CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

TODAY’S BLOG

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

If you believe much of the marketing spiel, it seems that in this life you have to become successful by becoming a celebrity. This isn’t necessarily famous, but well known within your specified field. Some call this personal branding and it’s the regular diet of entrepreneurial and self-improvement books and courses. I read a piece yesterday that resonated with me and debunked a lot of this twaddle.

It’s all Pants

What is certainly the case, is that many people will regard the opinions of others as evidence of credibility. “Celebrities” can certainly give added impetus to sales of products. Think David Beckham and underpants. It works, though I’m not sure who is kidding who when considering this particular example. I saw a video clip of a game show in which Gordon Ramsay posed a forfeit question to James Cordon “which of your endorsements have you never used?”. Forfeit taken, the money is presumably too good to forfeit with the truth.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS - SOLOMONS IFA BLOG

By Association

Many people buy or are certainly helped to buy based on the reviews or recommendations of others. That’s basically Trip Advisors entire business model, and of course most online retailers seek reviews, constantly. Hands up, we also ask clients to provide testimonials, which is much the same thing… we simply don’t shape or lead them (so they are honest).

Big Noise, Big Bucks, Big Blindspot

When it comes to investing, celebrities are now to be found endorsing all sorts of financial products that they have no real understanding of. Remember the adverts releases for the failing Equitable Life and Buzz Aldrin was promoting them in 1998? Or Anthony Hopkins promoting Big Bank Barclays, these days a task left to Simon Cowell.

Crypto – never expect good things in the Crypt

The world of financial products has become ever more complex with the rise of cryptocurrency. That specific field is full of corruption and fraud. One might say, its a bit of a jungle our there. The regulator has reported a tripling of reported fraud in cryptocurrency and foreign currency, each “investor” losing an average of £14,600. In my opinion, this will only get worse. Much worse. As more people seek easy returns to prop up the dismal interest from cash, the temptation is to try something that appears to have done well. Having a celebrity endorsement will, sadly for many, end in tears. Money talks and it walks, there are multitudes of people that will attempt to part you from yours, which is why part of my role is to act as guardian or bouncer on the door to your financial planning.

If you know someone that is contemplating a new investment that sounds too good to be true, or you suspect as much, refer them to the FCA scam smart website here. To be blunt, when it comes to investing, seeing any form of “celebrity” endorsement ought to leave you agreeing with those that make “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”… except think.. “that’s a celebrity, get me out of here”…

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 [email protected]

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – [email protected]
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 – [email protected] Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTSDominic2023-12-01T12:17:25+00:00

SINGING LIKE A CANARY

TODAY’S BLOG

SINGING LIKE A CANARY

My twitter account got a little heated at the weekend. I, like many other financial planners am utterly fed up with financial scams. Most of us get scam emails – I have yet another only two minutes ago purporting to be HMRC with a refund… Anyway, what irritates me and many planners is the apparent ease and frequency at which scams occur.

We have a regulator and anyone that knows me will know that I believe that they play an important, arguably vital role within financial services (see Cops and Robbers in Spotlight March 2019). Yet the FCA twitter account seems unable and unwilling to accept information about suspected (or even obvious) scams.

Better but not great

An item by James Coney in The Sunday Times (12 May 2019) called “Here’s how the FCA could stop savings scams – use Google” sparked some mirth which evolved into a small, sometimes heated “debate”. Some comments suggested that regulation is much better than it was, that the scams are less costly. That the FCA is doing a good job. I am not denying that the FCA is trying, they have an enormous brief. However, there are many of us that think that too much time is wasted on the wrong things.

Climb a mountain, or use the tunnel ?

This week I will have to submit yet another 6-monthly online report to the FCA telling them lots of things about my business. It takes ages and frankly I don’t think it reveals much of any importance. In any event wouldn’t a crook would simply make up the data? At the coalface of advice regulation can also be over the top…you want to top up your ISA… well yes, that requires a report, really? To top one up? Yes. You want money out? Well a report telling you that taking too much may mean it runs out is required… Admittedly the length and depth of reports and research are not prescribed by the regulator, but very much enforced by compliance and professional indemnity insurers. Certainly there is a place for this, but often it looks and feels like “overkill”.

Scams to the left of me, scams to the right…

I cannot explain why people being ripped off is so upsetting to me. Its wired into my DNA or childhood experience I suspect. Many advisers are on the same side as the regulator, we both make a living from financial services. The flashpoint, was the suggestion that advisers will be forced to pay yet higher levies for the FSCS to make compensation payments to scammed investors. This relates to yet another “obvious to an adviser” scam of mini-Bonds of London Capital & Finance. Who made promises that they would never keep to the tune of £237m from 11,500 savers. This was not a regulated business. There was no FSCS compensation for the investors. At least that’s what should have been the case, but now it seems this is disputed and advisers will have to foot the bill… for a scam they had nothing to do with.

Virtual reality isn’t reality

James Coney, like many of my peers argues that a quick search of the web will reveal plenty of scams. Some are obvious, some less so. This is the occasion to use the word fake – there are fake websites, fake products and fake endorsements. Please don’t get taken in. Ask me or your adviser if you have one. Why take the risk for a couple of extra percentage points of interest?

Sadly, I am of the view that the system is in need of an overhaul. The regulator thought that forcing all other advisers to charge fees, and explain these each year would solve the mis-selling problem. I’m sure it has a small favourable result, but the bulk of crime is committed by criminals, who lie. No amount of legislation or disclosures will have any impact on them, what they require is the strong arm of the law and a custodial sentence.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – [email protected]
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 – [email protected] Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

SINGING LIKE A CANARYDominic2023-12-01T12:17:25+00:00

INVESTORS NEED A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

TODAY’S BLOG

INVESTORS NEED A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

It may sound rather churlish, but it is true that investors need a positive outlook. There is little or no point at all investing if you believe that everything is getting worse. This is a feeling that becomes familiar with age, everything often seems to be getting worse, primarily because we are fed a diet of fairly dreary news stories and have a growing awareness of our inability to simply change the world or certain people.

Whilst I would not want you to think that everything is good or “fine” life is certainly much better for the most people on earth than it was say 100 years ago. The planet has a population north of 7 billion people and roughly 6 billion of them are, on global terms “doing ok” or better than “ok”. There are extremes of poverty and wealth of course, but there are a lot of people between those extremities. May I encourage you to have a look at gapminder.com for more detail about this

SOLOMONS IFA BLOG fiddler-on-the-roof-poster

Things are improving, but they could be better

Investors need a positive outlook, precisely because you are investing in the future, in that future, improvements will be made to the standard of living and innovations to improve our lives. Yes there are obvious problems that need addressing – fosil fuels, climate change, plastic in the oceans, but these and many other problems are solved by innovation. Innovation leads to patenting good ideas. Patent applications are in one sense evidence of good ideas that then require finance – capital…your investment.

Fiddler on the Roof

The musical “Fiddler on the Roof” has returned to the West End of London. Most of us know it from the 1971 film starring Topol and perhaps the most familiar song “If I were a rich man”. It is set in 1905, a touch over 110 years ago. Tevye the milkman with his wife Golde and their five daughters live in Anatevka, Russia. The Jewish community coexist with the locals, but it is evident that this is a fragile relationship. They have the richness of a community and its rich traditions, yet life is evidently a struggle for them all.

It is interesting to compare what in 2019 someone in poverty might consider to be the trappings of wealth and what money could afford them to do, be and have. As for Tevye, his dream is of a house with 3 staircases (one going nowhere just for show), a wooden floor, to have some servants and not need to work. He would be respected and afforded time for spiritual reflection. By our standards today, Tevye has very little, in just over 100 years the standard of living for the typical milkman has risen considerably. We forget how much improvement has been made simply because we caught up by the present and trying to keep up with the future. We forget all the time. Investors capitalise on the momentum of human endeavour and a continual improvement in all things, many of which we do not yet even know we want.

Fiddler on the Roof is showing at The Playhouse, right next to embankment tube. Here is information – book an aisle seat if you are taller than 5’8” the legroom is poor, but the show is magnificent. See The Playhouse for tickets.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – [email protected]
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 – [email protected] Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

INVESTORS NEED A POSITIVE OUTLOOKDominic2023-12-01T12:17:28+00:00

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE TO GO BACK IN TIME?

TODAY’S BLOG

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE TO GO BACK IN TIME?

The concept of time is something that we all like to play around with. We recall memories, sometimes embellished, some highly accurate and others somewhat muddled. We encounter the present with our baggage and sense of identity based on the past and have hopes for our future.

To travel through time is what we all do, on a daily basis, yet to time-travel, well that is something for the writers of science fiction. As we all know, there would be some significant advantages to be gained if we could “correct” our own actions and perhaps those of others in the past. The chance to have another, better attempt at anything with the advantage of hindsight is the fuel of regrets and if only…

Time flies, The Old Bakery, Solomons IFA

Do we ever learn?

History is a great teacher, it is in many respects the best way we can apply “hindsight”. Yet we so readily ignore its lessons. Human behaviour has not really altered much over the years. We are having to adapt to new things all the time, but our nature seems slow to learn. The repetitive nature of war, division and “inhumanity” are sadly familiar. We don’t seem to learn.

Long-term thinking

The same is true of investing. We don’t learn very easily. Investing in equities (shares) has been proven time and again to provide the most likely way of increasing wealth above the rate of inflation. Looking at any long-term horizon, when considering the total returns (increase in capital value and income paid out by way of dividends) there is ample evidence to hold the very firm belief that over time, years and decades, equities are the obvious choice.

I can already hear you thinking “but…” and that’s what I have come to appreciate. We are not built for investing. Human nature has been built around the very useful instinct to flee at the sight of threat. This is helpful in a world of beasts and the beastly, but not in the sophisticated world of long-term equity investment. Every sign or signal of “downturn” is met with fear and panic. Pundits and journalists alike are designed to be storytellers, having something to say is better than the alternative. We hear “billions wiped off the market” yet we never hear “billions wiped on the market”. The news is skewed, we thrive on drama. Yet this passes and is arguably a vital aspect of equity markets, which always recover. Always. The crash comes, recovery comes, repeat, but we never seem to learn. Human nature is not our friend when it comes to successful investing. It is utterly inept.

These days the better part of my skill set is employed to remind you not to blow up your own financial plan. Indeed, it is to prevent you from doing so, which means confronting your own worst enemy… you. Some days will be very difficult. A 50% fall in markets is huge, but it will recover, not if, but when. The only measure for success with your financial planning is whether you reach your goals, not those of others. This is your story.

As for time travelling, there is a decent little series on Netflix called “The Umbrella Academy” which has some interesting ideas. Here is the trailer for the series.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – [email protected]
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 – [email protected] Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE TO GO BACK IN TIME?Dominic2023-12-01T12:17:32+00:00

THE ORPHAN FUNDS

TODAY’S BLOG

ORPHANS HAVE NO HIDING PLACE

One of the main investment fund research groups (Morningstar) have produced a report which has some fairly bad news for many investors that attempt to DIY their investments or fail to pay attention.

In a nutshell they found many investors are holding what might be described as expensive “Orphan” funds. Morningstar conducted a European wide piece of research into funds with a track record of at least 5 years. There were over 15,000 of them, yet a staggering 25% were “orphaned”. This means that the funds are run but attract relatively little investment – in effect, no longer promoted. They are deemed small in that they hold less than £90m with little to no new money. As a result, they aren’t really on anyone’s radar. The money going in is generally “insignificant”. Consequently, performance becomes lacklustre to say the least.

You might be forgiven for thinking that being “small” these must be fairly new funds – the truth is that they have typically been running for around 12 years. They also have fairly high charges of typically 2.18%. That is a lot…. and far more than any of our clients pay for investments. This excludes any adviser charges (which is meant to be a European-wide format since 2013).

The short version of the report is that there are too many funds, many of which have very high charges. The longevity of the fund is prolonged by inaction by both investors and the fund managers that “run” the funds. It is hoped that costs and charges disclosure, brought about by European legislation (MIFID2) will help expose and reduce the problem and leaving them with nowhere to hide costs and performance. France currently have the largest number (5x more than the UK) of orphaned funds by quite some margin – c’est la vie?…

The UK didn’t do too badly in terms of the number of orphan funds by number, (194) but this still computes to around £4.2bn in small, expensive funds going pretty much nowhere. That’s a lot of money folks and it really needn’t be this way..

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – [email protected]
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 – [email protected] Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

THE ORPHAN FUNDSDominic2023-12-01T12:17:32+00:00

How to read your valuation statement

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2019 • 5 min read

How to read your valuation statement

If you have an investment, you will receive a valuation every 3 months, on a quarterly basis. These tend to be issued to the 5th of January, April, July, and October in-line with the tax year end. Your statement will show various items, the elements that I want you to focus on understanding are the fund, the units and the price.

The Fund ABC

The Fund. You will see the names of funds, these start with the name of the investment company and then followed by the name of the fund itself. This tells you where and probably what the fund is investing. By way of example. I will consider the Dimensional UK Smaller Companies Inc Fund.

A – The Investment Group

The first bit of any fund name is the name of the investment group, this may sound obvious, but as many names are unfamiliar or get altered due to mergers it is important to state the obvious. In my example, “Dimensional” is the name of the investment company.

B – The Sector

In my example, this fund is invested into UK Smaller companies, a specific sector of the UK stockmarket. This is investing in shares in companies in the UK that are deemed “small” which really means not the top 350 biggest companies in the UK. It does not mean a little local business.

C – The Unit Type

Most funds also show “Inc” or “Acc” at the end, this reveals if the fund is paying out any income (dividends) – hence “Inc”. Alternatively, “Acc” (accumulation units) whether they are automatically re-invested within the fund. Generally speaking we use “income” funds because this makes life easier for everyone to track income for capital gains calculations. The income can be re-invested within your portfolio or paid out to you, the investor. This varies depending on the product type and strategy required.

Unique Identifier

Every fund has its own reference number, to make life deliberately complicated there are several different unique numbers for a fund “SEDOL” or “ISIN” are perhaps the most well used. This is nothing more than a way of locating the specific fund. All funds now have their own summary fact sheet, now called a Key Information Investor Document or KIID. How the financial world loves its acronyms.

Where and what the fund is invested into is a deliberate selection, designed to form part of your overall portfolio. The fund itself may be thought of as “high risk” (or “low risk”) but as part of a larger portfolio is designed to provide a combined risk for the entire portfolio.

Units

On your statement you will probably then see the number of units. Think of this the quantity of your holding in the fund, which can run to several decimal places. This is what you hold, or what you have bought – units in the fund. These amounts will therefore only alter if you have added more money (bought more units). They might reduce for the opposite reason – you have withdrawn money or units were sold to pay charges.

Price

Typically, the next column will be the price of the units on a specific day. Please note that the price changes each day and reflects the end of day value of all of the holdings within the fund. So in our example of the UK Smaller Companies Fund, this would be the value of all the equities (shares) held in UK Smaller companies at the end of the day. These are listed on global stockmarkets.

Value (or valuation)

This is typically the next column and is the sum of the number of units that you own in a fund, multiplied by the value.

Dimensional UK Smaller Companies Inc 46.694 units at £28.38 per unit is worth £1,325.18. In short: 46.694 x £28.38 = £1,325.18.

Your valuation is therefore a snapshot of the value of your funds on a specific day. It has happened, today’s value will be different. Having quarterly valuations really means that you have 4 days in the year of information.

Think Twice

When you look at your statement you may well compare it against a previous one. You might see changes in the funds held (if we have advised any) or changes in the units – even if no new money has gone in (due to a rebalance or re-invested income). You may observe that some of the values have fallen or risen. This reflects the fund and the market at the time.

It is tempting to think that funds that are worth less must be doing badly. This is not necessarily the case, in fact its highly unlikely to be true. It is merely the current value, not a reflection on the fund, which is selected specifically for its cost, reliability and the way it combines with your other holdings. Think of each fund as a parts of a car, you don’t have all engine or only tyres, it is put together deliberately to produce a longer term overall performance, designed with decades in mind, not days or quarters. In practice the different bits are asset classes – types of liquid investments that can be priced reliably on regulated global markets.

BACK TO ALL BLOGS

How to read your valuation statementDominic2025-01-21T15:53:24+00:00

IS IT TIME TO SELL MY INVESTMENTS?

TODAY’S BLOG

IS IT TIME TO SELL MY INVESTMENTS?

Politics has exposed how deeply entrenched our beliefs become. Irrespective of facts, truth or common sense, good judgement seems in woefully short-supply. The irony is that a lack of supply may shortly become something we all experience, due the Government’s lack of progress, direction or any plan for the impending self-harm of Brexit.

Fear not, I am not going to discuss Brexit and the impacts of it on your portfolio (the truth is that nobody knows, so why pretend to). What I can speak to is the poor behaviour that investors get lulled into due to their belief system.

The Uncomfortable Truth

We all have a belief system, for some it is a clearly defined religion, for others a life mantra, business process, political persuasion and so on. We all have them. Most of our beliefs are frankly, built upon the flimsiest of evidence, yet we hold onto them as though they are the original stones containing the ten commandments.

The prevailing belief in the world of investment is that common sense, fused with some research and useful information enables some individuals the ability and capacity to beat the market. Please do not misunderstand me. It is possible to out-perform the market; indeed each day half do, the other half don’t. This happens on a daily basis. Some will outperform over the short-term, a quarter, a year, perhaps 3 or even 5. However, the number of investors that can consistently outperform the market year on year is a very small number and one that diminishes each day.

There would be days like these..

It is so difficult to outperform the market consistently that it is impossible to tell if this is mere luck or skill, the statistical chance is so small. Yet at times like these, despite all the evidence, people believe that they are able to correctly predict not only when to not invest and exit “the market” but also to perfectly time a return to it. The other unspoken belief is that this outwits all other investors.

Beware: Men in suits

Despite what all the marketing you see by fund managers and their impressive statistics, beating the market is not easy to achieve. Some will ignore this advice because of a belief that it is “utter nonsense” – the mere inference that what they believe is wrong is too much to cope with. Others will take the view that this time is different, we can see the storm. This time is different – just like every other time. In other words, it is no different at all. May I remind you that everyone has a 100% track record of correct decisions when it comes to hindsight…yes we all saw the dotcom, the credit crunch and the subsequent bull runs….

The more you attempt to manipulate reality to suit your version of the future, the more you will end up attempting to correct the mistakes of the past in the future. It will become your new present reality, living with the discomforting truths that you simply would not face and continue to deny. Denial is an incredibly powerful force and leads to all manner of woes.

However, if you really are not content to live with a globally diversified portfolio of the worlds businesses (equities) mixed with some of the plodding IOUs (fixed income) from the more stable Governments and businesses on earth, then feel free to take on the world.

If you want returns without “risk” you are looking in the wrong places, always. Life is a risk, most, if not all of your decisions contain risk, you have merely formed a system of beliefs around them that enable you to cope with those risks and see them differently. We all do.

Select your vices carefully…

Your portfolio is designed with decades in mind, not days – at least not measurement in the next 30, 90 or 365. It is time to ask yourself what you believe. Be warned, we have often been asked to believe lies. A topical reminder comes in the form of the new film “Vice” starring Christian Bale as Dick Cheney. He and his sidekick, George W Bush, convinced our Prime Minister who subsequently convinced our Parliament that they had “evidence” about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Sadly this duplicity resulted in thousands of lost lives, the vast majority of which were “innocent” born in the wrong place at the wrong time. We continue to live with and pay for those mistakes….

The one thing I can predict is that if you do see the film, I imagine that your views about Dick Cheney and your beliefs will probably not change – whatever your political persuasion or will you perhaps disarm me of mine?

Here is the trailer for the film “Vice” which is currently playing at cinemas.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – [email protected]
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 – [email protected] Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

IS IT TIME TO SELL MY INVESTMENTS?Dominic2023-12-01T12:17:37+00:00

RETURN TO THE 1970s

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

RETURN TO THE 1970s

There has been a fair bit of talk about aspects of our current political rhetoric that threaten a return to the 1970s. Whilst my early childhood was pretty care-free in that time, there is little of the 70s that I would welcome back.

Insert a film set in the 70’s. A bleak story of a character that everyone’s limited television of the time cannot fail to recognise. “Funny Cow” has a title to offend and a story that will offer little other than despair as it pushes all the stereotypes and clichés of the time. The miserable family existence that passes for life in a northern town. The wife-beating, loud-mouthed husbands and the hollowed shells of wives that have turned to the new prison of alcoholism. Yet sadly this is very close to her story.

Solomons IFA review of Funny Cow the movie

A galaxy far, far away…

If you are inclined to revisit the 70s then this film is a reminder that it really is best left consigned to the past and a collection of good memories when we were all younger. The times were very different and have thankfully changed for the better. It seems like a long time ago… a galaxy far, far away… yet in practice it’s just 4 decades ago, closing in on 5. In reality that is the sort of time that most investors save and then live off their investments.

Short-term memory

The changes in our lives are not always easy to see but flipping through your photograph albums (remember them?) is a useful reminder of our journey. When it comes to investments, the opposite happens. We are constantly bombarded with a moment by moment update of the markets, what has changed in the last 5 minutes, rarely does anyone report or assess the long-term value of investing, billboards, newspapers, emails and websites are all set to the short term, as if this tells us anything of value. In reality the valuable information is surely only the long-term results. What has happened over not 3, 6 or 12 months, but over 10, 15, 20, 25 years. However, that requires a patience that most of us have been taught to ignore.

Here is the trailer for “Funny Cow” it’s well acted, (Maxine Peake is very good) but frankly unless you want to watch misery unfold for a lengthy 102 minutes, (the irony isn’t lost on me) a better use of your time would be to sort out those photos you still haven’t put into an album… or had one printed.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Email me to get in touch

RETURN TO THE 1970sDominic2025-01-21T15:53:25+00:00

SHREDDED

I wonder if you have seen the video of the moment that a Banksy piece was shredded as soon as it was sold. There has been speculation about whether this was simply a stunt or a genuine attempt to expose the folly of the art world. It does not matter, nothing will change. The world we live in is obsessed by fame and will spend vast sums to share in its light. It is always something of a mystery that so many will be taken in by so few.

The financial services world is no different. Obsessing over performance that happened and marketing investment gurus or fund manager as stars. Fund Managers are actually given stars by ratings agencies. Those same agencies that told us all that day was night when it came to “creditworthiness” before the credit crunch.

Drawn to Success

Time has moved on, memories fade. Promises of lessons to be learned have come and gone. We are still lured by the glisten of success. Little has changed to investor behaviour. It is about as bad as it has always been. We may have some new terms or names for it, may even be able to spot it a mile off, but few are willing or able to adopt behaviours that are actually successful.

To be a successful investor you have to take a long-term view. You ought to hold a high proportion of your portfolio in a globally diversified portfolio of equities, bought as inexpensively as possible and held, ideally within a wrapper that enables you to choose how and when you draw money to suit both your circumstances and taxation. That is pretty much it…

You can attempt to beat the market, through selecting specific stocks/shares but remember that this has at least two key decisions – when to buy and when to sell. Few people achieve this with any repeatable success. They will tell you that they do, but the truth is rather different. Conveniently forgetting their losses which make up their averaged net returns.

There will always be someone willing to forecast precisely what will happen in the future. In a planet of over 7 billion people, there are plenty of them. Many will promote their views as alternative or counter-narrative, pandering to your sense of doom, or throw so much money and impressive glossy statistics at marketing a theory that you come to believe that they really are onto something different. Occasionally they will be right for a time.

Unvarnished Truths

Here are some truths. If you plan to withdraw money within the short-term, bank it, do not invest it. If you wish to build the value of your money so that you have a shot at financial independence, invest. Invest cheaply, invest long-term, invest heavily in equities, invest globally. Invest with an understanding of taxes. If you want to give yourself a good dose of anxiety, look at your portfolio on a regular basis. If you want to enjoy life, don’t – but have a plan and make sure that someone is monitoring yours.

Normal and Ordinary Perfection

Remember that market corrections are normal, crashes are normal, booms are normal. We do not know when and mostly do not know why. You cannot control the markets, it is impossible to time investments perfectly in a repeatable way. The same cannot be said for Banksy, who timed his (or her) shredding of “Girl With Balloon” to perfection, shredding it… whether the value has depreciated or in fact appreciated is a debatable point and only time will tell…

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Email me to get in touch

SHREDDEDDominic2023-12-01T12:17:46+00:00

The Fuss About Platforms

Head Over Heels [81] – the fuss about platforms

You may have come across news in various papers (The Telegraph for example) about some investment platforms being costly and offering inducements to advisers to use them. I couldn’t miss the opportunity of commenting about this.

A platform is basically an online administration service. This enables your investments to be traded, bought, sold and rebalanced. Some enable you to hold all sorts of investments, others are more restricted to mainstream funds. The platform has legal responsibilities in delivering its service and providing statements, contract notes and so on. Every financial adviser that decides to use a platform on which to hold your investments, must justify why it is selected.

Money, Money, Money [76]

Some people will always see price as the first hurdle, if one platform is much like any other. Some charge a fixed fee, most charge a percentage. Most have a sliding scale, so that the more you have “on the platform” you begin to have charges reduced through a tiered charging system. However, this is your money, not a takeout meal. Reliability is crucial.

Ring, Ring..[73]

You can have a platform with rather more “bells and whistles” but invariably, this comes with additional costs. The ability to hold investment property within a pension, shares and so on, all have various additional costs. Some also charge for each type of “wrapper” which is really a charge for a product – a SIPP, Flexible Drawdown Pension, ISA etc.

Naturally these costs all begin to add up and a valid question is really whether you would make use of all the “bells and whistles”. Many will not, but some certainly will. So, selection of a platform ought to suit you more than your adviser. One of the main advantages of any platform is the saved aggravation in attempting to deal with different companies or constructing a portfolio of funds from very different investment groups. I cannot repeat what I think of some providers but let’s just say that they give the impression that they have only just come across a fax machine.

Move On [77]

One of the age-old problems of financial services is inertia. Many will stick with what they know, despite the reality that there are better alternatives. The hassle with all those forms can seem overwhelming. In addition, any adviser that guarantees that moving from A to B will be better, is delusional, the new arrangement may be considerably, better, cheaper, faster etc, but it is not possible to guarantee a better outcome. In the same way that I cannot guarantee that I will rise from my bed tomorrow, I should, but I may not.

The temptation for clients and advisers is to believe the marketing. In addition, advisers may receive helpful bits of kit to enable them to do a better job. This then begins to blindside and erode impartiality.

Knowing Me, Knowing You..[76]

So, what do we do at Solomons? Well we pay for all the tools we use so that we can deliver the service we want. These evolve. This year I have started to use at least 3 new different tools. I’m aware of bias and so we get an independent company to research and assess platforms for us. We do not influence the research or results. We provide details about who we currently use and an overview of the sort of clients and their holdings that we have. We do this once a year.

Most of our clients do not need all the bells and whistles, so we use platforms that suit their requirements. There are lots of unused funds, but that’s not the same thing. If I want to buy a suit I go to a shop that sells suits, I don’t by them all, some would be too small (most) and some too large, wrong style, colour and so on. That does not mean I am paying for the other suits, merely going to somewhere to obtain what I want.

Another Town, Another Train [73]

If there are good reasons to change your platform, we will advise you to do so. There will not be any new costs because we treat this as a part of the annual fees that we charge for your investments on a platform. All the platforms we have selected to date do not apply exit charges, unlike Waterloo [74]. This was done deliberately.

Cheapest is not best. Back to the suit buying… (surely you bright folk get it) price is one element of the purchase. Does it do the job? Well, when it comes to technology, sadly, all too often platforms break, which is more than a minor irritant when attempting to comply with regulations, designed to protect investors, albeit often with utterly daft realities.

The Winner Takes It All [80]

Good platforms are about two things – sustainability and innovation. The price differential between good platforms is nothing like as significant as these two. Is their business model sustainable? Most platforms do not make a profit, which to put it bluntly means that something must change. That’s just The Name of The Game [77]. Those that do not innovate will eventually be left behind, and when your business is essentially a technology solution, that is a bad business plan.

In summary, we do not use platforms because of the tools they provide, or any other incentives. We will move you from one platform to another if there is good reason to do so. All platforms that we have advised, do not apply exit charges. We tend to only use platforms where the bells and whistles come at no extra cost or are not charged if not used. We like innovation but above all, the business model of the platform needs to be robust.

When All is Said and Done [79], we look after our clients for decades, not months or a couple of years, but On and On and On [80]. Decades. So there seems to me to be no point in ripping anyone off. What goes around comes around and all that…. and with the idea of A to B, platforms and things coming around again, its all about money, money, money… so here’s the trailer for Mamma Mia 2.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Email me to get in touch

The Fuss About PlatformsDominic2023-12-01T12:17:56+00:00

Previous 8910 Next