an increase of 34%. For context, according to the ONS, the average salary in the UK at April 2023 was £35,464.  You can find the RLS here. Yikes! That’s some increase, substantially above the rate of inflation. That’s an orange fella’s slap round the cheeks wake up call if ever there was.

To give you some context a full State Pension (35 qualifying years of National Insurance payments) is about £11,502 in 2024/25 meaning that even by their error prone forecast most single people will need about another £19,798pa from other sources (in todays money). As we have set the bar as guesstimates, that’s a pension and/or ISA/investment fund of about £494,950 to provide £19,798pa. (Please assume all the warnings about assumptions and investments blah blah blah..). In my guesstimate, I’ve used the 4% rule, which is contentious, but a better guide than most. Let’s just call it £500,000.

Little wonder then that one in seven retired people are currently having to return to some form of work to top up their income to make ends meet. This is having to, not choosing to.

Financial Adviser Truth… 

As difficult as it may be for pundits, compliance officers and regulators to accept, most people need a fairly aggressive investment strategy to stand much of a chance of getting the target income they actually want. That means a high allocation to shares (or equities – same thing). Holding fixed interest securities because you don’t like seeing your statement valuation reduce is not going to get you where you need to go, at least its unlikely, but I can only really tell you if you engage us to do a proper plan for you.

If you are a client already, this is why we request that you check our reports for you and you provide details of your income (before tax) from all sources along with your spending details – ideally rounded up and inflated by you for good measure.

Of course, if you want to return to work that’s an entirely different matter, but good financial planning is about enabling you to maintain your standard of living, your lifestyle, for the remainder of your life.

If you have no idea what I mean about being tangoed, here is the advert from many years ago, I’m presuming that the drink is largely available at all beverage retailers. (No I am not about to paint myself orange to make the point).

You know when you’ve been tangoed2024-05-10T16:44:52+01:00

ISA ISA, Baby

Daniel Liddicott
April 2024  •  2 min read

ISA ISA, Baby

It came to our attention recently, after a number of queries, that there may be some confusion around when an ISA provides interest and when it provides investment returns. If you are unsure or have been wondering about this yourself, then I hope that this short blog is of interest to you (pun intended, of course).

Cash ISAs produce interest. Stocks & Shares ISAs provide investment returns.

Most Cash ISA providers are able to tell you ‘up front’ what your interest rate will be.  In contrast to this, the growth rate in a Stocks & Shares ISA is not known at the outset – it’s only by looking back at performance that you know what it has been over a period of time.

All ISAs that are held by our clients on the Nucleus or Fundment platforms are Stocks & Shares ISAs and, as the name suggests, the funds held within these are invested in stocks/equity. Therefore, these provide investment returns, unlike their Cash ISA counterparts.

We have also received some queries about the investment term for ISAs. For Stocks & Shares ISAs, it is essentially however long you are willing to leave the funds invested for. And the longer the better! This way, you give your investments time to recover from all of the expected fluctuations in value that the stock market is subject to, providing the prospect for real growth of your ISA funds over the longer term.

Cash ISAs do often come with a particular term attached and, as a general rule, the longer you are willing to leave your money ‘locked away’ in one of these ISAs, the better the interest rate that you will be able to obtain.

As an example, you might opt to place your funds into a Cash ISA with Nationwide for the fixed term of one year, with the agreement that Nationwide will pay you a certain amount of interest over that time period. The interest that you receive on the one-year fixed term is highly likely to be greater than if you were to opt for an ISA that you can dip in and out of as you please without any restrictions.

If you would like to read a more detailed blog on ISAs, you might find this helpful:

What is an ISA?

ISA ISA, Baby2024-04-24T17:02:23+01:00

Mixed messages of mortgage market

Dominic Thomas
March 2024  •  6 min read

Mixed message of mortgage market

I wonder if I’m exaggerating if I suggest that property is such a UK obsession that it is the political dividing point between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. Think about it – what policies are designed to protect and inflate the value of property and which are there to house people (irrespective of your political beliefs or persuasion)? The value of mortgage borrowing in the UK is now £1,657.6bn 1.1% lower than last year.

Anyway, the current Government is keen to reassure us that the UK is not really in a recession and talking about one merely leads us into one through negative talk. We know that the Chancellor considered offering guarantees to banks if they issued 99% mortgages, but this never made it into the final list of ideas, probably because most of us thought it was daft.

Meanwhile the UKs largest Building Society Nationwide (who have recently bought Virgin Money for £2.9bn) report that property prices have been rising, up 0.7% in February 2024. The average house price is now £260,420 up 1.2% over 12 months. This is in contrast to the figure that the Land Registry produce of £284,691 for December 2023.

As our office is currently based in SW20, the average price of all property in the area was £555,262 but for a detached house £1,604,983, or a semi at £884,485, a terraced house at £611,401 and a flat or maisonette at £390,792. You can search your location using the UK House Price Index here

On the other hand, reports from the Bank of England also show that mortgages in arrears (missed payments) now stands at around 13.2% of mortgages.

Comparing the last two quarters of 2023 (Q3 and Q4) isn’t really ‘fair’ as we all know that most house buying and selling is done in the summer months (Q3) not over the Michaelmas term. So in that context, the Bank reports that new mortgage commitments is down 21.2% comparing Q4 in 2023 with 2022. The value of advances is down 33.8%. In Q4 2022 £81.6bn of loans were agreed, a year later it is £54bn.

The number of First Time Buyers continues to decline, from 351,000 in 2019 to 287,000 in 2023. Affordability is the key phrase in lending these days and rising rates have evidently placed pressure on borrowers, stretching their mortgage over greater lengths to make the monthly repayments more ‘affordable’. I imagine most of us are familiar with a 25-year mortgage, but 1 in 5 (20%) first time buyers takes on a 35 year mortgage, double the number a year earlier.

“It was the same in our day”… no it was not.

You will likely have heard or thought that everyone struggles at first with a mortgage and their finances. That’s true, but it’s worse for young people these days, much worse. Admittedly everyone is different, there are enormous regional variances, but if we go with averages for the UK, here are some facts that may convince you that buying a coffee and avocado on toast really isn’t the issue. The system is broken and it is deliberately set up to favour property owners here in the UK. Most law is based around the notion of property ownership.

As is evident from the above, clearly it is not possible for someone wanting the average mortgage with the average income to afford the monthly repayments on a 25 year loan, so lenders have responded by offering longer durations. This does not address the problem, it merely keeps the system going and keeps young people in debt until they are definitely not young! Of course better mortgage rates can be found (true in both periods) and of course property prices differ as noted in my local example of an average flat in Merton being more expensive than the average UK home.

If you factor in other costs that young people have which you and I did not have in 1993, it would include student loans and auto-enrolment pensions. The latter being a very good thing, the former being a State-wide fleecing (my opinion).

Yet, I suspect that you and I are likely to presume that these same young people will be happy to do all those jobs that keep civilized life ticking along, from emptying the bins, caring for the elderly and unwell to policing our streets and running the country. I imagine that they may not be quite so enthusiastic to keep doing the work and the paying of taxes to support it.

Remortgages, which you would think should be increasing as people shop around for better rates are actually in decline from 849,000 in 2021 to 538,000 in 2023. The table below makes me wonder why on earth people are not remortgaging. I do hope that it isn’t a sense of fear. To provide a reminder let’s consider mortgages and houses in December 1993. The average property price was £54,026 (Land Registry) and the standard variable mortgage rate was about 7.9%. The average salary in 1993 was £17,784  in December 2023 it was £32,240.

Perhaps your energy costs are starting to subside, if you have a mortgage or pay rent, I am sure you will have been aware of the increases in your monthly costs, at least if you have had to renegotiate terms. Variable rates are considerably higher than they were a few years ago. There is a fair chance your mortgage is with Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander or Barclays who account for 64% of the entire mortgage market. The top nine lenders in 2022 (out of 79) affirm Pareto’s law of having 80% of the market from 20% of the players (or less).

Anyway, in terms of your financial planning, we don’t arrange mortgages, but advise you speak to Martin and his team at London Money (see our professional contacts page). You may be concerned about your children or grandchildren getting onto the property ladder or perhaps downsizing to release equity at some point. Please ensure that you keep us up to date with any changes in your thinking about how you intend to use property in relation to your planning.

Reference: Bank of England: Mortgage and Lender Administrators Statistics 2023 Q4 (LINK HERE)

Reference: UK Finance: Household Finance Review, latest data Q4 2023 (LINK HERE)

Reference: UK Land Registry: UK House Price Index (LINK HERE)

Mixed messages of mortgage market2024-03-22T15:53:27+00:00

Chances of success

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2023  •  4 min read

Chances of success

What are the chances of winning the lottery? I think I’m correct in saying that the UK was late to ‘the lottery’; not the raffles or ‘the Pools’, but the lottery itself. I suspect this was due to a cultural shift, which in other countries by 1994 had either happened sooner or wasn’t a significant impediment.

Most of us grew up being taught not to gamble; aware of the problems of addiction and the prospect of not simply debt but bare poverty. However our cultural myths and fairytales are full of a rags to riches, poverty to fortune narrative. We seem to believe (in the collective sense) that “it could be you” is an acknowledgment of the possibility that winning is a matter of a coin toss.

Jerry and Marge Go Large is a new film based around the story of a North American couple who play the lottery. However the twist is that Jerry is something of a maths genius and has spotted a flaw in a particular lottery, The WinFall, meaning that he can be assured of a win, indeed the larger his bet, the more he will win.

The story is set twenty years ago, at the turn of the century in 2003. In a world of algorithms and AI, it would seem unlikely that such a flaw would occur today.

Unusually the couple share their knowledge with their community, setting up a business to enable all those that wish to participate to do so. Over a relatively short period they amass winnings of over $27m of which a considerable proportion is reinvested into their local community.

Maybe I’m being pedantic, but I find it strange that someone who understands maths and probability, appears to a fail to understand investing principles. At one point Jerry is meeting with his financial adviser, rather late in the day to discuss his retirement. His adviser suggests he could achieve better returns with more exposure to equities. Jerry counters that he doesn’t want to lose his money and that anything where this is possible is gambling.

I’ve met this sentiment a lot over the last four decades. Holding shares in a few companies that you ‘like’ or have been ‘tipped’ about is, I would concede, very like gambling. There is a chance of permanent loss should those particular shares become worthless because the companies have all become bankrupt. Yet our evidence-based approach, which is not unique, but certainly not common, is to hold all the companies listed on various market indices. Some will become bankrupt, but most will not, most will survive and make profits year after year. For all the companies listed on markets to become worthless means that we are all in our worst nightmare of practical day to day survival, where money is almost certainly useless and most definitely not a priority.

I don’t know if this is what Jerry actually believes or if his financial adviser has failed to educate him about investing, but it is surprising given his knowledge of probability. I suspect that there is some artistic license taken with the script, which doesn’t aid ordinary investors, but yet again leaves them feeling a sense of having missed out on a sure thing that has now drawn to a close.

I enjoyed the film, it’s decent enough, but be assured that at Solomon’s, we focus on improving the chances of success for your financial plan and monitor this regularly. Hopefully you understand enough that we seek lots of marginal gains, cost control, asset allocation, suitable cash reserves, reviews and of course managing investor behaviour. In plain terms, trying to help you from blowing up your own plan because of the latest news or ‘brilliant idea’.

Chances of success2023-12-01T12:12:27+00:00

Don’t leave it to the last minute

Dominic Thomas
April 2023  •  3 min read

Don’t leave it to the last minute

One of the things we take seriously here at Solomon’s is finding ways to improve what we do for our clients and how we do it.

The tax year end period in the last few years has been very busy indeed with a number of transactions being processed very close to the deadline of 5th April.  The team here (once again) stepped up marvellously this year and we all worked incredibly hard to ensure good outcomes for all – but we would like to try and ensure that we don’t have a similar ‘last minute rush’ next year!

So what’s the answer?  Possible solutions rely fairly heavily on our clients joining with us in our endeavours.  I have been encouraging clients for many years to set up monthly Direct Debit payments to ISAs and pensions (where appropriate) and many of our clients are now doing this (and reaping the benefits of pound cost averaging – see our video here!).  I would be happy to discuss this with you if you haven’t already had ‘that conversation’ with me.  The alternative (for clients who are able and would prefer to make their contributions in lump sum payments) is to make sure that you do this as early in the tax year as possible (you can invest from the 6th April onwards).

Don’t leave it to the last minute2023-12-01T12:12:33+00:00

Sweet charity

Alex Truesdale - sweet charity

Alex Truesdale 
April 2023  •  10 min read

Sweet Charity

Will writer Alex Truesdale has championed the inclusion of charitable giving in Wills since joining the “Remember a Charity in your Will” campaign in 2011. Alex prepared a Will for veteran stuntman Rocky Taylor, including a gift to the Variety Club of Great Britain, which he signed shortly before recreating an infamous stunt involving jumping off a 40 foot high inferno at Battersea Power Station.

Ten years later, the devastating impact of COVID upon the third sector means that it is ever more reliant on charitable donations – of which legacy giving makes up 16%. Thankfully HMRC recognises the importance of charitable giving, allowing an unlimited inheritance tax (“IHT”) exemption on gifts to UK registered charities – saving 40% IHT.

We asked Alex for her top tips when considering including legacies to charity in your Will:  

  • Remember to check that your chosen charity has been officially recognised and has a Registered Charity Number or “RCN” – this also helps with the identification of the recipient organisation if there has been a name change or an amalgamation;
  • If you wish to donate internationally, contact the charity – it may be possible to make the donation through a UK local branch or recipient charity in order to qualify for the IHT exemption;
  • Consider a Letter of Wishes to specify how you would like your donation to be applied by the recipient charity – you may wish to specify that it is directed to “charitable purposes” only, or to support a particular campaign or project, instead of covering administrative and staff costs;
  • Donations of 10% or more of your overall estate will not only qualify for an IHT exemption but, if drafted correctly, can also entitle your estate to a discounted rate of IHT of 36% on non exempt gifts, effectively bringing the estate’s tax bill down by 10%. You can consider capping the gift in the interests of certainty but remember this might cause the loss of the discounted IHT rate if your estate value rose by the time of your death;
  • If you are considering a donation of a percentage of your total estate, ramping this up from single digit percentages to 10% can result in a win-win whereby the charity (and in certain circumstances, your remaining beneficiaries!) all receive more at the expense of HMRC;
  • And finally…never leave your executors in the invidious position of having to decide which charitable beneficiaries should benefit in your Will. Once Wills are admitted to probate they are public documents – this can lead to a flood of “begging letters” by charities keen to press their case.

For further details or to order a copy of Alex Truesdale Wills Limited’s brand new 36-page Client Guide please contact Alex on 07887 946557 or alex@alextruesdalewills.com

*Please note that this content has been taken from our Autumn 2021 Spotlight edition, facts & figures may have altered*

Sweet charity2023-12-01T12:12:34+00:00

BANKS HAVE TO DO BETTER FOR FRAUD VICTIMS

TODAY’S BLOG

BANKS MUST DO BETTER FOR FRAUD VICTIMS

The Financial Ombudsman Service, which manages disputes between financial firms and customers, is ruling against banks in 73% of authorised fraud cases, data exclusively obtained by Which? demonstrates. This means if you have been tricked into sending money to a scammer, you may be able to get a refund from your bank.

The biggest banks are signed up to the voluntary Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code, which is designed so victims of authorised push payment fraud (APP) are treated fairly and consistently when they ask for compensation. If your bank refuses compensation, you can escalate your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

But the number of customer complaints about banks’ handling of authorised fraud – the vast majority of which are APP – landing at the FOS more than doubled in the 2020-21 financial year, from 3,600 to 7,770. And three-quarters (73%) of these were upheld in favour of the customer.

Financial Scams and fraud

VAST SUMS OF FRAUD – SOMEONE HAS TO PAY

APP fraud – being tricked into transferring money to a fraudster – is fast becoming one of the UK’s biggest frauds. Losses hit £355.3m between January and July, outstripping losses to card fraud. Banks are required to refund you for losses to unauthorised fraud such as card fraud, but not APP fraud. You will have noticed that we ran a couple of items in our client magazine Spotlight about fraud and scams.

The voluntary CRM code was launched in May 2019 and requires signatory banks to provide effective warnings to customers, identifying vulnerable customers and acting quickly when a scam is reported. In return, you are expected to pay attention to take care, have a reasonable basis for believing the payment is genuine, and pay attention to warnings.

Crucially, signatory banks must reimburse customers even if both parties have done nothing wrong. Data shows that many victims have been wrongly denied compensation but haven’t approached the FOS. Escalating a complaint to the FOS is free, and can be done online, but not all victims will be aware of or able to use the service. That’s why Which? wants the government to swiftly take the necessary action to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory APP fraud reimbursement for all firms using Faster Payments.

If I were a betting man, (which I am not) I would conclude that Banks will find a way to recoup some of their costs from customers, this normally takes the form of higher interest rates or charges on all forms of borrowing. Alternatively, to end the myth of “free banking”. There is no such thing and its about time we all had a grown-up conversation about it.

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

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GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

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

BANKS HAVE TO DO BETTER FOR FRAUD VICTIMS2023-12-01T12:12:59+00:00

ENERGY COST CRISIS

TODAY’S BLOG

ENERGY COST CRISIS

It seems that there is a weekly crisis at present, by the time you read this there will likely be a new one! I wonder if you are bracing yourself for an expensive winter? As you probably know, there is a global surge in the cost of gas at wholesale has led many companies to drastically increase their prices. While many companies have reacted by hiking up costs even more for customers, others have taken themselves off price comparison websites and some have gone bust. Its worth mentioning that price comparison websites aren’t all that you may imagine, they are not whole of market and only show companies that provide them with a commission.

Anyway your household and mine are facing much higher gas bills this winter due to a global surge in wholesale gas prices that have forced some energy companies to go bust. The British public has already been hit with energy price hikes over the last few months and could be paying hundreds more this winter, unless they counterbalance the extra costs by making some simple changes to their usage. The news that another five energy firms have folded in recent months will no doubt worry many householders but Ofgem has said it “has systems in place to look after consumers”. An Ofgem spokesman said that currently wholesale gas prices are at a record high, driven by international supply and demand factors. This is undoubtedly putting pressure on companies – with four leaving the market over the last few weeks. In the past few months Utility Point, People’s Energy, PfP Energy, MoneyPlus Energy and Hub Energy have all ceased trading – something which is thought to have affected half a million British households.  More recently Green and AVRO Energy both collapsed with an estimated 800,000 customers between them – Octopus has stepped in to takeover.

Energy Crisis 2021

FULL OF GAS

These consumers will be given a new supplier, that means extra hassle for them with the costs passed onto customers. Speaking from personal experience, my supplier “Green Energy Network” went bust last year and we were switched over to EDF. An unfortunately timed problem with the meter itself during this period, left us in limbo as we waited for a new account to be registered and set up, which too several weeks. We finally got there and it wasnt a major problem, but it wasnt “straight-forward”.

OFGEM added that it is working closely with the Government to manage the wider implications of the global gas price increase and it is not thought that this will lead to a complete halt in supply. Make of that what you will, I’m yet to be convinced that the current Government could successfuly manage a raffle.

As such there is no better time to see if you qualify for the Warm Home Discount Scheme, which could ensure some people are £140 better off. To find out, people can speak to their energy supplier, most of them are signed up to the scheme if they have 250,000 customers or more. More than two million UK households should qualify for this rebate on their energy bills this year and it’s important to get in touch with them early as there is only a limited amount of people energy companies can help.

What I might suggest is that you get on with reviewing your gas supply. I would recommend having a look at Martin Lewis’ website www.moneysavingexpert.com where you can do a search. If you want a £50 discount off Octopus, here is a code that you can use (I get £50 too) but do your own research about what is best for your usage. Here is the link: https://share.octopus.energy/tulip-shark-521.

Long story short, make a record and update your spending plan – either just let us know with an email, or update your information within our secure portal.

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

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

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 Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

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

ENERGY COST CRISIS2023-12-01T12:13:02+00:00

LOCATION

Solomon’s
The Old Mill
Cobham Park Road
Cobham
Surrey
KT11 3NE

OTHER

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info@solomonsifa.co.uk
020 8542 8084

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