Liquid Gold

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Liquid Gold

I came across an item that made me think. You may remember the Nescafe Gold Blend adverts from years ago, well coffee as we all know, has moved on since then. We have a Nespresso coffee machine here at the office, which dispenses some very nice coffee, but I’ve been challenged to think if I should make a small stand by not buying anything from Nestlé. The challenge is acutally two-fold – the recycling of the pods and also the information that I have been presented with about Nestlé.. who appear to have spotted that water is the new gold blend – liquid gold.

The story is a familiar one, large multi-national company, exerting its power in a way that appears to put profit before people or the environment. Nestlé is a familiar giant such a discussion, if you recall the way in which they marketed substitute (powdered) breast milk in poor countries, where breast-feeding was sufficient. This began in 1977 and as far as I can tell continues to rumble on.

This is a story about bottled water, which is probably one of the best scams of modern times – more expensive than oil, invariably sold in plastic bottles that can make the water more toxic when warm (think container ships, lorries, trains, hot days)… when the water in your tap is probably better. Anyhow, Nestlé want to bottle water from a town in Oregon. I don’t know the facts about this case, I am merely sharing them to prompt a few thoughts.

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]

Liquid GoldDominic2023-12-01T12:19:19+00:00

Those overpaid teachers….

Those overpaid teachers…

This is an item I came across online that amused me and felt it should be reproduced. I imagine and hope that all of us can remember at least one inspirational teacher, probably rather more. As in all things, people are people and some are far better at their work than others. No single profession or group are all good or all bad. However I have come to deeply respect teachers over the years and they have had more than their fair share of mountains to climb. So here is a piece that I am reposting in response to criticism that is seriously misplaced.

Are you sick of highly paid teachers?

Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do -babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them £5.93 an hour and only the hours they work; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be £41.51 a day (8.30 am to 3:30 PM with 30 min. off for lunch and play –that equals 7 1/2 hours).

Babysitting Service

Each parent could pay £41.51 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Now how many children do they teach in a day…32? So that’s £41.51 x 32 = £1328.32 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any holidays .LET’S SEE…. That’s £1328.32 X 180= £239,097.60 per year.

Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries. What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage (£6.90), and just to be fair, round it off to £7.00 an hour. That would be £7.00 X 7 1/2 hours X 32 children X 180 days = £302,400.00 per year. Wait a minute –there’s something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nationwide) is £25,000.00/180 days = £138.90 per day/ 32 children = £4.34 / 7 1/2 hours = £0.58 per hour per student–a very inexpensive babysitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

(from a post online)

In support of teachers

Whilst it is true that teachers have half-term and end of term breaks. It is grossly unfair and misleading to assume that they have lots of time off. The increased testing and micro management implemented over the years by successive “we know best” Governments has essentially replaced a lot of teaching with a lot of form filling. Something that the bueracrats are attempting to introduce everywhere with their obsession about “outcomes”.

The reposted story above assumes a very unusual day. I am unhappy to report that I know a great many teachers who work at least 12 hours a day often 6 days a week. They are exhausted. This is the experience from top to bottom across the age spectrum.

I appreciate that the reposted story is only one way of considering the numbers. There are many costs in running a school, not simply the cost of each teacher.

Let me pose a question. If we actually believe the experts who tell us that the formative years are the most important to “personhood” which has a life-long impact on citizenship, the ability to be part of a community that thinks and acts beyond self; shouldn’t we be investing in children and those that inspire and encourage them for the greater good. After all, these children will grow up to one day govern, pose and vote on laws about social policy, including whether you are cared for or dispatched early to make way for the new (which makes more “economic sense”).

Of course the same could be said of many aspects of our “State employees” – doctors, nurses, firemen, police and so on. The constant undervaluing and bogus attempts to apply market values to everything is utterly flawed.

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]

Those overpaid teachers….Dominic2025-01-23T10:56:16+00:00

Year of the Monkey

Today is the start of the Chinese New Year – the 8th February. It will be the year of the Monkey. I’m sure that many will be hoping that the Chinese economic slowdown will not cause further anxiety across global markets. Many will be very glad to see the back of the year of the goat (supposedly calm and gentle).

Traditional Chinese superstition suggests that when your zodiac sign comes up, you have an unlucky year. So as that’s every 12 years, anyone born in 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956, 1944, 1932 or 1920 (though that would mean you are 96 already). So anyone born in those years, will presumably be hoping that superstition is simply that, and there will be no discernible decrease in their “luck”. To make matters worse (or better) this is the year of the Fire Monkey – one that is ambitious and adventurous but irritable. Each zodiac sign also has a partner of five potential elements, (metal, water, wood, fire and earth) which come around every 60 years.

Destiny and Control

Admittedly I know little of the Chinese Zodiac, I seemed to recall that red was thought of as a lucky colour by the Chinese, apparently not if you are a “Monkey”…. And also avoid the numbers 2 and 7 and any containing them! However if its 4 or 9 you are in luck. This seems a little at odds with the suggestion that your lucky dates are the 14th and 28th of any Chinese lunar calendar month (even months 8 and 12 which are otherwise “unlucky”).

I guess we all have ways of coming to terms with aspects of life that are outside of our control so formula and superstition, particularly ancient ones, tend to offer some form of comfort and possibility of controlling that which cannot be controlled.

As for me, when I think of Monkey, I think of the rather strange TV series from the late 1970s of the same name and the 2008 theatrical opera “Monkey: Journey to the West” which Damon Albarn (Blur) wrote. Of course the 1995 movie “Twelve Monkeys” which was one of my favourite also comes to mind and is perhaps rather more relevant for those attempting to change the course of history through time travel.

Here’s the trailer for Twelve Monkeys and if you are Chinese, well Happy New Year!

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]

Year of the MonkeyDominic2023-12-01T12:19:29+00:00

The Master Builder

The Master Plan

Perhaps it has something to do with the start of a New Year, or perhaps it is simply a case of my awareness of the ageing process is becoming more pertinent; but there seems to be a lot of “stuff” about ageing and the need for a master plan for life.

Ralph Fiennes is currently starring in Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” at the Old Vic. I managed to see this on Monday night, it was very well performed with Fiennes having a huge amount of dialogue to remember. However… perhaps I’m a philistine, but I simply didn’t get it.

The play, (which I haven’t read) centres on a man (Halvard Solness) who, frankly, has some “issues”. Somewhat of a control freak and ultimately has a bit of a god-complex. In essence he is a possessive man, who believes that by wishing something he makes it come true.

He has risen to “power” (in the days of small-town notoriety) through hard work and “good luck” (and the misfortune of others) despite having no qualifications, simply mastering the skills “on the job”. However, he holds the view that this success has a price, which I guess is Ibsen’s attempt at discussing the price of success. The price, that is paid, seems largely to be fear of the constant younger generation taking what he has.

Get out of the way…

Ultimately, Solness does indeed lose everything to the clamour of the younger generation, but totally through his own unfathomable actions. This involves a rather strange relationship with a young girl, Hilda Wangel, who can only be described as mad or at best delusional. Indeed at one point I wasn’t sure if she wasn’t simply meant to be a figment of his imagination, but as others talk with her, I assume that this isn’t the case.

I’m sure that some freudian references could be made to the relationship that Solness has with Wangel, her assertion of his ability to build towers, her apparent disregard for marriages and his confusion about his signficance, whilst she inspires him to new heights of potency.

A better bit of thoughtful planning?

I suppose the play reveals some lessons about marriage or relationships generally. The rather obvious need to communicate, and in particular not to avoid talking about the really important things (unlike Solness) which perhaps would have laid the foundations for a proper “life plan” to work on together.

Financial planning is essentially doing just that. If it’s done well, it will reflect your values. To date I haven’t discussed whether a successful financial plan has a price, in the sense of some form of karmic balance (a yin to the yang) but clearly any choice has a sense of this to it. Saving means not spending it all. Investing means taking a patient long-term view not than the short-term gain. Unlike Solness, wishful thinking has no part in a good financial plan – and a decent planner will help you remain grounded, not building castles in the sky.

The Master Builder is playing at the Old Vic until 19th March 2016. I’d be interested to hear your take on it! Fiennes is typically brilliant with a strong cast.

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]

The Master BuilderDominic2025-01-27T16:09:34+00:00

Life is brief

As I wrote on Monday, life is short and we need to make the most of the one we have. As yet another celebrity’s death is announced, I’m reminded of the first play that I saw Alan Rickman perform in. I was still at school, studying for my A’Levels. It was 1985 or perhaps 1986 – I’m not sure which, he was playing Jaques in “As You Like It” at the RSC in Stratford.

I had the impression that my English teacher was rather taken with one of his speeches…. one that is perhaps one of the most famous Shakespeare quotes. It was apparent to anyone in the audience that Rickman (and Juliet Stevenson with whom the stage was shared and they later collaborated in Truly Madly Deeply) was a great actor with a bright future and this was shortly followed up with a Tony award nomination performance in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which I was also lucky to see, I think in London.

Shakespeare’s words were brought to life for me on that day, by some great actors, Alan Rickman being one of the very best. I last saw him at the London BFI Film Festival, where he was presenting his film “A Little Chaos” which is good little film.

All the world’s a stage..

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

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]

Life is briefDominic2023-12-01T12:19:34+00:00

We all make mistakes

We all make mistakes. One of my recent blunders involved failing to pay proper attention to the warning signs.

I had hired a van to help my one of my daughters move into her new flat. It was the end of a long day and I was on the way back to the rental company to drop off the van, but needed a lift back home…so I hooked up with my lift and followed.

Unfortunately the person I was following knew the most direct route. As we approached a railway bridge I saw the warning sign “low bridge” but it looked high enough, in fact it looked as though it was aimed at lorries rather than vans. I was also aware of the van height and knew that I could get through.

I had forgotten that for some reason, this van had roof bars… there was a loud bang and clatter as the aforementioned roof rails were held stationary, whilst the hapless driver (me) and rest of the van continued forwards. An alarmed glance in the mirrors confirmed what I knew – the roof rails were now lying in the road.

How high or how low?

I was relieved that they had not hit anyone or the car behind me and thankfully the “damage” to the van was minor…. Somewhat sheepishly I pulled over, gathered up the stricken rails, checked with the driver behind and apologised for my stupidity. A labourer who had heard the clatter peered over and shouted “that’s the third one today!”… presumably to reassure me that I was just one of several muppets that day.

I was cross with myself for forgetting about the roof rails, or rather not being cautious enough. As I pulled into the rental company forecourt, I reflected on what a daft thing I had just done. As I handed in the keys I told the attendant what had happened and we went to inspect the damage more closely. Nothing major… but as they had a security deposit they would take the repair cost out of that. “I wouldn’t have noticed” he told me… “You could have got away with it!”. That may have been true, but I was at fault and the damage would cost his small local business something to repair, I’m well aware that running a business can be tough and when your customers aren’t honest it makes life unnecessarily harder. In any event, if I don’t have my integrity what do I have?

My lift home was very apologetic, thinking that it was their fault for going under the bridge. In my youth I would probably have had the same sentiment, but the little wisdom I have picked up is that I’m responsible for my own choices, to follow was my choice.

Assumptions can be dangerous – as can failing to take proper note of warning signs.

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]

We all make mistakesDominic2023-12-01T12:19:35+00:00

Everbody Dies

Everybody dies

As uncomfortable as it is, everybody dies. Perhaps one of the more significant life lessons is that death is a part of life, it comes to us all, everyone and everything. This truth is not one which we like to face, yet it meets us every day. We are careful (most of us) to try to avoid death – driving carefully, getting smoke alarms, going to the gym, avoiding “danger”. We have all known someone who is no longer living, we have experienced loss. We are all aware of the daily news of death, disaster and destruction as it happens to other people, somewhere else. Then someone who we all “know” dies and “the world” (by which I mean media) is full of lament and surprise.

I’m often challenged by the deaths of famous people. In part I want to acknowledge their contributions to whatever they “did” which of course is only an element of their lives (and I am passionate about the arts – as anyone that knows me will attest). I also find it confusing or perhaps perplexing – how whilst on this very same day, something like 151,600 people die around the world, about 55.3 million a year. These are not unknown people, but simply not known by many – like you and I.

Counting and Make it Count

We do live in a strange world, where the deaths of thousands become almost irrelevant compared to the death of just one. I’m not suggesting that we should not take note, pay our respects, but surely the rather more important reminder of a lesson we have already learned, is that life is short so spend the time you have wisely. The question is never if, but when.

Financial planning is not magic, it will not help you to live forever. It is essentially helping you to focus on what you value as important and attempting to ensure that those things happen. Life expectancy statistics are something that I discuss with clients, these are nothing more than the average age of someone when they die. An average – so many will be more and many will be less. Life’s greatest mystery is not death, but how you decide to use yours.

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]

Everbody DiesDominic2025-01-27T16:09:40+00:00

Hopeful Christmas

Where does the time go? Only last year I blogged about my god-daughter Hope who had her first proper launch event. After a very busy year, she’s now released an EP album, called “Optimist” – that seems to be gaining some traction and climbing up the singer/songwriter charts. Now all of 16, her latest track is available on i-tunes. Perhaps one for the Christmas stocking?

Do have a listen, you can buy it for the princely sum of £3.14 on i-tunes.

Here’s the title video, which is dedicated to her late father and my very dear friend, who having suffered from a rare form of cancer (mulitple endocrine neoplasia) eventually died from the injuries resulting from a motorcycle crash in August 2006. You can find her on Jacket Records, a new small label run by Jack Hobbs, who also wrote a song for her “So Much More“.

As you know, I’m not a betting man, but I’d suggest that this is best investment for £3.14 you could make this Christmas and help to get the much needed Optimist on the radar.. what’s more you could order it right now from where you are. Happy Christmas.

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]

Hopeful ChristmasDominic2023-12-01T12:19:42+00:00

Spectre in Bond?

As a financial planner, I’m told that I’m meant to know a thing or two about the “Bond market”….I am sure that you will have seen some of the marketing about the new James Bond film “Spectre”. As I write, the film has grossed over £48m in its opening weekend. James Bond has been one of those familiar features of British culture, with strong themes of Queen and country… notably drawn upon in the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.

Despite this Bond is a character that has required considerable updating, partly due to the technology employed and partly due to changing attitudes in a more enlightened society. Here is the trailer for Spectre.

The struggle is a familiar and shared one, yet such attitudes are deeply embedded in culture. The recent film “Suffragette” whilst shocking to some extent by todays standards, the more shocking details appear in the final end credits which reveal the year in which different countries gave women the vote.

Ladies and Gentlemen… not boys and girls

Anyway, back to Bond, despite the suggestion that this Bond is rather different, sadly it is simply rather disappointing. Perhaps I have become more critical, but I found myself feeling completely disconnected from the initial opening action scene a fight and flight pursuit in Mexico. This feeling persisted throughout, akin to a formula much like painting by numbers, whilst piecing together a finished product, felt disjointed and somewhat fraudulent. There is some dreadful dialogue and utterly unbelievable explosive consequences, of course.

However most disappointingly was the hype around the appearance of Monica Bellucci as the oldest actress to play a “Bond girl” Lucia, who was 50 when the film was made. Disappointing on several counts, that the term girl is continued to be used to describe a woman, (or is Bond a boy?). That she is in the film for probably no more than 2 minutes, her role is entirely superficial for moving the plot along. Strikingly, her character serves merely to play the stereotype damsel in distress that takes a split second for Bond to reassure and to lead to bed. Ultimately Bond’s next conquest is the much younger Madeleine Swann, played by Lea Seydoux (29 during the shoot).

Whilst the rest of the world is moving towards more equal rights and attitudes about gender, Bond remains clearly confused, we get to peak into his flat, which appears to reflect a man without any significant connections, whilst frequenting a world of high living, the reality at home is rather different.

Given this, I am left feeling that Bond has been dealt the inevitable blow of consumerism dictating art… as is increasingly becoming commonplace. It would seem that there is now very little attempt to be subtle about product placement, with the film serving more as a long advert (and long it is at 2 hours 28 minutes). The question that we are left to reflect on is what does it say about us if we want to be Bond? as GQ seem to think many men would wish. Despite being all the action, there is some incredibly lazy thinking.

So with that in mind, here is a video I came across about how expensive it is to live like Bond… should you wish to do so.

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]

Spectre in Bond?Dominic2023-12-01T12:19:49+00:00

Bonfire Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November… its Bonfire night…. which means we celebrate the burning of a “terrorist”. I imagine that most people would find this concept rather odd in 2015, some 410 years after the failed gunpowder plot, we continue to celebrate the foiling of the plot to blow up Parliament and the capture, torture and execution of its participants. In reality it is of course, just something of an excuse to have a communal get together on a cold November night, warm ourselves beside a large fire and gaze at fireworks. I don’t know anyone that would seriously suggest that this is indeed a celebration of our “democracy” or that we celebrate the torture and execution of “villains”.

Perspective

As a child, I hadn’t given much thought to the historical evidence about Guy Fawkes and just took it as it is, a slightly odd custom, that’s a bit of fun. I was challenged by my own views, when my daughters attended a catholic school who took quite a different position to the historical events. To my shame, I hadn’t really considered the impact, despite being someone who holds no grudge against catholics and was always perplexed by the troubles in Northern Ireland and how two groups both claiming to be christian could be so violently opposing.

Songs of Innocence

As a teenager I grew up baffled by current war – I had a historical context of the two world wars, with family members in each, yet saw this as history, something that I am thankful that we “won”. Much like many teenage boys I consumed a plethora of action and war movies, but found myself siding with the underdog, a natural step being to support those that required help against bullies, which musically as a teenager located a natural home in U2 who sang of the contradictions and struggles of faith and growing up in Ireland with songs like “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “I will Follow”, “Gloria” and “Pride”.

I grew up with their music, encouraged to confront injustice, however uncomfortable and close to home. I’m told that U2 and Bono in particular is one of those Marmite types – love them or hate them. I have never really understood the complaints of those that dislike U2, but certainly could agree that celebrity multimillionaires telling everyone else what to do with their time and money was perhaps irksome. Yet in all my time as a fan, I never had the sense that I was being told what to think, feel or do… but rather to bring “it” to a visual and musical dynamic place.

U2 @ O2 #U2ieTour

So this week, I was again seeing my favourite band. This time at the O2 (a perfect venue for sound distortion). The crowd was predominantly made up of my own generation with very few from my children’s. Balding heads in their thousands gathered to sing and… well take photos. As ever, it was a visual feast, with prose and technology neatly juxtaposed…. in screen, on-screen, in the flesh. Rebooted versions of “October” set against video feed of a bombed Syrian city, “Pride” reworked lines to recall the image of the child refugee washed up on the beach and “Bullet in the Blue Sky” a personal confrontation about the apparent contradictions Bono faces as challenged to remember his roots and the glaring problem with his call to see the fighter planes, when he travels in private planes…. and a reflection of a childhood growing up with marches, bombings and walls…. yet all the time holding to the promise that peace can be achieved and that compromise is the braver move, with Ireland now being a real example of peace being achieved.

Perhaps a lot to digest on Bonfire night, but as the whiff of gunpowder lingers I will continue to reflect on the reality that fireworks are the only delightful use of gunpowder. As for U2, well much like Bonfire night, I’m still left with a warm glow. If you wish to find out about their world tour… click here for the link…… what has this got to do with financial planning? well, that the firm is shaped from my values of fairness and struggles with injustice, greed and the benefits of lucky geography… in one sense both everything and nothing… with or without you.

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]

Bonfire NightDominic2023-12-01T12:19:51+00:00