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 9^th 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 11^th 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 7^th 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.

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One life at a timeJemima Thomas2024-02-08T15:49:41+00:00

Investing: Greece is the word

Solomons-financial-advisor-guest-blogger-Jim-Parker

Greece is the Word

The world’s markets and media financial pages have been consumed by a single issue in recent weeks—the stand-off between debt-laden Greece and its international lenders over the conditions of any further bailout. For investors everywhere, both of the large institutional kind and individual participants, the story has been fast-paced and difficult to keep up with. More importantly, the speculation about possible outcomes has been intense.

Of course, no-one knows the eventual outcome or whether there will even be a definitive conclusion. After all, this is a story that has been percolating now for six years, since Greece’s credit rating was downgraded by three leading agencies amid fears the government would default on its debt.

Since then, the Greek situation has faded in and out of public attention as rescue packages came and went and as widespread social and political unrest gripped a nation known as the birthplace of democracy.

But there are a few points to keep in mind. Despite the blanket media coverage of Greece, this is a tiny economy, ranking 51st in the world by GDP in purchasing power parity terms (which takes into account the relative cost of local goods).

On this measure, Greece is a smaller economy than Qatar, Peru or Kazakhstan, none of which currently feature prominently in world news pages. Its economy is about half the size of Ohio in the USA or New South Wales in Australia and about a tenth of the size of the UK. Even within Europe, it is tiny, representing only about 2% of the GDP of the 19-nation Euro Zone.

Size is everything

As a proportion of global share markets, Greece is also a minnow. As of early July 2015, it represented about 0.32% of the MSCI Emerging Markets index and just 0.03% of the MSCI All Country World Index.

And while its total debt is large in nominal terms and relative to its GDP at about 180%, this still represents only about a quarter of 1% of world debt markets.

Of course, what worries investors is not so much Greece itself but the wider ramifications of the debt crisis for its European bank lenders, for the future of the single European currency and for the global financial system.

Yet, many of these concerns are already reflected in market prices, such as in Greek government bonds, the spreads of peripheral Euro Zone bonds, regional equity markets and the single European currency itself.

While no-one knows what will happen next, we can look at measures of market volatility as a rough guide to collective expectations. A commonly cited measure is the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s volatility index, sometimes known as the ‘fear’ index. This has recently spiked to around 18 from 12 in mid-June. But keep in mind the index was up around 80 during the peak of the financial crisis in 2008.

Of course, the human misery and dislocation suffered by the Greek people through this crisis should not be downplayed, neither should the financial risks. But from an investment perspective, there is still little individual investors can do beyond the usual prescription.

Perpective

That prescription is to remain disciplined and broadly diversified across countries and asset classes and to be mindful that markets accommodate new information instantaneously. So the risk in changing one’s portfolio in response to fast-breaking news is that you end up acting on events that are already built into security prices.

In summary, the events in Greece are clearly worrisome, but Greece is a very small economy and a tiny proportion of the global markets. Events are moving quickly and prices are adjusting as news breaks and investor expectations adjust.

For the individual investor, the best approach remains diversifying across many countries and asset classes, remaining focused on your own goals and, most of all, listening to your chosen advisor, who understands your situation best.

Jim Parker

Vice President, Dimensional

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

Investing: Greece is the wordDominic2023-12-01T12:20:12+00:00

Financial Scams – Be Warned

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

Financial Scams – Be Warned

Believe it or not July 2015 is financial scam month…. given all that is going on in relation to Greece, the ECB, IMF and European Union….not to mention FIFA, perhaps the timing is perfect. Anyway, there is a whole month being dedicated to warning you about financial scams. Sadly there are a lot.

Let me be very plain. A scam works because you are caught off-guard. It is not only the “foolish” that get scammed. Anyone is a potential target. As with most deceptive crime, emphasis is placed on appearing to help you, to warn you of impending problems and to then offer what seems like a logical or sensible solution – such as withdrawing all your money from your “compromised account”. One of the most despicable crimes is to then involve you in the entrapment of the fraudster…. when actually you are simply at a deeper level of the scam.

Your telephone number is a bit like a front door key. You answer the phone, the line is open. Invariably the fraudster passes themselves off as a Bank representative or a large well-known shop and they report that your card appears to have been compromised. If they are pretending to be your Bank, it is unlikely that they reveal which “Bank” they are calling from, simply allowing your mind to fill in the gaps. If they pretend to call from a shop, well frankly you aren’t likely to be that suspicious as you are being helped and advised that fraud was committed on your card in their shop.

Open Line

Your guard is down, because you think you are being helped, it doesn’t occur to you to ask the caller to confirm YOUR name or your bank account number. The caller with mind distracted asks you to check your card… the details, is there a number on the back to call the bank? yes… ok, call them. Goodbye. But actually the fraudster is still on the open line – even if you have hung up, the line is open (a problem that telecom companies have failed to address properly). You call back, but are essentially on the same call… answered by a colleague of the fraudster or even the same one, who then simply harvests your personal information to use… name, address, account information etc.

Another scam involves a fraudster posing a police officer, who suggests that they want to entrap the criminal. S/he suggests you withdraw as much as you can from your account and send it to them for assessment or tagging, perhaps sending a “secure” delivery car to your home to collect it from you. This is a scam, you won’t see the money ever again.

I know that these things seem “obvious” but in the heat of the moment, being caught off-guard and thinking you are being helped and could also help catch the fraudster, you are simply the next victim. Here is a link to a video from the BBC about this.

What you can do

Firstly if someone calls you offering to solve a problem with your banking or IT , challenge them with the sort of questions that your Bank asks you when you phone them…. but go full hog. Do not give them your details but ask them to tell you your details (which they are highly unlikely to have). Go further by asking them to confirm the last 5 payments that you made, the amounts, dates and sources. The fraudster will quickly give up and hang up.

I have had a fraud call centre call me warning that my computers at home had a virus. I knew this was bogus, but quickly appreciated how easy it is to be duped. Normally in those circumstances they ask you to download something to your computer… which is essentially a trojan horse, tracking your banking, which of course can lie dormant for some time, so you forget all about the call and think you were helped by someone pretending to be from BT or whoever.

The 2008 film The Brothers Bloom is well worth watching to remind yourself at how skillful confidence tricksters can be and how little regard they have for the “relationships” that they create.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Financial Scams – Be WarnedDominic2025-01-21T15:56:43+00:00

G-Day – nothing to do with Australians

G-Day Something Down Under?

G-Day has nothing to do with Australians, but one might chuckle that it has something to do with down under. G-Day is actually Gender Change Day… yes you did read that correctly (no I didn’t – its actually Gender Directive). Before you start shouting at your computer that you’ve just about had enough of excuses for more greetings cards, this is in fact a European… no, not yet…directive (hold on) that makes it illegal for insurers to discriminate between male and female. In other words men and women must be charged on the same basis – much like this week’s news that equal pay for equal work, except of course that when it comes to insurance, there is nothing so unfair as equality. Eh? What I mean is that women live longer (sweeping generalism, but generally true) so they get cheaper life assurance. Now they won’t. It also applies to car insurance and annuities, in fact any insurance.

Brussels for Christmas?

So in the interests of showing what this may mean (because the truth is that we don’t actually know yet…. remember I am something of a truth fan, despite the cost). Anyway a fairly major insurer emailed me yesterday (Liverpool Victoria – credit where it is due). G-Day is set for 21 December 2012 (21/12/2012)… methinks that the Brussels powers like amusing numbers. Anyway the table below is LV’s attempt to outline their take on potential changes.

Product type	Currently, on average…	Potential impact of Gender and I minus E changes**
		Male	Female
Income Protection	Women pay 65% more than men	+20%	-28%
Critical Illness (with Life)	Men pay 10% more than women*	+6%	+16%
Term	Men pay 10% more than women	+3%	+22%
Underwritten Whole of Life	Men pay 20% more than women	-5%	+15%

As all tables come with a caveat or two…..”There are so many factors affecting premiums that it is impossible to give a single definitive figure that will apply to everyone. The extent of change will vary by provider, will differ by product class and be determined by the individual circumstances of the client. Added to this, we expect to witness a fair amount of re-pricing activity in early 2013 as providers attempt to get to grips with the new gender neutral world.”

More Unintended Consequences

You will quickly gather, that women will be paying more for most insurance. I’m going to stick my neck out and guess that this probably was not the Eurocrats intention. What it does mean is that you will probably need to review your protection arrangements if you are a woman with income protection. Admittedly this is one insurers take on life, but LV are generally pretty competitive. They also have a dedicated website called “no more guesswork“.

Early Christmas for commission hungry insurance salespeople? surely not!

I may have bored you senseless about the new adviser charging regime starting on 1st January 2012. Ironically this does not apply to insurance, so I’m guessing that commission based advisers will be fairly eager to get people to switch their cover (generating new commission) so be warned. There will will be some advisers (like ourselves) who simply charge a fee for the work and remove the commission entirely. I write this as yet another email arrives telling me that a very well known company can offer me even more commission with their new charging structures (note it wasn’t LV).

G-Day – nothing to do with AustraliansDominic2023-12-01T12:23:06+00:00

Its A Knockout?

It’s A Knock-Out

The Euro currency has been active for just under 10 years and is currently in serious jeopardy. Next year sees the 20th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty. The current media frenzy about uncertainty in the markets is enough to make most of us somewhat “concerned”. It is therefore a little perplexing that I’m left reminded of the 1970’s TV series “Its A Knockout” which made the nation roar with laughter – or at least, the irrepressible Stuart Hall who together with Eddie Waring made the series a success on the BBC. The International version of the programme “Jeux Sans Frontiers” drew in an estimated 110 million viewers at its peak.

I cannot help but think that this might be an altogether better way to work out European difficulties… with of course the Italians currently playing Mr Berlusconi as their Joker. The way Politicians have handled the crisis does rather remind me of the ostrich. Sadly, the crisis is very real and not a laughing matter, Europe needs direction and good team players. A lack of leadership in Europe has tended to create a vacuum into which extremist views gather momentum.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Its A Knockout?Dominic2025-01-21T15:35:40+00:00