One life at a time

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2024  •  4 min read

One life at a time

Sitting in the front row of the audience, he turned to see refugees standing around him, the feeling of raw emotion suddenly rising and filling his being as the magnitude of one man’s efforts had resulted in simple, raw, exposed humanity – life.

I suspect that you have heard about or may even remember seeing the moment that Nicholas Winton is met with an audience of his rescued refugees, as they rise to greet the man. The moment will likely be branded into your mind; it’s truly unforgettable.

There is something about a mild-mannered stockbroker from Maidenhead who not simply changed lives, but made them possible, that resonates with anyone possessing a pulse.

The new film One Life currently on release, is the remarkable tale of this man set a little more than nine months before WW2. I hope that it is a reminder to you that however small your own actions and power may seem, they can be life-saving.

Winton visited Prague in December 1938 at the suggestion of a friend and met with Warriner, Chadwick and Wellington who exposed him to their urgent work attempting to help key individuals flee Europe out of the thousands gathering in makeshift camps all hoping for help. He was fortunate to have never met the Gestapo (I so want to mock by writing gazpacho) and his life was never particularly endangered, but he was deeply moved by the plight of refugees who were fleeing Hitler’s Nazis following the night of mayhem ‘Kristallnacht’ on 9th November 1938 which followed the Munich Agreement in September which ceded Sudetenland and the subsequent full invasion in March 1939.

A time before email, social media and mobile phones, live images from anywhere on earth beamed into the palm of your hand. A trusty typewriter, filing cabinet and antiquated telephone system along with waiting (and pushing) to see those possessing the ability to grant permission. The challenge of bureaucratic lunacy and soulless governance has a modern familiarity, but in 1938, refugees under 18 were not permitted into Britain.

Winton and his mother pushed the wheels of the Civil Service into agreeing a process for granting permission to hundreds and potentially thousands of refugees fleeing extermination in Europe. They raised funds (£50 fee for each refugee), completed the paperwork and placed children with willing people having taken out adverts in newspapers. Some 669 children were spared annihilation in Europe, eventually finding refuge here in Britain after a perilous journey through hostile nations before war broke out, ending any viability of a visa.

Winton’s part in the story may never have been acknowledged had his wife not found his scrapbook from the period, detailing names of children and their foster families. It is highly unlikely that any of the children would have escaped had he and his mother not taken the action that they did.

Today we see horrors around the world with alarming frequency. In my December round up, I stated that “the world is currently safer than it ever has been for many of us”. By way of some context… our world was changed by the attacks in the US on 11th September 2001 which resulted in 2,996 deaths largely on the day itself.  Pearl Harbour, which was the catalyst for the US joining the war saw 2,403 deaths on 7th December 1941.

The second world war itself lasted six years and conservatively resulted in 70 million deaths. That’s equivalent to 22 deaths for every minute of the war, a staggering 31,934 every day.

We can draw many lessons or conclusions from Winton’s story; but for me it’s a reminder that action takes many forms, being sufficiently resourced and able to provide solutions to great challenges is key for most of us. Our ability to respond has untold impact. Of the millions that ultimately died, Winton and his collaborators saved 669, each one significant and priceless.

Below is the trailer for the rather wonderful new film released by Warner Brothers.

And here is the online exhibition, a tour through some of the personal items and documents held in the Sir Nicholas Winton Memorial Trust, illustrating different episodes in his life.

One life at a time2024-02-08T15:49:41+00:00

Money management for children

Debbie Harris 
Feb 2024  •  2 min read

We don’t need no education…

It is widely recognised and acknowledged that children start forming their spending and saving habits as young as seven years old; yet still we do not teach money management skills in our Primary schools here in England.

Largely therefore our children develop their relationship with money in a very organic way – largely from what they see or hear (from parents, friends, advertising, TV programmes, social media etc); which means it is basically a game of luck as to whether a child learns good habits or bad habits!

The Scout Association has seen this ‘gap’ in the education of our young people and has introduced a merit badge called the Money Skills Award (with some funding from HSBC and consultation with the charity Young Money).

In order to achieve this badge, children have to complete a selection of money-related tasks … anything from creating their own currency to budgeting for a trip.

Bear Grylls, UK Chief Scout, hopes the new badge will help Cub Scouts and Beaver Scouts develop life-long financial skills “in a way that only Scouts can by helping them build their confidence and understanding of money in hands-on format”.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in use of contactless payment methods, young children typically may not see coins and notes very often anymore and instead have a sense of money coming from a ‘magic card’ that seemingly has an endless supply!

Older children are also suffering from the impact of the pandemic – with literacy and numeracy ‘falling short’; the knock-on effect of which is that millions of people have problems budgeting effectively, planning for the future and making informed decisions about their finances.

At Solomon’s we have a real and genuine desire to educate people (regardless of age) around the sensible and wise use of their resources and we often look for ways to impart useful information in an easy to understand format.

For any of our clients with young children (or grandchildren), if you would like to receive any resources from us that might be helpful – please do let us know; we are building a useful ‘bank’ of information from various sources that we could pass on to you.

Money management for children2024-02-01T09:53:09+00:00

Financial transparency

Jemima Thomas
Jan 2024  •  2 min read

Do you know who you’re sleeping with?

I spotted a BBC news article about a man who had a gambling addiction and ended up slowly stealing £1.3 million from his work place, to continue his betting addiction.

Initially Andy May (now 47 with a wife and two kids) was just a weekend gambler; at the beginning spending as little as £5 – £20 ‘for fun’.  As his gambling activity continued, he began winning more money to play with (and more ability to borrow); and so the amount he would bet began to increase. Unfortunately, it got to a point where Andy had been stealing from his employer for a period of four and a half years. (For context do read the article fully – he used to be the finance manager for his employer).

Andy ended up in prison rather unsurprisingly, but the most intriguing part of the story is how his ‘problem’ went on for so long without being spotted (both in his professional and personal life).

It’s important for couples (and business partners) to have financial transparency. The habits and addictions of another can seriously damage your relationships and wealth, and it’s why we insist on clarity about your spending habits.  It’s also why (if you are in a couple) we encourage both of you to attend meetings together.

Historically (although definitely not always), men tend to take the reins on financial decisions; but we work hard here at Solomon’s to ensure that all decisions that impact both of you are made collaboratively.  We aren’t marriage counsellors, but we sometimes pose uncomfortable questions – we hope that we are a ‘safe space’ for people to bandy their ideas around (including concerns and fears).  These questions aren’t ever meant to ‘trip you up’ – they are intended to challenge you and make you think carefully about what is important to you in your life.  It’s not an easy part of our role as your financial planner; but it’s an important one.

Read the full article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-67503468

Financial transparency2024-02-01T09:21:20+00:00

Bah Humbug …

Debbie Harris
Dec 2023  •  2 min read

Bah Humbug…

I was scrolling aimlessly through Facebook the other evening (is there any other way to do it?!) and happened upon an interesting post by a lady who had taken A LOT of flack for ‘only’ spending £100 each on her children’s Christmas gifts.

She had been accused of being ‘tight’ (amongst other far more unpleasant things).  She was very clear that this was their family’s decision in an attempt a) to budget for Christmas properly and carefully and b) to NOT spoil their children.

Some commenters were disgusted that in amongst the stocking fillers were things like socks and shower gel (which were considered to be ‘essentials’ rather than ‘luxuries’).

I was utterly incensed that the keyboard warriors and trolls came out to play as they inevitably do but this seemed beyond the pale to me.

Who are we to criticise someone else’s traditions, budgeting, parenting aspirations, whatever?

Anyway – it reminded me of a little rhyme someone told me donkeys years ago that Christmas gifts should include the following:

~  Something they want

~  Something they need

~  Something to wear

~  Something to read

I absolutely put ‘essentials’ in my kids’ stockings (*or rather Father Christmas does) – they get socks, bath bombs, lip balm – that kind of thing.  They also get puzzles, chocolates, bobble heads (google it – so daft!), satsumas, walnuts, party poppers.

I also always attempt to set a budget and stick to it – but invariably I go ‘over’ – well it’s a special occasion!  It doesn’t matter to the rest of the World what my budget is – the amount is NOT important, as long as it is proportionate to your available funds of course!  What is important is that you set a reasonable budget and do your best to avoid getting carried away – yes it IS a special occasion (for some), but it is actually after all only ONE DAY!

Here at Solomon’s, we always ask our clients to be ‘generous’ in their estimated figures for their expenses (and not just on gifting).  It helps build contingency and ‘wiggle room’ in the financial plan; and intrinsic to this is an understanding that life is rarely a straight line.  And it is never the same as anyone else’s – we are our own yardstick; always.

Bah Humbug …2023-12-19T17:05:41+00:00

Royalty Income

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2023  •  1 min read

Royalty Income

For those of you who are business minded or ‘entrepreneurial’ (perhaps the most overused business word), the ‘rules’ around royalty income may be changing.

In recent decades we have all seen, particularly in the arts, how doing your work once and then getting paid repeatedly for it is the most honest definition of a ‘passive income’.

This is most evident in the music and film sector where stars of the past continue to earn income from repeats, resales, commissions and so on of a performance long ago. In fact I think it was George Lucas and his Star Wars franchise that really brought this to most people’s attention.

Imagine, you worked hard, made an album or wrote a book and forty years later you are still collecting money for your labour. Some of our clients are in this happy position.

So the twist is that this appears to be changing, well for some anyway. Various financially successful artists have been selling their back catalogue for a single, substantial lump sum, forfeiting the future royalties.

I wonder what this suggests? Perhaps that they would prefer to have the lump sum to spend, invest or gift rather than a lifetime of income. Perhaps they are concerned about the ability and resources to prevent plagiarism in the future or to restrict the use of their materials in other ways. Perhaps they are concerned that AI will actually make them irrelevant. I don’t know why, but it’s certainly an unexpected change to the basic business model in some sectors.

In September we learned that pop princess Katy Perry has agreed a deal to sell her back catalogue for around $225m. Her actor husband Orlando Bloom played Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, so no need for bootleg albums for Katy (or perhaps bootstrap albums, with such a load of pieces of eight).

Katy Perry reportedly makes $225m by selling her music catalogue:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66853047

Royalty Income2023-12-17T13:36:40+00:00

The crisis of living

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2024  •  3 min read

The crisis of living

Sometimes life throws something in your way that forces you to stop to think about its direction. We all tend to have landmark moments and of course the context, timing, and nature of them vary enormously. However, they all tend to pose a version of the same question … “so what now?”

One of the underrated skills of a good financial planner is to consider the things that we don’t want to think about. It would be normal for most to assume that this is the impact of a major economic crisis, financial meltdown, or some disaster to your portfolio. Whilst these things do happen, (regularly!) there is a degree of predictability about them, barring the final moment of global collapse, should that ever happen. These events (barring the apocalypse) are ‘baked in’ to your financial plan, making allowances for market corrections and reductions in capital values.

The real-life challenges are those we witness personally, perhaps experience vicariously or through the arts. These are the crises that we all probably wish away and hope that it doesn’t happen to us. Perhaps a marriage ending, a child dies, an addiction, a business bankruptcy, redundancy, a life-threatening illness, death, loss of loved ones or loss of personal mental capacity and independence.

These are no small matters, and I wouldn’t presume to pretend that financial planning removes the stress of such situations. However, raising such issues enables us to do some planning, but sometimes helps simply to acknowledge the reality that we cannot control very much in life at all. I will also not claim any special skills or talent in this area, it’s a minefield of values, beliefs and emotions. However, experience has taught me to face these challenges personally and with clients. I have improved my ability to ask the pertinent questions over the decades, but of course responses differ and there are no ‘right answers’.

Coming to terms with loss… 

I was asked to speak at a funeral of a friend who died much too young. One of the things I believe is that life is about coming to terms with loss. The majority of the gathered crowd simply stared back at me, looking incredulous. So perhaps I should’ve explained my position rather better. Life is precious, it’s a gift, it’s a miracle that any of us are here. It is also incredibly brief and once you have got over your own infant state of omnipotence (which for most of us happens in early childhood) you realise that everything you have and hold dear will eventually leave you. Whether that’s friends, brain cells, careers, skills, loved ones, money, energy, mind, health and so on… your va-va-voom eventually. Coming to terms with this isn’t always easy, in fact I’d say it’s a lifetime education. However, it will come to us all.

How do you measure a year? Seasons of Love – 525,600 minutes

One of my favourite musicals is Rent by the marvellous Jonathan Larson (who died the night before its premier – imagine that!). He begs the question “how do you measure a year?”. Of course we value your portfolio and consider its returns against markets; this is obviously sensible in the context in which we operate, but frankly, these are not measures of your life. I’m probably two thirds of the way through my lifetime, maybe it will be longer or shorter, but however much time I have left, I am grateful for each day (I’m practicing at getting better at this) and believe that it is my responsibility to get (and give) the most out of it. To experience connection and make meaning, which will almost certainly be forgotten within 100 years or less.

The assumption that tomorrow will be like today is deeply flawed. Carpe diem and all that. I’m not suggesting that we should live in a state of euphoric life maximisation (even if it is possible to do so); but certainly to consider the reality of loss as a built-in design of life. Pretending it isn’t so seems incredibly naive (at best). When such unwelcome challenges arrive at your door, plans have to change, sometimes dramatically.

I know that many of you have had these experiences and at times life is very hard. I cannot promise easy fixes, soft landings or neat solutions; I can simply promise that my team and I are empathetic and very much in your corner.

Your timeline is your own, we will help you to identify many of the key milestones that lie ahead and help plan for them. It is my belief that your financial plan should be rammed full of the things, people and experiences that you truly value.

Links: Rent the musical: https://broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/rent.htm#gsc.tab=0

Seasons of Love song: https://youtu.be/PgBjMZ4IeKY?si=h0TgWf_BNxc-TfCU

Seasons of Love Lyrics: https://genius.com/Original-broadway-cast-of-rent-seasons-of-love-lyrics

The crisis of living2023-12-07T15:34:02+00:00

The horrors of Black Friday

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2023  •  2 min read

The horrors of Black Friday

I wonder if your email, social media and text messages have been filled with offers about Black Friday and Cyber Monday? The palpable sense of missing out on a deal that will save you 10%, 20%, 30% or even 80% over a 24-hour period that sometimes extends to several days or even weeks in the run up to Commercialistmas.

This is the type of capitalism that we can all relate to, a discount on something… and gosh can’t that discount be rather large. Black Friday is brilliant for those that are focused and have planned purchases, perhaps even waiting the better part of 12 months for the announced day of the deal.

WEDNESDAY

In truth Black Friday is the envy of financial advisers, many of them may not even realise why. We have our Black Wednesday, or more accurately, had it on 6th September 1992… which you may remember a certain Mr Soros managed to collapse the ailing pound resulting in a swift departure from the ERM – Exchange Rate Mechanism.

MONDAY… AND TUESDAY

Before that we had Black Monday 19th October 1987, which overran into Black Tuesday. No sooner had we all collectively popped our heads above ground following that ‘great’ storm (the one Michael Fish is forever linked with) than the stock exchange had to be closed as commuters could not get to work.  When they got to their desks, they soon wished they hadn’t bothered, as markets nosedived around the world. The Dow Jones fell 22.6%, double the FTSE100 fall. This was the largest fall on a single day since 1929 (the Great stock market crash).

Falling prices on the stock market or in the value of the pound invariably send investors into a state of frenzied panic selling. The same discount sends shoppers into a state of frenzied buying. I’m going to push the analogy a bit… I suspect that most of what has been bought on Black Friday or Cyber Monday will not last more than 10 years, probably a lot less than that. Yet investing into global companies of the world will last a lifetime. Sure – some companies will go bust, but invariably merged or acquired by larger rivals; there will be replacements, new entrants and new solutions. The path of progress is relentless, whatever you hear on social media.

I can promise you that there will be a significant market fall at some point, you won’t like it, neither will I. You can attempt to guess when it will be, but your chances of correctly timing it are really alarmingly small. You can choose to weather the storm by ensuring that your planned income and requirements for capital are already in place by having a proper plan. The markets will recover, often very quickly, and at some point you will wonder what the fuss was about and have to google Black Monday to remember the scale.

THURSDAY

The night of the Great Storm – a very youthful Dominic Thomas went to bed in his rented room and didn’t stir all night.  He woke to see the garden sculpted by a tree that had been snapped in two; his landlord flabbergasted that he hadn’t stirred all night as the shaking chimney stack threatened to topple into his room.

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Perhaps you will spend the weekend pondering your Christmas list and plans, remembering all those purchases last year… but can you? I suspect you can remember “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas”… much like your investments, they are here to serve you for your lifetime and frankly, we prefer to think of them as eternal as they are passed to your future generations. So when the big crash comes, I’m going to remind you to hold your nerve; prices are discounted temporarily; and ask you to consider buying at a massive discount. The next crash is a discount.

The horrors of Black Friday2023-12-01T19:31:07+00:00

The integrity of a sandwich

Dominic Thomas
Nov 2023  •  3 min read

The integrity of a sandwich

We all remember the credit crunch and the general ill-feeling towards bankers, perhaps you missed the story of the credit munch? Whilst the Credit Crunch lasted, well…truthfully the long term ramifications are still with us, but it really ‘started’ (became apparent) in 2007. The credit munch took place in July 2022 and lasted about a year.

A financial crime analyst with Citibank was on a business trip to Amsterdam. It appears that Mr Fekete forgot (see what I did there?) to declare that his partner joined him on the trip. They put a very modest sandwich lunch on business expenses, claiming £86.70 of the £100 daily allowance.

Mr Fekete’s managing supervisor queried his submission and wondered whether Mr Fekete had indeed really consumed two sandwiches and coffees. Here I must claim that my own personal battle with a good sandwich does not immediately conclude that such an appetite is implausible; but merely a little excessive… mea culpa! Anyhow, Mr Fekete didn’t confess that it wasn’t simply him and that he had in fact shared lunch with his partner. He was dismissed for breaking company policy of claiming expenses for his partner as though his own. In essence, Citibank concluded that he was dishonest.

A series of emails providing some “optimistic circumstantial rationale” for his forgetfulness was not accepted by a judge, as Mr Fekete took his employer to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal. It seems that the judge agreed with Citibank that the employee should have owned up when challenged and then been given the opportunity to correct his error of judgement.

The judge said “I am satisfied that even if the expense claim had been filed under a misunderstanding, there was an obligation upon the claimant to own up and rectify the position at the first opportunity. I accept that the respondent requires a commitment to honesty from its employees.”

So, it seems that Citibank are holding their employees accountable and expect honesty from them. Perhaps this is a sea-change at the Bank and within the sector. After all, it was only last year that Citigroup were fined £12.5m for failing to properly implement market abuse regulation (which was a discount of 30% for admitting failure). In the context of all the ills of Banking, I  suspect you will agree that this all seems rather trivial in comparison to a Credit Crunch, LIBOR fixing and so on. However it does speak to a culture of integrity and when your employed job is upholding it, it is hard to fathom why on earth Fekete didn’t simply own up.

I’m reminded of Richard III shouting “A horse, a horse! my kingdom for a horse!”. How little it takes to lose everything. That was some meal deal.

The integrity of a sandwich2023-12-04T12:15:11+00:00

Productivity tools

Debbie Harris
Nov 2023  •  2 min read

Psychological Tools

I signed up to Oliver Burkeman’s newsletter recently and it is proving to be a really wise choice.

He does not spam me or fill my inbox, he writes thoughtfully and in depth and I receive one email every few weeks.  He writes really fluidly about a lot of the things that I tend to worry about – and so his emails have become like an old friend you don’t see very often but who knows you really well; and with whom you enjoy spending time!

Recently he wrote about ‘productivity techniques’ and once again, his words and style resonated with me.  It was very reassuring to hear that I am not the only person who struggles with finding the best psychological tool for any given job – and he assured me (obviously not ‘just’ me!) that different techniques work for different tasks, for different people, at different times.  A carpenter would not ever say “from now on – it’s only the chisel for me!”  With physical objects, it’s easy to tell that they are obviously and only tools … the psychological tools are not so easily discernible and we often make the mistake that any given tool might be the silver bullet of productivity … when in truth, there is no such thing.

Any of our clients who have ever had a conversation with me will probably know that I like ‘order and simplicity’ (a lofty aspiration indeed – especially in my particular role!)  Order and simplicity of course are ‘in the eye of the beholder’ (think swan above and below water – serenity right there above effort and endeavour!)

So it was quite liberating to hear Oliver tell me (again – obviously not ‘just’ me!) that I can stop looking for that one technique (that silver bullet does not exist).

Anyway – one of the things he suggested (as a tool only) was to set a timer and work in six minute ‘bursts’ – as soon as the timer goes off; move on to a different task (no matter how engrossed you were) and set the six minute timer again.  I baulked at the idea – so few of my tasks are that ‘quick ‘n’ easy … but I was determined to give it a try (always being willing to add to my ‘toolbox’).

I tried it for one hour and true enough – it was really effective – of the ten tasks I attempted, I was able to complete seven of them within the six minute window … and then having crossed so many things off my list, was able to proceed with the rest of my day feeling very self-righteous about how productive I had been!  Obviously – I had to select quite specific tasks for this trial – but another day, I am tempted to try again without careful pre-selection.  Interestingly – of the three tasks I had to go back to – I actually felt ‘motivated’ to crack on with them because I had already ‘made a start’.

I reflected on the productivity techniques I had applied during the remainder of my day and was interested to note that I used another three or four styles (that I could readily identify).

But the most important thing that Oliver wanted me (!) to take away from his email was that …

“You need no longer feel overwhelmed by the vast array of techniques, systems and philosophies that crowd the internet and the shelves of bookshops, promising ways to improve your life, because you’re not trying to discover the “right” one. Instead, you get to pick from them all, as you see fit, for whatever purposes you deem them useful – and only for as long as they actually serve to improve your experience of being alive.”

And I got the feeling that he wasn’t just talking about productivity techniques …

Productivity tools2023-12-04T12:16:29+00:00

The Dial of Destiny

Dominic Thomas
Nov 2023  •  2 min read

The dial of destiny

If you haven’t seen already, Indiana Jones is back for a last crusade. The fifth and final chapter in the Professor Jones diary brings us up to date in 1969. I won’t spoil the story for you, (I quite enjoyed it) but it serves as a prompt for our desire to alter history and explore the “what if?”…

The ‘mystical tool’ that we use here isn’t that mystical at all. It’s software, in fact it’s various pieces of software which allow us to plan forwards and make adjustments, whilst learning from history, through the rather more mundane elements of historic rates of returns, inflation, economics and investor behaviour.

The new film uses some amazing software too, making Mr Ford look rather like he did way back in 1981 when Raiders of the Lost Ark was made. Sadly, our software doesn’t make us look younger!  I’ve come across some tools which make someone look older and one pension company thought that this would be a good tool to use to help young people think about their retirement, I struggle to believe it would.

As with most stories of this theme or perhaps genre, the ability to change the past is very enticing, particularly if the present is not as you had hoped and you lack optimism about the future. The climate and global leadership crisis may well prompt these types of feelings. How wonderful it would be to go back in time and adjust some things. It’s a very tempting offer, but of course one that is nothing more than wishful thinking. We all live with the consequences of combined actions, our own and those of others. Perhaps this is more about accountability (or the lack of it) than any real notion of changing the past.

Anyway, back to your planning.  Together, we can imagine different futures; consider different scenarios for you. That might be retiring earlier than planned, moving home, gifting money, starting a business or selling one – frankly the list is lengthy and limited only by your own expectations and hopes for the future.

However all our planning, irrespective of the state of the world today, hangs on the premise of optimism. The belief that investments will, over time, gain in value, because you are investing in companies that provide goods and services that society, whatever it looks like, wants, needs and requires. Investing is for the optimists, not the pessimists. If you sincerely believe that tomorrow will be worse than today, then investing simply isn’t for you. In that sense investing is like gardening … planting in the hope of tomorrow. We may be mindful of a changing climate and plant differently, but we do so in the hope of tomorrow.

The Dial of Destiny2023-12-01T12:12:26+00:00
Go to Top