Are you building a bridge to your future?

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2026  •  2 min read

Are you building a bridge to your future?

Financial planning straddles the past, present and future. Here at Solomon’s, we like to start with the end in mind, the second habit of “highly effective people”. We need to know what you are aiming for and where you are now. It’s helpful, significantly so, to also know enough about the history that has lead to where you are presently.

One of the many problems with great financial planning is that it requires time and therefore patience. A combination that is not something that is easy to master and arguably the antithesis of our current cultural impulses; it’s also problematic because you only get the long-term once.

Compounding investment returns is a crucial part of your plan, in practice we are not magicians and really have three main ‘dials’ to operate – spending, contributing and time. So I wonder if you would consider the example of an actual bridge – the one that you have probably known about since early childhood nursery rhymes and probably crossed more than once … London Bridge. Construction of the first stone bridge started in 1176 and took around 33 years to complete; at the time it was the sole bridge across the Thames.

For hundreds of years, London Bridge was the only crossing of the River Thames. It had a total monopoly.

  • If you wanted to cross the bridge to get to the City, you paid a fee
  • If you wanted to sail under the bridge, you paid a fee
  • If you wanted to fish off the bridge (ill-advised in the Thames most of the time!), you paid a fee
  • If you owned one of the 140 shops/houses on the bridge, you paid a fee

Since opening in 1209, those payments have been accumulating and administered by Bridge House Estates (now called City Bridge Foundation). To give a sense of scale, the 816 years of being open for business until 2025 is obviously a very long time indeed.

To give you a sense of what compounding can do, if you’d invested the princely sum of £100 in 1209 and made a 3% return every year for the last 816 years, you’d have £2,986,588,300,073  today.

Today, now a charity doing all sorts of work and also the owner of Blackfriars Bridge (1769), Southwark Bridge (1819), Tower Bridge (1894) and the most recent Millennium Bridge (2000), the Foundation has annual income of over £42m a year, of which around £10m is from admissions and visits. The latest accounts report assets worth over £1.6bn. This gives rather a lot of meaning to terms like “spanning the generations” and is some serious legacy planning! Imagine the wealth of history that the bridge has witnessed – albeit rebuilt several times.

References:

Report and Accounts: https://www.citybridgefoundation.org.uk/about/governance/annual-reviews-and-reports

Charity: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1035628/assets-and-liabilities?_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_organisationNumber=1035628

Are you building a bridge to your future?2026-01-22T16:55:00+00:00

Clickbait headlines anyone?

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2026  • 3 min read

Clickbait headlines anyone?

I honestly don’t know whether the headline “Majority of UK divorce settlements don’t consider pensions assets”  was a deliberate attempt to get eyes on the page or held any truth. It would seem very unlikely to be correct if it means we are to assume that solicitors specialising in divorce “don’t consider” a pension. What is more likely meant, is that most pensions don’t get split up as a result of divorce; in other words – there are other assets around to come to an agreement.

It won’t surprise you that after a house, a pension is most people’s largest and most valuable financial asset – which always makes me wonder why so few people get advice about theirs. The ONS has data on divorces in England and Wales that goes back to 1858 (there were 24!).

The reducing number of divorces is open to interpretation, with the most obvious being that fewer people are getting married. The chart below shows the gradual decline in marriages (of all forms) since the peak in 1972 of 426,241. The pandemic saw a decline, but interestingly, there wasn’t a ‘double-whammy’ to make up for this.

It has been said that the fastest way to lose a fortune is to divorce, and it is indeed almost certain that without proper consideration of all marital assets, divorce will be very costly. The data backs up the statement that women generally have smaller pensions by an average of around £53,000 (for a variety of reasons) and we are all aware that pensions can be complex. The two basic types are final salary (Defined Benefit) which are a promise of a future income based on salary and service, and an investment-based pension (Defined Contribution) which is “simply a matter of the pot size” though this reflects the amount paid in, charges, investment profile and success.

Despite the fact that it is surprising that only 11% of divorces in the last two years have had a pension attachment order, I don’t believe for a moment that the majority of solicitors ignore pension assets; rather it is the agreement on how these are split up that often surprises me. Many will see the value of a home in the very real present to be of greater value than an income in the future.

What I would urge divorcees and their legal representatives to consider is a proper financial plan – a model of cashflow requirements into the future. This may do much to take some of the pain and heat out of discussions; with all parties able to be realistic about what is possible.

Divorce may not be something that you feel is relevant to you, but perhaps someone you know is struggling with this or you have children who may need to carefully consider the financial implications of the marriage contract. It is widely reported in the media that January is the most popular month to start divorce proceedings; the suggestion being that having got through Christmas and the New Year, newfound resolve is apparent. In practice, March is generally the month that most petitions are started, maybe it’s something to do with the approach of the end of the tax year?

As ever, here to help.

Clickbait headlines anyone?2026-01-14T14:28:07+00:00

The FA of Fantasy Funds for Footballers

Dominic Thomas
Sept 2025  • 3 min read

The FA of Fantasy Funds for Footballers

I wonder if you know a professional footballer? Or perhaps you are one.  Our offices are located opposite the Chelsea training ground in Cobham. As the season starts and the all important transfer window closes, a lot of money has changed hands (we have seen a new British record payment for a player – £125m for Alexander Isak) with over £3bn spent by the Premier League.

Professional footballers tend to be young, and with the odd exception like James Milner, most end their playing careers by age 35. Some go on to become pundits and coaches, occasionally a Manager.

Sadly, where there is money, there is corruption and I am sorry to report that football is no different. There are a significant number of Agents and villains all set to relieve the player of his money and of course there is plenty of pressure on players off the pitch to simply keep up the appearance of success.

Just like anyone else, young players (and old ones) are not sure who to trust when it comes their finances. Many have been ruined by bad advice or downright fraud. There are advisers who ‘specialise’ in providing advice to players, but this guarantees nothing, and if anything is probably a red flag. Many have lost millions of pounds in investment schemes that they didn’t understand and should never have been exposed to. They were young and not sophisticated investors (most people aren’t) and they have been scammed time and time again.

This isn’t new information, it’s been going on for years, but there is a new documentary on the BBC – which you can see on iPlayer as well – called The Story of the V11. Players get all sorts of abuse from the stands and in the media, but there is and has been a great deal of financial abuse. It is utterly disgraceful and inexcusable. Many of the players involved have lost everything (including their lives due to the perceived shame and resulting suicide). It is desperately sad and could have been avoided.

The main problem that most professional players face is a high income (which is taxed at 45%) and a celebrity lifestyle alongside little if any financial knowledge. So when you see vast sums of tax being taken from your payslip, it’s entirely understandable to ask the question: what can I do to reduce it? (as we all do). Footballers have a short career but usually a very normal life expectancy. However, there are firms of financial advisers that will always attempt to carve out a niche market and claim that they know what makes everyone in that niche tick … then they seek endorsement from others who are well known in the niche and who (by virtue of experience) imply that their recommendations can be trusted.

The reality is of course that everyone is different, we may share lots of similarities, but we are all different. The common ground we share is attempting to secure our own future for when we get sick and are unable to work or decide to retire and stop earning.

The only thing these players did wrong was to trust the wrong person, who financially abused them and sold them investments that were and are… a load of rubbish. The advisers concerned sold utterly awful ‘investments’ (honestly, they cannot really be called investments). The advisers earned huge commissions and pretended that the tax-incentivised schemes (film partnerships) were backed by the Government and were risk-free.

It is a desperately sad tale and I hope that they get justice and the ‘advisers’ concerned all go to prison. They have caused misery and hardship and all the ingredients for a painful existence. When people are victim to these sorts of fraud they often feel stupid; they are not; they were ripped off and taken advantage of by criminals and fraudsters under the guise of being a qualified financial adviser.

Your financial plan does not need to involve complex investments, irrespective of your level of wealth. Investing doesn’t need to be complicated; it’s about owning a diversified portfolio of real businesses that produce income from the profits they make. Some businesses fail, but owning them all in the way our clients do, means the risk is minimal – barring a world ending catastrophic event (at which point none of us will be worried about money).

A good financial plan reflects your aspirations; a great one expresses your values and is reviewed regularly and importantly, you should be able to see the valuation of your portfolio and have it verified by various properly regulated entities.

So, you may not be a footballer, but the issues are the same – trusting the person that is advising you about your money, which is your future. If you know a footballer (I spot many in the Cobham area) or someone who needs our help in providing impartial, transparent advice with clear fees and clear communications, by spreading the word about us you may not be simply saving them money, but perhaps saving their life.

It is my opinion that currently, the legal system, tax system and regulatory framework have all failed to help these players and it is a disgrace – another one.

Get in touch to find out more, share this with a friend.

Here is the link to the BBC documentary: Footballs Financial Shame

The FA of Fantasy Funds for Footballers2025-09-05T11:27:28+01:00

How can I tell if I’m being ‘scammed’?

Debbie Harris
Aug 2025  •  2 min read

How can I tell if I’m being ‘scammed’?

The very short answer to this question is that sometimes ‘you can’t’

Not very reassuring is it?

Scams (and fraud attempts) are now so sophisticated and ‘believable’ that it is often impossible to tell from first glance whether something is genuine or not – whether it’s an email, a text message, a phone call, a private message on an app.  In just the last few months I can think of a scarily large number of occasions when I have had to channel my inner Sherlock – a flavour of the wide-ranging nature of some of these:

~  a client received a text message querying a transaction we were organising for him … my antennae tingled.  We worked fast and contacted the client using all methods available to us … he was grateful for our vigilance on his behalf, and I am very relieved to report that fortunately the message was authentic, but it was jolly stressful at the time for all concerned

~  my credit card provider texted me to ask whether I had authorised a £3,000+ payment to an overseas firm (I had not) – so I immediately got on the phone to them and I am glad to report that MBNA’s fraud department was excellent and resolved very quickly (all whilst I was on the phone to them) – card cancelled and all recent transactions checked thoroughly

~  a client called to express concern about a telephone call she had received from ‘her Bank’ regarding a transfer of funds (fortunately this was legitimate as well, but the client was very upset because as soon as she had done what she was asked to do, she thought she had fallen for a scam).  We were able to reassure her and to let her know what steps she needed to take to ensure her funds were ’safe’

~  a relative of mine purchased something via Shopify which turned out to be a scam – as soon as he realised this, he reached out to Shopify who were hopeless, but his bank applied for a ‘clawback’ to return his money

~  a client had her HMRC government gateway account hacked – this is a slightly different type of case, but a fraud attempt nonetheless.  No money was lost thankfully on this occasion, but she did have to set up a new government gateway account (which as you may be aware – is something of a headache!)

So what are our ‘top tips’ for spotting/avoiding scams and fraud:

  1. BEFORE THE FACT – ACT SLOWLY (take your time to ensure that any messages you receive are authentic – make your default position “any unsolicited message should not be trusted”!
  2. AFTER THE FACT – ACT QUICKLY (this is key – sometimes if you are quick enough, you can stop the scam/fraud before you have lost any money)

There are a myriad of other ways to protect yourself from scams/fraud and you can get some great advice here https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

If you are ever in doubt – PLEASE check in with us – we will do whatever we can to help.

How can I tell if I’m being ‘scammed’?2025-09-02T13:48:36+01:00

The significance of your documents

Dominic Thomas
Aug 2025  •  4 min read

The significance of your documents

It ought to be obvious that trust is the ‘bar of entry’ when being a financial adviser, yet on an increasingly regular basis there are rather sad stories within our sector media about financial advisers who have committed fraud.

There may be a myriad of reasons that result in someone stealing your money, but whatever they are it’s obviously wrong. Stealing from you should be pretty difficult, granted I am well aware that I might call some investment companies and advice firms out for their excessive charges, but however much smoke and mirrors are used, it’s not stealing, that’s fairly typical ‘ripping off’ which is unpalatable and is often a reason why having been over-charged, many eventually realise and come to us so that we can sort it out for them, often saving thousands of pounds in the process.

One of the many safeguards we have is to use third party platforms. These act as investment administrators taking the deposits for new investments or the proceeds of existing ones. They also make the payments directly to your bank account. They issue the statements of investments and documents to support your HMRC self-assessment returns. To be blunt, I don’t know why more advisers don’t use them. They even link live valuations to our secure portal, which is a fuller, deeper version of their own (but only showing assets you hold on their platform).

Advice is highly regulated, some might say too much so, but in my world any and every investment or pension will have to produce a valuation statement at least once a year and ought to be producing contract notes showing sales or purchases (when you buy or sell an investment, or make a payment to your pension). These will normally be sent to you electronically these days, directly by the product provider or platform. You may need to login to their platform, but you will at least have an email advising you to do so. When they are not, alarm bells ought to be ringing.

In this digital age of ‘deepfake’, it is relatively easy to reproduce a document and therefore make something appear different from reality. It would appear that ‘adviser’ Lisa Campbell did precisely this, making up statements for investments that the investor thought were placed, when in reality funds had been sent to her. This is one reason why cheques or payments to us are only for our fees, not for your investments (it’s a safeguard).

Campbell, based not a million miles away in Hampshire, stole around £2.3m from her clients. Some of whom were friends and family. This happened over a 10 year period from 2013. She attempted to cover her tracks by also sending false documents and statements to our regulator the FCA. She was due in court in May. The FCA essentially removed her permissions two years ago, but had at the time rather underestimated the size of the fraud. Hopefully you don’t know anyone who was ‘advised’ by her through Campbell & Associates or Campbell & Raffle (perhaps an ironic name).

Only a few days later another, similar case was announced by the FCA. This time Kerry Nelson and Jacqueline Stephens of Nexus IFA were also charged with defrauding four clients of £2m between 2019 and 2023. Once again documents were forged and the money … well used to “fund a lavish lifestyle”.

As your adviser, we are copied in on correspondence to you by providers, not always, but most of the time. We do not receive statements to forward on to you. In the Campbell case, it seems that investors thought they held Bonds with a Bank; the Bonds never existed.

I suppose that for most investments, it would be a bit of a faff for an adviser to produce fake daily valuations; should you really want to see what your portfolio is worth today and tomorrow you can 24/7.

If you do come across people who you believe could benefit from our low-cost evidence-based investment solutions and impartial fee-based advice (some 13 years before it was compulsory) please do pass on our details. You may be saving your friend an awful lot of money and perhaps from financial ruin.

Reference:

FCA report: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-charges-hampshire-based-independent-financial-adviser-multiple-fraud-offences

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-charges-two-individuals-multiple-fraud-charges

The significance of your documents2025-08-21T15:40:33+01:00

Why verify my identity when I want my money?

Dominic Thomas
Aug 2025  •  1 min read

Why verify my identity when I want my money?

Scams do not really rely on amazing technology; they rely on human behaviour. Most scams are confidence tricks, luring someone into a false sense of security. This is invariably pretending to be something or someone that they are not.

When you ask to withdraw money from your investment or pension, this is something that we really should know about in advance – after all it should be an expected and planned withdrawal. However, life doesn’t always go to plan and sometimes we find ourselves doing things we didn’t expect – a decision to spend a significant sum on a lovely motor car, moving house and wanting a new kitchen quickly or an emergency of some sort.

We will call you to clarify a few details, things that others would not know. We attempt to do our best to ensure that you are not under duress, from a criminal or indeed a friend or family member who may be coercing you into giving them money.

It may feel impertinent of us, but I can assure you that this is not the intention, but simply to safely protect you from fraud. We are, in many respects, your last line of defence.

Emotionally charged calls or conversations are not always all that they appear to be. Have a look at this video showing how a scammer uses the “stress and distraction” of a baby whilst sounding very warm and genuine at the same time. However, this is all made rather easy due to the technology now widely available. This doesn’t even begin to address the issue of AI where it is relatively easy to mimic you or your loved ones in both voice and appearance.

The answer, sadly, is that we might need you to provide a safe word or phrase.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKrTuv0CicF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Why verify my identity when I want my money?2025-08-08T16:23:49+01:00

‘I had a stroke at 24’

Matt Loadwick
June 2025  •  2 min read

‘I had a stroke at 24’

In recent years, England Football’s Lionesses have well and truly been showing the men how it’s done. First, winning the Euros in 2022, before reaching the World Cup final (and almost going all the way) just a year later in the summer of 2023. Ellie Roebuck was a member of both squads to have achieved such success, vying with goalkeeper Mary Earps, BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2023, for a place between the sticks. With the world at her feet, there was no way she could have predicted what was to come just months after England’s loss in the final in Sydney …

Around Christmas in 2023, she began to feel that something was not quite right, feeling nauseous, a bit off balance, and fatigued. Being a goalkeeper, her employer at the time, Manchester City, felt the most likely explanation was that she was suffering with concussion symptoms, possibly having been hit by a ball, or another player. But as the weeks went by into January, Ellie felt certain it was something else.

In a recent interview, she describes being sat down with the club doctor revealing the results of a head scan, when she was told that she had in fact suffered from an “infarct in her occipital lobe”, which in English, means a type of stroke. Strokes happen when blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off, which can have disastrous consequences such as paralysis, and in some cases, death.

Her first thought was “will I ever play football again?” Something that at the time, medical professionals were unable to answer. Ellie was unable to train for 12 weeks, but fortunately in that time was able to rehabilitate, so successfully so that she recently signed for European champions, Barcelona.

She counts herself very lucky to still be able to do what she loves for a living, knowing that things could quite easily have gone another way.

As scary as it may be, a story such as this certainly drives home the fact that we should be grateful for our health, and for the ability to spend time with our loved ones doing things that we enjoy.

From a financial perspective, such a story also highlights the merits of protection, with a variety of policies available to meet various needs; whether that’s something to keep you and your family afloat in times where you’re incapacitated, or to ensure that your loved ones are looked after financially in the event that the worst should happen.

At Solomon’s we want to look after all areas of your financial wellbeing, and if you’re currently considering aspects of your financial protection, you know where to find us.

‘I had a stroke at 24’2025-06-20T16:39:49+01:00

Legal & General protection

Matt Loadwick
May 2025  •  2 min read

Legal & General protection

Legal & General (L&G) has revealed that it paid out over £1 billion in protection claims in 2024, covering life insurance, income protection, and critical illness policies. This figure breaks down to an average of £2.5m paid out in claims every day.

According to the provider, more than 20,000 customers received claim payments – the highest number in a single year for L&G. On average, each customer received around £50,000, offering crucial financial support during challenging times such as bereavement, serious illness or a sudden loss of income.

The total amount paid was over £100m more than in 2023, marking the third year in a row that both the number and value of claims have increased. L&G partly credits this rise to enhancements in its digital claims process. In particular, the use of its ‘My Account’ self-service portal has streamlined submissions and cut the need for follow-up medical evidence by more than 25%.

Historically, the perceptions of the insurance industry have sometimes been mixed, with stories of difficult claims processes or perceived unfair practices with insurers exploiting loopholes to delay or deny payments to policyholders. As such, it’s good to see a major provider that’s increasing its payouts in consecutive years (both in volume and value), hopefully thus increasing levels of trust for retail customers.

As part of our holistic approach to looking after our clients’ financial wellbeing; ensuring that our clients have sufficient financial protection is important to us. Whether it’s to provide your family with adequate income and the ability to clear loans in the event that you were to die suddenly, to provide a monthly income if you become ill over the long term and are unable to work or to provide a lump sum upon diagnosis of a serious illness; these policies provide funds that can be used for treatment or simply to reduce/remove financial pressure).

Whilst we do not directly arrange these financial protection policies these days, it is important for us to ensure that you are adequately covered, so please get in touch if you wish to discuss your protection arrangements.

Legal & General protection2025-05-27T10:47:44+01:00

Sit tight

Dominic Thomas
April 2025  •  2 min read

Sit Tight

What the global markets are currently experiencing is not new. It is only different in the sense that it’s utterly pointless and caused by one particular individual. That in itself suggests that ‘the system’ is very flawed and if I could change it I would – but I can’t and neither can you.

Our regulator would want you to know that a 10% fall has happened – it hasn’t yet, but frankly by the time you read this, it may have done. Knowing that doesn’t help. In fact, I would argue that you are better off switching off the news and social media and not looking at your portfolio at all. It’s not good for your mental health or any sense of wellbeing.

Your financial plan is designed for the long-term – the rest of your life. It is not designed for the next year, but for every year. We believe, because of the wealth of evidence from history, that markets rise and fall very suddenly, often for poor or misguided reasons. However, they always recover, given enough time (which is key). I do not like seeing the valuation of funds drop any more than you do – I can assure you. In fact, I am pretty certain I’m far more fed up with it, as it is so needless.

“Sit tight” is very easy for me to say, but it’s very hard to do, I know that. However, we have been through similar events before, lots of them. It’s never comfortable and often feels like “this time it’s different”.  It is certainly different having an idiot as a President, but there are lots of similarly foolish and vile men (and some women) running countries around the world. It’s part of our lives and something we each contend with. Yes; Trump is unpredictable (other than in his capacity to lie) but even so, there is a limit to his real power.  You are invested in companies around the world, many of them trade with each other and are interconnected, something that Trump will never understand. No economy is an island of penguins.

Yes, this is concerning, anyone who has invested in the last month has taken a hit on value, but it will recover. You still own and hold the same ‘stuff’, it’s just that the perceived value is lower than it was at the start of January. Attempting to ‘time the market’ is only ever easy in hindsight and requires at least two decisions, to exit and to re-enter. Neither are easy and from experience most fail to get even close (and if they do, to be honest it’s nothing more than luck as they can never repeat their achievement).

Your portfolio is global, hugely diversified and very low cost. Values will rise again once we have got through this period of self-inflicted insanity. Sadly, I have nothing good to say about the current President of the United States, or his cabinet and supporters. To me they look, speak, sound and smell very much like a fascist dictatorship, certainly it shows all the signs and actions of one in its infancy. I can only hope that his premiership and his regime ends very suddenly before the allotted time. He has no sense of decency and no understanding of history. The sooner he is gone the better.

Sit tight2025-04-11T15:47:25+01:00

The Unspoken Cash Crisis

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2025  •  2 min read

The Unspoken Cash Crisis

There are lots of topics within the subject of a cash crisis. This could mean anything from struggling to find a bank to deposit a cheque, the growing number of retailers and businesses refusing to accept cash as a form of payment, struggling businesses, individuals, families, local authorities and national institutions. However, I’d like to turn to some rather alarming recent research about the level of savings that the general population has.

According to some recent research by a much-loved Building Society in the north east, the average adult doesn’t have much cash to fall back on in a crisis. Whilst admittedly a small survey of 1,200 adults (you’ve seen adverts for women’s products from multinationals who seem to have barely left the building to ask such small numbers of people and then claim 8/10… but I digress) only 13% had at least a month’s salary saved (in cash, not pensions or investments).

The younger members of the survey unsurprisingly fared worst with 57% of 18-25 year olds having no savings at all. The “at retirement group” aged 55-64 still had an alarming 34% without any cash savings at all.

There is, of course, multiple millions saved in bank and building society accounts. Data from the Building Society Association suggests that by the end of October 2024 there was £381,581,000,000 in Cash ISAs, but despite recent rises in interest rates, the average saver is getting a paltry 2.5% interest or 4.2% for those who have actively sought a one year fixed rate.

Today, cash management systems like Akoni, Insignis or Flagstone all offer a portal service to multiple banks and building societies, enabling you to receive very competitive rates, spread across different banks, with the added advantage of spreading your FSCS collapse insurance around without hassle.

Cash, as I have said before is always good to have. It’s there for planned projects and emergencies. There are no hard and fast rules about how much, but as a guide … 3-12 months of normal spending ought to be enough for most people who have not retired, but also allow for your projects and I’m not including your ‘saving to spend’ pots for your holidays.

Any questions, please ask.

As an aside – Accountants are currently in the throes of finalising 2023/24 tax returns and some have expressed surprise at just how much extra interest our clients have gained using cash management platforms (which, unfortunately, is subject to income tax).

The Unspoken Cash Crisis2025-01-27T13:44:00+00:00
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