THE WRONG KIND OF GREEN

TODAY’S BLOG

THE WRONG KIND OF GREEN

I appreciate that we are now in the throes of an election campaign, I am not referring to the Green Party. You may think that I’m also about to embark on another piece about the green stuff we all know as money and how quantitative easing (QE) hasn’t worked for the right people, merely inflated markets and the balance sheets of the richest. Frances Coppola has a very good book on this topic (“The People’s Case for Quantitative Easing”).

Today is Halloween 2019. It was only a few days ago that Good Money Week concluded. This is a noble attempt to broaden the knowledge of investors about sustainable and ethical investments, these days called ESG investing.

Failing to understand the investment world whilst holding cash in a miserly deposit accounts and having a heart to do good makes for a dangerous mix. Green or ethical investment is mainstream these days. We have always offered ethical investment screening and I have recently reviewed selections within our portfolios, making some changes. As mentioned, I was also challenged to have ESG as the default portfolio for clients, having an opt out rather than an opt in approach.

WOOD FOR THE TREES

Life savings gone

About a year ago a friend of a friend got in touch about an investment that she had made. She had invested all her life savings into what she thought was a fund that invested in renewable energy. Sadly, it was a scam and scams require the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to get involved.

Seeing the wood for the trees

Today a similar story reached my desk. Yesterday the SFO made an arrest at Gatwick airport of one Omari Bowers who together with Andrew Skeene was a Director of Global Forestry Investments (GFI). The SFO have been investigating them and their company for alleged frauds between August 2010 and December 2015. According to the report Bowers has failed to attend two Court appearances over the summer. On Monday Mr Skeene appeared at Southwark Crown Court where he has been charged with three offences of conspiracy to defraud, four counts of forgery and one of misconduct in the course of winding up.

GFI had been promoted as a safe, ethical investment in Brazilian teak plantations, with investors offered to buy land and harvest steady profits. Now pause. Read that again. Think of what we “know” about the trees in Brazil.

Cutting it down to size…

Maria Thedoulou of law firm Stokoe writes “GFI was one of two schemes run by the former directors promoting two teak investment schemes in Brazil. The Insolvency Service found GFI received £20,146,631 from the sale of plots in the Belem Sky Project and £3,863,185 from plots sold in the Para Sky Project. In respect of Belem Sky, investors were offered the chance to invest a minimum of £5,000 in the teak plantation for promised returns of “10-20%” per annum. While investors who contributed to the £24 million plus pot in fact saw little or no returns, over £13 million arising from the sale of the plots went into the bank accounts of Bowers and Skeene.”

How can rogues access your funds?

I’m sure that you will appreciate that there are rogues “out there” attempting to part you from your money. In practice the UK is tightly regulated, so by and large it isn’t easy to buy a scam investment, though adverts of Facebook and the internet generally make this possible. Most scams of this nature are done through your pension – a SIPP. Eh? Don’t I have one of those? Well probably if you are a client of ours. In the same way that you probably own a car. There is nothing wrong with a SIPP, its simply a self-invested personal pension. When used properly it is a brilliant pension. If you fill it with dross (because you can) then it will turn toxic on you very quickly. The same being true of attempting to fill your car up with chocolate. It won’t work. Yet there are “advisers” (for which I mean liars and con men) that will not only assist but promote such ludicrous schemes. One such advisory firm being “Emerald Knight” – do google them. This stuff is awful. People like Angela Brooks will be a source of some comfort as she continues to fight the good fight against these sorts of scams, which happen all the time (Angela appears in our magazine Spotlight- October 2019).

Hard wood, soft wood – would that it were so simple

I understand that the stock market may be confusing and perhaps scary. Companies go bust, we regularly hear about billions being wiped off the markets. Yet the truth is rather different. You never, ever hear “billions were wiped onto the markets today”. You rarely hear that these are actual businesses, employing people and solving problems. You simply hear about those that dodge tax. If you buy a market tracking type of fund, you own all of the companies, “good” and “bad”. These are traded in highly regulated markets every second of the day. Market fraud leads to prison. Certainly investing is not for everyone. If you have enough money in the bank to provide you with all your needs, allowing for inflation until your death, you probably do not need to invest. The rest of us do. Get proper advice about how to do this. You can apply ethical / SRI or ESG criteria to your investments, but above all use an adviser that is not promoting dross and saying things you want to hear, but deep down there are alarm bells ringing that something is desperately wrong.

If you know someone that is comtemplating investing in this sort of stuff or has mentioned “a great investment opportunity” to you please tread carefully, give them my details and tell them to get in touch before their investments go up in a cloud of smoke.

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 info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk 
Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

GET IN TOUCH

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

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk    Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

THE WRONG KIND OF GREEN2023-12-01T12:17:08+00:00

Commission – I Don’t Understand it either!

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Commission – I don’t understand it either!

If you know anything about me and the firm, you will know that from inception (1999) we removed commission from all financial products that we arranged. This was due to wanting to remove bias between financial products and provide better arrangements for our clients. Admittedly ahead of our time and it wasn’t until January 2013 that commission had to be removed from investments as a result of the regulator’s review of the market.Jurassicpark

Yet only this month (January 2015) I am wrestling to understand commission on a tiny life assurance policy that I have arranged for a client. Long story short we asked to remove the commission as usual (reducing the monthly premiums by about 30%). However it appears that in this instance, the insurer only removed “initial commission” and when the terms came through, the renewal commission of £1.06 per month would be paid to us from month 49… until the policy matures in 10 years time. In short we would potentially receive commission of £1.06 a month for 95 months…. not exactly a lot of money, but not what we promised! So I request that this commission be removed, only to find that the monthly premium is reduced by just one pennny a month… rather than passed directly onto the client as I had assumed. In this scenario, the insurer merely keeps £1.05 a month extra as pure profit. Bonkers! OK I know its not a massive sum, but then that’s just because this was a small policy, the cheapest from the market, but multiply it by millions of customers…

So, it would seem to me that I should take this extra commission (not payable for 4 years) and either pass it all to the client or offset it against his fees, but to my mind this merely demonstrates how behind the times some product providers are and why I believe that so few of them have the remotest chance of surviving another thirty years. As for the regulator, in their infinite wisdom, the commission ban only applies to retail investment products… not insurance… no, I dont understand it either!

Dominic Thomas

Commission – I Don’t Understand it either!2023-12-01T12:39:53+00:00

Money and Power

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Money and Power

Perhaps my age is showing, but it is only day 6 of the new year and I am already fed up with the election campaign. I ought to be celebrating our democracy and the opportunity to hear reasoned arguments, however inevitably we seem stuck in a cycle of who will tax or cut most, the prospect of genuine change and improvement for all seems rather unlikely with the inevitable tension around money and power. Here Lies Love NT

In a more reflective moment, I remind myself that this is not a dictatorship and we at least get to vote and I don’t really think we are at the mercy of a despot who has anger issues and a twitching finger poised over an end-all button. This isn’t the case for millions of “voters” around the world who are marched off to vote for egomaniacs. This in mind, a relatively new musical to arrive via New York at the National Theatre “Here Lies Love” is based on a 2010 concept album of the same name, which gives musicals a nightclub injection. If you think that a nightclub is exclusively for the “young” perhaps think agains as, the creators Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) is 51 and David Byrne is 62. The production has the flavour of community theatre, with the execution of high-end night club. A moving stage and audience, all combine to great effect and an entertaining, immersive experience.

Imelda Marcos

This is the story of Imelda Marcos, her rise and fall from power. Byrne and Cook wanted to explore what makes powerful people behave the way they do. I’m not so sure that this was explored terribly well, whilst displaying a delusional, drugged up Imelda, she isn’t portrayed that badly – a little bit too vanilla in Manilla – little about her excessive flamboyancy and penchant for hundreds of shoes. The story is chronological, revealing the fragility of her marriage, her inability to cope with her rags to riches story and a familar narcissism of Heads of State that seem to believe that they “give their all to their people”.

The Price of Democracy

There was little in the musical that gave me reason to believe such behaviour was understood or how to spot it in others and take precautionary action…so no tips for our elections. The world seems to have done little during the period of martial law and  assassination of the opposition including the shooting of Benigno Aquino on the steps of his ill-advised return flight to Manilla on 21 August 1983 (age 50) which you may remember. In the Philippines, the Marcos regime was eventually cast out by a peaceful protest, following a corrupt election (February 1986) against Aquino’s widow following which the public simply decided enough was enough. Marcos and his family took US advice and support then fled to Hawaii along with 24 suitcases of gold bullion and jewellery. Sadly for Imelda this took precedent over her 2,700 pairs of shoes. It is estimated that Marcos stole over $10billion from the country, much was invested into various family related businesses and Swiss accounts. The Swiss have so far returned about $684 million. So for me, this musical, whilst being entertaining does little to understand how and why power corrupts so absolutely. Indeed one might argue that the catchy tunes, flashing lights distract from the real story… but then, perhaps that’s the point.

Dominic Thomas

Money and Power2023-12-01T12:39:50+00:00

Co-Op has lost the plot and now follows Animal Farm

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Co-Op has lost the plot and now follows the one for Animal Farm?

animal_farm

A considerable proportion of investors do not want returns at any cost. This has resulted in a considerable growth in the number and range of ethical investment funds since the first (Stewardship) was offered in 1984 by Friends Provident.  The year has today provided an unhelpful Orwellian twist in the tale as I read with jaw-dropping bewilderment at the poor judgement that has been on public display in the once warm and cuddly “Co-Operative”. The news re-reported within my own trade press (FT Money Marketing) cites the story broken by the Observer which makes Animal Farm an even more vibrant metaphor for the suggestion that some are more equal than others.

The report that Euan Sutherland is set to pick up a financial package of £3.66m this year with a basic salary of £1.5m will surely make blood boil as savers and investors are left wondering how on earth a co-operative could possibly end up with such a disparate share of risk and reward. Nothing good can come from the report that suggests that more than £24million will be paid to 8 (eight) Co-Op executives over the next 2 years, despite the Bank almost collapsing  in spectacular style (with a £1.5bn black hole) and making thousands of redundancies.

The Co-operative online bank customers at Smile will presumably provide a quick migration to any other bank that at least isn’t attempting to claim being anything other than a Bank. Any informed customer will be rather outraged by what has been going on at the helm of what used to be an “ethical Bank”. It has been saved by private equity and the cultural shift or rather “modus operandi” has surely begun to reveal itself. To even have the nerve to have something called the “Ethical Plan” with the strap line “good things happen when we work together” one can only assume that they mean colluding with each other in the Board room rather than being “the most socially responsible business in the UK” you must be joking right?..

I found reading the Observer’s report “hugely disappointing” that yet again managers, not the owners are taking the lion share of the rewards, and so far being rewarded for failure with severance packages that could have only been dreamed up in the disconnected clubroom of arrogance and remuneration packages drawn up by “you scratch mine & I’ll scratch yours Ltd”. Yes I’m angry. Angry because Banking in Britain could be a lot better than this. Business is tarnished with understandable claims of greed and corruption. It doesn’t have to be this way, business should be leading not scoffing at the trough of self-interest.

If you are fed up with the Co-Operative, have a look at Triodos Bank, based in Bristol. This isn’t advice, merely a suggestion to have look and make up your own mind. To my mind, the grass is certainly greener… (the glass is anyhow).

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

Co-Op has lost the plot and now follows Animal Farm2023-12-01T12:39:01+00:00

F&C bought by Bank of Montreal

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F&C bought by Bank of MontrealF&C logo 

Foreign & Colonial have announced that they have agreed a deal to be acquired by the Bank of Montreal. Clients that have ethical investment requirements may have holdings in F&C funds who have a history of providing ethically screened investment funds. As with many investment companies, the printers are probably the ones most delighted by the news, having to reprint all branded stationery.

F&C Management was established in 1972. In 2001 F&C Management was acquired by financial services group Eureko, and the European presence of F&C was expanded through the in integration of fund management businesses in the Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland. In 2004 F&C Management merged with ISIS Asset Management and obtained its stock market listing as F&C Asset Management PLC. In 2009 F&C was de-merged from Friends Provident, achieving full independence for the first time. In 2010 F&C acquired the boutique asset manager Thames River Capital, bringing additional Investment and distribution capability to the group.

Oh Canada

As you may gather, the current Governor of the Bank of England is Canadian, whilst here in the UK the Canadian economy and stock market may not get that much coverage, the value of its stock market at the end of 2012 was 4% of the world stock market. Germany makes up 3% and France 3%. The UK 7%, Japan 7% and USA 46%…. and if you are interested China 2%. I shall be monitoring progress of the takeover and how this may impact investors. However the Canadians do seem rather more sensible than most when it comes to Banking and are of course one of our greatest allies.bank-of-montreal-logo

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

F&C bought by Bank of Montreal2023-12-01T12:38:51+00:00

Moneybox and the Diamond Scam

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Moneybox and the Diamond Scam

blooddiamondThis week BBC Radio 4 Moneybox featured a story about a diamond scam. This is sadly a rather familiar tale and one that prays on financial naivety. It’s the classic boiler room scam, a cold call from what sounds like a busy dealing floor (though why the sound of lots of people on the phone should suggest something good is rather beyond me). Anyway, the latest revision of this scam is in the form of diamonds… which of course is nothing to do with the stoc kmarket, which to some “investors” has appeal as a possible form of “alternative investment”.

Don’t miss out before its too late! (er… no)

The promise is… yes you had better sit down for the obvious statement “this will provide a guaranteed return of XX%”… which is never true for the investor, no matter who says it. The only guarantee is that there is no such thing as a guarantee. Everything carries risk. However it’s back to that same old phrase – if it’s too good to be true, then it isn’t true. Yet so many people forget this, when placed under pressure… pressure from another person at the end of the phone…which you can hang up… yet our nature is to be nice, friendly, amenable and rarely do people like to say “no”…. well a lot of people (it is alleged).

The carat carrot… what’s up doc?

Back to the scam – the diamonds may not even exist, you haven’t seen them, and so there is only a verbal suggestion of their value (even if this were a written valuation, it should be treated with caution). The price of the diamonds is naturally inflated, by an estimated 1500% and the broker/trader… oh lets call a spade a spade… criminal, takes a 25% commission cut… which is the only guarantee. Now of course, it’s wrong that anyone gets taken in by these criminals, but it is particularly concerning that they target the elderly, who are more vulnerable.

New tales, old tricks

How is this different from the penny shares sold by the Wolf of Wall Street? Well, it’s not much different, the process and tactics are very similar – selling much overpriced things to over optimistic “investors” who will never recoup their investment. This isn’t investment, its basically stealing… not to mention that there are serious issues about conflict diamonds, as highlighted in the 2006 movie “Blood Diamond”.

The question behind the action

Of course building a diversified portfolio is sensible, so that your wealth is not exposed entirely to the stock market. Hence why when we create a portfolio it has a variety of different “asset classes” within it, including cash, alternatives and potentially a wide range of different sorts of investments. So I have every sympathy with someone trying to diversify their portfolio – a good adviser will do this. Oh and by the way, it was a financial adviser that raised the alarm about the scam to the victim (not the media, not “the internet” , not the bank, not the best friend and not the regulator)… I’m feeling a little sanguine as the obligatory levies that advisers pay to regulators in their various forms (FCA, FOS, FSCS) have increased a staggering 300%… and frankly that feels like a very big scam.

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

Moneybox and the Diamond Scam2023-12-01T12:38:49+00:00

Financial Fraud in Britain

Financial Fraud in Britain

Financial fraud in Britain is a serious problem. The sort of frauds that I hear about are very depressing… in the sense that it’s really quite difficult to imagine someone who would do such a crime, at least based upon the people in my life, I find it hard to imagine anyone being so cold. Anyway, I was on the way home yesterday and listening to a radio show on BBC5Live…as if the cricket score was not bad enough… anyway It was the Adrian Goldberg show, which yesterday covered assaults on taxi drivers and subject of “Vishing”. Vishing is a telephone scam.

Hello… its  (A big retailer) and we think you’ve been subject to fraud..

In a nutshell, the crook tricks people into giving over their bank card details. Now on the one hand you would think this is fairly obvious and easy to avoid, but the scam basically goes along the following course. You get a call from someone claiming to work for a major retailer – say Tesco, chances are you have been there. The criminal says that the company have identified a suspected fraud on your card. S/he then suggests that you get your card… which one is it? And you have a look at the number on the back to report the fraud… you politely say thank you and hang up…. but you haven’t hung up, you still have an open line (if it’s a land line), the fraudster might even play the sound of a dial tone to make you think you’ve hung up. So you pick up the phone and dial your bank, but actually you are still speaking to the original fraudster (or his/her accomplice)… and so the fraud really begins.

Distraction & Misdirection

The main way that fraudsters operate is to distract. In this instance, to distract you with help. You are thrown off guard by being told you may have had fraud on your account. Do not give your bank details over the phone (or internet) to anyone that YOU have not properly identified and be careful when you are being asked for details.

Open Lines

This fraud works due to an issue with open phone lines. At the moment 40% of the land line network closes lines within 2 seconds of you hanging up, but this scam relies on the line being kept open for longer. BT and Virgin currently keep a line open for 2 minutes (according the BBC radio show). The Police advise using a different phone or waiting at least 5 minutes before calling your Bank on their proper number.

Before you next go shopping…check out FFA UK

This sort of stuff is miserable, but it happens all the time. Anyone can fall for it. You are generally not protected against fraud if you give your details out. In Surrey 81 cases have been reported, worth £900,000 since July. The Met report over 2,200 cases in London worth over £3.5m. You have been warned. Please have a look at the Financial Fraud Action UK website for further tips and advice.

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 info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Financial Fraud in Britain2023-12-01T12:38:44+00:00

So what’s the fuss about annuities?

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So what’s the fuss about annuities?

You may have come across yet more media coverage in relation to rip-off financial services. The story, like most has some truth to it, but some… well let’s just call a spade a spade…inflammatory errors. Here I shall attempt to briefly convey what the fuss is about in relation to annuities.

What is an annuity?

First off, what is an annuity? In short, its an income paid for life, most of the time paid like income (and taxable) every month. You can choose for it to stay the same (level) or rise each year (to keep pace with inflation). You effectively buy an annuity with your pension fund.

Are you getting a bad annuity deal?

Easy enough so far… so what’s the fuss about? In short, most people don’t shop around for the best deal in the belief that they wouldn’t get much more, or simply didn’t know they could. As a result many or most buy their annuity from the company their pension is with. In most instances they aren’t getting the best deal or anything like it.

A bit like Russian Roulette…You Only Live Once

The main problem with buying an annuity is that you make your decision and have to stick with it for the rest of your life. It’s a one time deal. So any decent adviser will help you to think about the income you want well in advance of the day you decide. A financial planner will do this from the start (not just before you retire). So good planning is planning ahead and figuring out how best to tale your income and when, pensions and annuities are simply part of the picture, not the entire story.

There’s not much between them right?… wrong!

Is there really much difference? Yes. There is a massive difference. This will depend on how old you are, where you live, your life expectancy and your state of health. Bizarrely, the worse your health the better the annuity (as the annuity company won’t expect to pay it out for as long as someone with good health). Getting this part right alone could increase the income by 20%-50%. The message here is to shop around… however the reality is that this isn’t the whole truth, you really ought to use an IFA to do the shopping and set something up having discussed all of the options properly… in-line with your requirements and expectations about the future.

Planning ahead, understanding the bells and whistles

The bells and whistles… when you die the annuity stops. However you can have it pay in full or part to your spouse or your estate, you can put in guarantees. You can mix and match. You can delay. There are lots of things to think about and an IFA will do this, for a fee. This is money well spent and ultimately, if things go wrong the IFA is responsible for the advice (unlike a journalist or doing it yourself). The really important thing is to be engaged in the process and thinking about what you want your lifestyle to be in the future, when you do eventually get to the point when you can decide if you want to work or not.

One trick pony?

Annuities have their problems for sure and there are other options, but I wont drone on any longer. You give yourself more options by seeking independent advice from a financial planner, who will work to keep as many options open for you as possible (and sensible).

Please send me your questions!

That wasn’t so bad was it… any questions?

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

So what’s the fuss about annuities?2023-12-01T12:38:42+00:00

“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”

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“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”MandelaWembley

 It was the tail end of the 1980’s, I was a student and still dating a young woman that had begun to challenge many of my assumptions and attitudes, I was still struggling to figure out who I was (and in truth, I’m still working on this). I was into the music of bands like U2 and Simple Minds, who seemed to be rather more than entertainers, writing about injustice and political geo-hot spots. U2 in particular had  introduced me to Martin Luther King in a way that I cannot put into words – but captured by the song “Pride in the name of love”. We had already had Live Aid and made aware of the problems of famine. I was a young man with dreams of changing the world and fighting injustice. I was familiar with the work of groups like Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Christian Aid and racism was very much something that I opposed. We had a cause. So the opportunity to attend my first Wembley gig to remind the world that Nelson Mandela was still in prison and now 70 years old seemed like an opportunity not to miss. So on a summer’s day in June 1988 my girlfriend, her brother and I queued early to get a good spot towards the front of the Wembley stage. The crowd was enormous. Everyone seemed to want the world to change for the better.

 “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Within 2 years, Mandela was free. Still at University this gave hope to a generation (perhaps several) that change was possible and perhaps, things could change more quickly with the right pressure and frankly justice as the guide. There was a sense that South Africa was changing and if a country could change, surely anything could change. I was young and naïve of course. In reality the hardest part was the process of change. Whilst we all may have hoped for a peaceful transition, it was Mandela and De Klerk that enabled this to happen, but the grace and wisdom that Mandela displayed with the truth and reconciliation commission was probably the biggest miracle.

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

The media is and will be full of tributes to Nelson Mandela who, as you know, died yesterday. There will be lots of jumping on the band-wagon I’m sure and of course Mandela was an ordinary man in many ways with his faults. However it is certainly the case that he has served his country and indeed all of us, by showing that change is possible, without war, but with passion and reason. That justice can prevail and forgiveness is possible. I very much doubt that I would have been as gracious and forgiving to my persecutors, heck, I struggle to keep my cool watching the news or driving in slow traffic… which reminds me of a U2 song God Part 2 about … well, I’ll leave that for you to decide..“I don’t believe in death row, skid row or the gangs, don’t believe in the Uzi, it just went off in my hand, I… I believe in love”.

 “I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope”U2_OrdinaryLove_Vinyl

I know that Mandela was also extra-ordinary and someone to hold in very high esteem indeed. He was an inspirational figure and the world needs more like him. However, acknowledging our faults does not prevent us from being extra-ordinary. Indeed it is conquering our failings and facing our fears that provide the opportunity for us to be truly extra-ordinary.

 “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

I hope that its ok with U2, who I have supported for many years to put a You-Tube video here. U2 have written a new song “Ordinary Love” for the new Mandela film – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

 Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”2023-12-01T12:38:40+00:00

Short-listed as “Firm of the Year” for London

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Short-listed as “Firm of the Year” for London

I have to admit to being somewhat chuffed and a bit taken aback. I learned this morning that the firm made it to the last 8 short-list for the Professional Adviser awards 2014 for “Firm of the Year” for London. These were actually announced yesterday. I doubt I will make it to top of the list – the competition is rather good, with firms that are frequent award winners and quite a lot bigger. I do not even know how many firms entered –but as they say, “you’ve got to be in it to win it”.  I had to submit a case study and then information about the firm and how we do what we do. It really is a long-shot and minnow versus the rest. Whatever the outcome, I’m really chuffed for me and the team here. We don’t find out who wins until a glitzy event in February.  Whatever the result, it’s nice recognition… as a first-time entrant, perhaps I should enter a few more.

Building Reputation PA Awards 2014

Anyway, I hope that for our clients it’s a bit of good news (that they are being served by a decent firm). Of course you can also add your own testimonials to a system firms cannot control (Vouched For). This is a completely impartial way for clients to put a few comments down about us. The blue icon is in a couple of places on this page if you wish to do so. Obviously if you aren’t a client… well do these things make any difference to you when considering who to meet? As a small business clearly I want to attract the right clients, most are recommended by existing clients, but some manage to find us on the web, so if you have any bright ideas of how we can make our difference clearer and why our clients give us good feedback, do let me know.

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

Short-listed as “Firm of the Year” for London2023-12-01T12:38:40+00:00
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