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THE JOURNEY TO TRUST

TODAY’S BLOG

THE JOURNEY TO TRUST

I don’t remember where I heard it, learned it or read it, but a phrase that has stuck with me for a very long time is “trust is earned”. Throughout the course of a normal week, month or year I meet with various new potential clients. Sadly, many people have had a pretty bad experience of financial services, either directly themselves or through pieced together information from someone significant in their lives.

I was reminded this morning of this and how trust is something that evolves over time by keeping promises, often not the big things, but the little things – replying to a call, being clear about expectations, costs and so on.

I have a large black and white picture in the waiting area of the office. It is a still from the 1953 movie Roman Holiday. You will probably know it, starring Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert. As a reminder, it’s the tale of a Princess called Ann, (Hepburn) who escapes her royal duties and meets up, unwittingly with two reporters, Joe Bradley (Peck) and Irving Radovich (Albert) who know precisely who she is and have the prospect of a career-making scoop on their hands. After a night on the town (and who wouldn’t in Rome!) being a romantic comedy, the princess naturally falls for Bradley, but is he simply using his charms to get what he wants?

ROMAN HOLIDAY - JOURNEY TO TRUST

CAPTURE A MOMENT

The still is of the moment that the princess is now back in her familiar Royal duties greeting guests and is faced with Bradley, instantly realising that her world might be overturned depending on whether Bradley is worthy of her trust. It is a moment of realisation of what it at stake, whose interests will be served?

To my mind when financial planning is done properly, you reveal a lot about who you are. You will know that we talk about your past experiences, your hopes for the future and your present reality. Understanding your values, verbalising them along with revealing past “mistakes” is very exposing. You have to trust that I and my team will handle this with care.

So, when we get back to the office, notice the large black and white picture and remember that anything that relates to “who you are” is strictly confidential.

As an aside, the film has an interesting back story. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo who was a blacklisted writer in Hollywood at the time because of the ridiculous politics of McCarthyism. The screenplay, won the Oscar in 1954 and like many other blacklisted writers, a pseudonym was used or another writer “fronted”. It wasn’t until 1992 that the Academy finally acknowledged Trumbo and with the Oscar presented posthumously to his widow. Trumbo’s story itself was made into an excellent film in 2015.

Here are the two trailers, both films available but not showing at a cinema. Trailers with 62 years between them.

Roman Holiday 1953

and Trumbo 2015

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]

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

Email – [email protected] 
Call – 020 8542 8084

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THE JOURNEY TO TRUST2023-12-01T12:13:06+00:00

AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH

TODAY’S BLOG

AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH

Following a recent move, I find myself living relatively close to the lovely area of Box Hill, just one of many areas of natural beauty that the Surrey Hills have to offer. Naturally, I decided to climb this vast (in my eyes) hill armed with my new-found affinity for going on walks, borne out of the depths of multiple National lockdowns – I’m sure that many of you will relate.

With some effort (made harder by my choice to climb in a practically vertical fashion up the 275 large steps to the summit instead of one of the rather more gentle inclines available), I made it to the top of the hill. I sampled the magnificent views and treated myself to a coffee – I felt that I’d earned it. I thought that the hard part was done.

Alas, I was wrong. My descent back down the hill was treacherous beyond imagination, leading to more than a few dicey moments and a poignant feeling of regret at my frankly dreadful choice of footwear. I lived to walk another day, though I’m sure that it was touch and go there for a moment!

As many of you already understand, accumulation of wealth is the growing of capital through various different means, most commonly saving and investing. We’ll call this ‘the climb’. This is the process involved in a financial plan that often comes to mind first and without doubt takes hard work, discipline and a detailed plan in order to reach any goals discussed at the outset. You would not be blamed for placing the greatest amount of importance on this stage. But what about decumulation?

In contrast, decumulation of wealth is the direct opposite of accumulation – utilising your capital (sometimes referred to as ‘spending down’) to cater for any one person’s particular needs, most often in retirement. We’ll call this ‘the descent’. This sounds like a wonderful situation to be in, and it is, but there are many potential pitfalls that one could fall into without proper thought and planning. Enter your financial planner. To ensure that you use the assets that you have worked so hard to accumulate over many years in the best, most efficient way possible – in order to allow you to continue to live the life you want to live – for us here at Solomon’s, that is what financial planning is all about.

So it’s important to remember that there are at least two sides to every hill – and any good climber will tell you how important it is to plan for traversing the other side. The descent can require as much consideration as the climb.

Daniel Liddicott
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on our blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to Dominic about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email [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

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AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH2023-12-01T12:13:08+00:00

EROTICISM AND FANTASY IN YOUR FINANCIAL PLAN

TODAY’S BLOG

EROTICISM & FANTASY? IS THIS ANOTHER CLICKBAIT TITLE?

Whilst some of you are new to the blog and proper financial planning, many of you are aware that financial planning, when done well, is not really about money. Its about you. Your values, your hopes and your lifestyle.

In 2020 most of us took a battering, a year unlike any we had known. Whilst we greeted 2021 with the relief that 2020 was over, we have come to realise that things are far from normal and that there is much that keeps us living with a deep sense of frustration and perhaps fear. As the UK passed 100,000 covid deaths, we recognise another rather depressing landmark.

The restrictions of the pandemic have not been easy, exposing the pressures in our lives and creating new ones. Whether you are married or single, many have found relationships and normal aspects of life to be under pressures that they never imagined. Working from home has its benefits, but the confinement isn’t always helpful. Perhaps your home is empty, perhaps it is rammed full of people, attention and connection has been ruptured. Not being able to hug or kiss friends and family, to enjoy the normality of human interactions has reminded us of who and what is important.

Eroticism and fantasy

THE IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN

In February and March we all paid the price of investing with exaggerated market volatility, this was mercifully short-lived. It was also within our financial expectations, these things happen, regularly. The cause may be different, but the impact is not. The Government has been spending and it would seem handing out large sums of money to friends, this will have to be repaid by you and me, but what about the price our relationships have paid?

You may now be thinking to yourself, hang on, a financial planner has nothing to do with my relationships, where is this going? Let me cut to the chase. Money is often cited as a major cause of relationship breakdown. I don’t really believe it is. Not having enough or using it how you would like to can be. However, its deeper and more than that – it’s about your expectations which are a concoction of past experiences (“good” and “bad”) and your hopes for the future fused in the present.

Our hopes have been challenged and many have struggled with a sense of the future, particularly for young people. The magnitude of the stress on our wellbeing is significant. We have had many delights and joys removed and we have had to do the work of imagining, finding, creating and trying new ones. The loss of hope can be overwhelming, devastating, flattening and in many cases final.

REGAINING “EROTICISM AND FANTASY” 

So, I am going to offer you another real challenge. In our culture, we have little or no education about relationships – in all forms. That’s not to say that we aren’t blasted with messages about them, that is constant, but rarely does intimacy in its broadest sense get discussed. Irrespective of whether you are in a relationship or not, have a look at some of the work by Esther Perel (an expert!).Yes, I am even going to suggest you do pay attention to her work on the erotic, (a word neither of us expected me to use in a financial blog!) a term that she uses broadly. In fact I am going to suggest that you invest (I use the word quite deliberately) all of 46 minutes watching her webcast on YouTube “How Eroticism and Fantasy Can Help You Embrace A New Year”. Now there is a title to frighten you right? …

Perhaps to put your mind at ease, Esther playfully uses the term erotic when “creativity” is the word that resonates. Her talk is about life, not about sex. I appreciate that this may evoke mixed feelings within you, but my intention is simply to offer some access to meaningful hope. Hope and optimism are the oxygen of investors and financial planning.

Don’t worry, I am not going to go any further with this, other than to say that if a financial plan is simply about money, it isn’t really your plan, its probably someone else’s. Your plans are unique to you and I know that at the heart of them is relationship and a sense of connectedness. Remember the redemption of Mr Scrooge just a month ago?

With my very best intentions, I challenge/encourage you to watch… If I have overstepped the mark, accept my apologies, if it’s helpful let me know. You need to start the video at 1:30 – it was a livestream broadcast.

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

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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

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EROTICISM AND FANTASY IN YOUR FINANCIAL PLAN2023-12-01T12:13:10+00:00

NEW YEAR, SAME OLD PROBLEMS

TODAY’S BLOG

NEW YEAR, SAME OLD PROBLEMS?

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

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FORGET THE RESOLUTIONS – MAKE IT EASY

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

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

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

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

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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?

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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

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NEW YEAR, SAME OLD PROBLEMS2025-01-28T10:06:07+00:00

KODACHROME

TODAY’S BLOG

KODACHROME

We’ve all probably watched more on television in the last 6 months than perhaps we have for many years. The other night I watched Kodachrome. I had reasonable hopes given the cast (Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olsen) and the plot, which was suggested as a father and son trip to get some final film developed at the last place to offer the service before closing. A sense of the now or never.

Famous photographer Ben Ryder (Harris) is at deaths door, much like his Kodak film slides. His relationship with his son Matt (Sudeikis) is also “mostly dead” rather like Kodak. At a crossroads or cul-de-sac (you decide) the two are reunited through contrived circumstance, on a journey together for different reasons. Ben to get 4 old rolls of film developed and Matt to get an interview, both with the air of desperate “last chance” about them.

SOLOMONS IFA - KODACHROME

NOT IN FOCUS

There are lots of possibilities for this, how change, endings and loss are handled for example. If you knew you had a few weeks to live, how would you conduct yourself in your final days. Perhaps a question many of us may have thought about more than usual recently. How do we handle ageing and the constant advancement of technology that can leave us behind, perhaps feeling (or being) redundant and consigned to history. How will we leave our mark, impression or do we even want to?

Sadly, the script and plot failed to cope with difficulty or nuance.  The film is seemingly at a loss for ideas. Perhaps I am wrong, but there is a point in the story where Matt returns to his Uncle’s adoptive home, where Matt lived from age 13 following the death of his mother and the chosen absence of his father. Matt is now an adult in the music business, something of an expert. Yet the room he returns to in his uncle’s home is as it was left – vinyl and posters intact. Whilst I imagine this may happen sometimes, it seems improbable that an adolescent’s room is left for well over a decade (well over) in its original state.

DEPTH

Unsurprisingly, the plot becomes ever more simplistic and lacks any depth of vision (ironic for a photographer). Words are said, tantrums had, departures, threats, ultimatums but we all know where this is headed – a “just in time” redemptive ending, where a man’s work is validated above his ability to be present or available to that which he suggests is important.

Life is rarely like this. We often do not get ample warning to adequately address painful experiences. No final road trip with a mission. The voice of the financial planner is to act as a reminder that life is brief. We all know it is, but most of us live as though it will last forever. Planning finances to last and to be sufficient, so that you can squeeze all the joy you want from your allotted time, whatever that means for you. It has a connection with money, but it is not about money. Its about the choices we make to live.

USE BY: SEE END

So, let me suggest something else. You have 4 rolls of film, (unlike digital images which are so instant and numerous that there is little focus on the importance of the subject and its composition). One roll for each quarter of your remaining time (I would not be so harsh as to divide it up into quarters and give you what should be left). At the end of each future quarter period, I take one from you. What have you filled it with? Even this is clearly a daft suggestion – we simply do not know how much time we have. What we do know is what is important to each of us. The job of the planner is to help you maximise the time you have available and help you calculate what is possible given the resources you have. Like Kodachrome, we all have a shelf-life, this life is to be used. Unlike the food in your fridge, we simply do not have the use by date. This is a reminder check your stock and plan. We all know how disappointing waste is, particularly when at one point it was within our control. Today is your day of control.

SOLOMONS IFA - THE LIFE YOU SHOOT

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?

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KODACHROME2025-02-04T16:14:52+00:00

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

TODAY’S BLOG

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

Whatever your view about coronavirus, I would prefer to trust explaining and treatment of any virus to a properly qualified medical expert rather than a member of Parliament. The focus on deaths is purely one measure of the virus, nothing more. As yet there is no (or very little) data about the long-term impact of the virus on individuals. A life lesson I learned many years ago is that investors over-estimate the short-term and under-estimate the long-term. That is true of everyone, not simply investors. We have short, flawed memories.

As for covid, many suffer ongoing symptoms months (currently known as long covid) after first contracting the illness. To measure the danger of virus based purely on deaths is rather like measuring road traffic deaths and concluding that they are low.

A NEW GREEN CROSS CODE FOR HEALTH

In 2018 in the whole of Britain 1,784 people were killed in reported road traffic accidents, yet there were 25,511 (14x) seriously injured casualties and a further 133,302 (74x) slightly injured casualties. Focus on the number that died out of a population of about 66.27million does not mean that just because “only” 0.003% died none of us should wear seatbelts or observe the highway code.

The uncomfortable truth is that we do not yet know the long-term (or even short-term) impact of covid on public health. We hope and look forward to a vaccine. However as with road accidents, there are a great (vast) number of people that will be impacted with poorer health.

SOLOMONS IFA - MORNING WALK IN THE FOG

BEYOND HEADLINES

In a related theme I noticed a fairly stark statement by a local politician. “10,000 deaths a year in London from air pollution”. Let me be clear, I am not a climate change denier, but I didn’t believe the statement. Instinctively it didn’t feel right. So I checked. In London (inner and outer) there are about 50,000 deaths a year in total. That’s everything from infant mortality, “old age”, cancer, road deaths, murder, suicide – the works. There is no way that 20% of those are due to air pollution. Everyone dies in the end.

IN A HAZE

Certainly you may notice the air quality in London being poor or awful at times, there is room for improvement (always). However, this is to forget the context. Take the Great Smog 5-9 December 1952. Estimates at the time were that 4,000 people died as a direct result, with 100,000 made ill, some of them very seriously indeed. Actions were taken to improve the quality of London air and have been ever since. The number of deaths registered in London has fallen enormously over the years. I have found data to 1966, some 14 years after the Great Smog there were 87,991 deaths (London) in 1966 some 5 years later this has reduced to 84,990 in 1971. Thereafter each subsequent decade later the numbers reduce. By 2011 the number had fallen to 46,685. Last year the figure stood at 49,007. Admittedly increased since 2011, but then so has the population from about 47.9m in 1966 (England and Wales) to 57.4m by 2014.

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Data always requires a context and this invariably requires looking back. The main problem with financial planning is that we look forwards, often forgetting how far we have come. It is important to remember what things were like, this provides confidence that the future is hopeful. As for wondering if financial planning is important, think back to your own childhood and the cost of a stamp – look it up (if you were born before decimilisation you will have to convert imperial). One of the basics of financial planning is to keep your spending power rising or at least equal to inflation so that you can still afford your lifestyle, fear of the future is likely to be your worst enemy. Do not under-estimate the future or forget the past.

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

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING2023-12-01T12:13:13+00:00

ENGINEERING THE FIGURES

TODAY’S BLOG

ENGINEERING THE FIGURES

There are many good things about social media, but I do get fed up with some of the narratives thrown around that, in my opinion, casually have an agenda. One topic that often gathers some traction is that of the property market. Most of us discuss the ludicrous price of buying a home at some time, some make much of their skill to invest in property, which is often rather more to do with luck than skill. However I have become very tired of the media holding out examples of some young people who got onto the property ladder and in so doing imply that others only have themselves to blame for their inability to do so.

DISTILLING THE TRUTH

I came across a couple of examples in the last few days. One involved a 28-year old whose father bought him a bottle of 18-year old Macallan whisky on the day of his birth and then every birthday thereafter. The headline suggested that this enabled Matthew Robinson to buy his first home. The virtues of foresight by his father and personal resistance of temptation netting the result of £40,000 worth of whisky. It’s a lovely idea and nothing wrong with it at all as a gift. I have some questions though.

UK Property

IN GOOD SPIRITS

Firstly, the whisky has not actually been sold yet and no home has been purchased. This deposit was not actually the hard work of Matthew but of his father. The only thing Matthew has done is follow his fathers instructions not to consume it. I wonder how it was stored, I suspect that the 28 bottles have not followed Matthew away to University or any other place he may have lived, they probably remained at his parents home (I am guessing). As a gift it’s a lovely one, as an investment…. Well, there are obvious risks – which no proper investment portfolio would have – concentrated risk and the past, current and future risk of total wipe out. I could literally destroy a portfolio of whisky in minutes. I could not do the same for any investment portfolio.

ROOM WITH A VIEW – TUNNEL VISION VIA BOX

Then there was the case of Jessica Leung who at 29 managed to buy a property worth £450,000 in Bristol, right opposite IBK Brunel’s the SS Great Britain. This, the headlines suggest was done by moving home to save rent and cancelling her gym membership. It turns out that Jessica was able to put down a £90,000 deposit, pay stamp duty and raise a mortgage of £360,000 on her own salary. It turns out that 30% of the deposit was from her father (£27,000) and “family savings” of £53,000 together with her own £10,000 make £90,000. In fact, Jessica had saved £10,000 not really £90,000. An engineering of “I saved the deposit” feat that Mr Brunel might marvel at. Given that she would likely require an income of £90,000 to borrow £360,000 then to be blunt she might have saved rather more.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not berating Matthew or Jessica or indeed their parents. To my mind these stories have rather more to do with making other young people feel inadequate and relieving the sense of guilt (we did absolutely nothing to benefit from property price rises)  that the rest of us have from time to time, when we recognise how hard it is. The truth is that the parents were instrumental in raising the deposits in both instances. These sorts of mixed messages are rife – a few months ago young people were chastised for buying lunch at Pret, now they are being told to do so in order to keep it open. The messages are all to do with supporting those in power who clearly have a lot vested in maintaining the property-owning class precisely as it is.

Rather obviously I work with clients to help them become financially independent and many parents want to help their children as these did. However, pretending that because some can that it is just a matter of personal disciplined saving by the young adult is utter twaddle. I expect nothing to change.

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

ENGINEERING THE FIGURES2023-12-01T12:13:14+00:00

HOW PERSONAL IS PERSONAL BANKING?

TODAY’S BLOG

HOW PERSONAL IS PERSONAL BANKING?

We all know (I think) that the days of the traditional bank manager are long gone, these days banks dress their offering with “personal banking” (as though it has been anything else before!). This is meant to be the main reason for staying with your traditional bank (and most will have done so since their teens) as opposed to using a new bank – a disruptor.

It seems to me that there is a significant degree of lip service paid to the idea of personal banking. You may have the luxury of perhaps having the name and email address of your “relationship manager” but there are some inherent problems. Each new year brings the prospect of yet another letter explaining that my personal relationship manager has altered… again. The best of intentions is re-established. I would not like to guess at how many “clients” these relationship managers have responsibility for – but let us assume it is way too many to have time to form any that are meaningful.

THE BANK

A RELATIONSHIP YOU SAY?

Today I was emailed by my personal relationship manager about the latest (standardised) investment offering that they have. Apart from not being a good offer, but a very similar (yet still more expensive) cost to a proper advised investment, it was a bit of a pity that nobody had thought to ask what I did for a living. This is a bank that I have been with for 4 decades.

I will not bother naming the Bank – they are all much the same. You will recall that in the past most mis-selling scandals were directly to do with poorly trained and badly incentivised advisers within Banks. The gaping hole of adequate planning and saving for the future has been noted for many years. The regulator is hoping for the Banks to fill some of that with algorithms and rather good bits of IT plugging the rest. Financial planners generally deal with people that are already engaged with planning ahead or have recently started to do so – and there are not that many of us anyway – about 24,000 for a population of around 66m.

NOT ON THE HIGH STREET

I suspect that the Banks will continue to disappoint. Heck you cannot even rely on them to be on your local high street if you should ever need to “pop in”. Imagine how difficult this is for elderly people that have little appetite for the internet or online banking and are not able to easily get to their new nearest branch. Personal it most certainly is not, hopeful yes, but I also suspect the outcomes are also predictable.

WE CAN DO ALL THIS BETTER

If you are someone with a few hundred thousand in cash, then of course the Investment Banks are now interested in you, but you will quickly discover that to them personal means treating you to sports events and corporate hospitality in exchange for some over the top fees. We can arrange investments better; we can arrange cash savings accounts better. Personal is what we do because what we do is all about your plan.

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

HOW PERSONAL IS PERSONAL BANKING?2023-12-01T12:13:14+00:00

SAY CHEESE…

TODAY’S BLOG

SAY CHEESE

The markets have been interesting, the bull market has come to an end, or so it would seem. In the investment world the opposite of a bull market isn’t a cow market – but a bear market. You know this, or course and this is nothing more than a chance for me to simply muck around with words that are bovine or market related. Farmer’s market anyone?

ORGANIC WELSH CHEESE TO YOUR DOOR

Whenever I come across something rather good, I like to share it with friends. How about a rather good box of organic Welsh cheeses. The farmers over at Calon-Wen are at the forefront of improvements in farming – a truly amazing fusion of ancient customs and the latest technology.

As you are probably locked in at the moment, perhaps struggling to get an online delivery – well why not take a moment to order yourself a box of cheese. Calon-Wen is a cooperative of 14 family farmers in Wales and they can deliver you a box of cheese without too much fuss.

No, I’m not on a commission – but I do love cheese, small business and the countryside.

NO BULL

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

SAY CHEESE…2023-12-01T12:13:18+00:00

PLANNING TO GET OUT AFTER THIS

TODAY’S BLOG

PLANNING TO GET OUT AFTER THIS

So, you – just like me, are in lockdown, perhaps going a little stir-crazy and wishing you could be out and about? Well perhaps the additional time at home provides a moment or two for some serious reflection about what is important to you.

One of the items on most people’s bucket list, irrespective of age or political opinion, is a desire to travel. Not to rack up the miles, but to experience life in a different part of the world, a different culture. We are all experiencing something new at the moment, but once this is over, (and it will be) will you have time to recollect what was important to you?

VIETNAM TRIP

TIME TO DREAM IN COLOUR

How about supporting a small travel business? arguably one of the most impacted sectors of COVID19. A travel business that provides a highly tailored, ethical travel experience? No need for endless searching online, let them know your requirements and budget and they will put some ideas and an itinerary together for you. Perhaps a special or significant birthday, or celebration of a major personal event or perhaps one last big family trip.

How about South America, Central America or South East Asia? There is a huge opportunity to create an amazing experience in the very near future. Have a look at their website to get your own creative ideas going, why not dust off an old world atlas, if you have one, or just google one – and have a think about where you would like to visit. This is time to be bold, to dream and plan in colour. A visit to Mayan ruins, carribean beaches, the Panama canal, rainforests, scuba dive, snorkle, visit a coffee plantation or rum distillery….How about the Golden Triangle, Kandy, Ho Chi Minh  city, go elephant trekking, check out some temples… We all know life is brief, but few of us live as though it is. Now is a great opportunity to craft a truly unique travel experience.

Give the team at Revealed a call on 01932 424252 or send an email to [email protected]

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

PLANNING TO GET OUT AFTER THIS2023-12-01T12:13:18+00:00

LOCATION

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

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