film Archives - Financial Planning in Surrey

What profits?

Dominic Thomas
March 2026 • 3 min read

What profits?

I wonder if you have seen the recent BBC series Small Prophets written and directed by MacKenzie Crook. To be honest, I’m usually very wary of “written and directed by” – often it’s not a good combination, but here Crook has built upon the charming Detectorists (2014-2022) to deliver another feel good, amusing and poignant comedy that will leave a smile on your face.

This is a tale of the extraordinary in the very ordinary, an exploration of grief and hope, with a dash of wry wit and some daft divine magic. I won’t spoil the plot as it’s a series with a probable follow up.

In essence Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) is living with the knowledge that the love of his life, Clea, has disappeared. Most presume she took her own life with her car being found on the Severn bridge. He is waiting for her return as he goes about his mundane, ordinary life as a member of staff at the local DIY superstore. He visits his father Brian (Michael Palin) each day who is now living in a local care home. Apples don’t fall far from the tree, both are curious and have sharp minds, though Brian’s is now failing him.

Brian has the ludicrous certainty that he can grow truth-saying spirits (Homunculi) in a jar of rainwater, who have to speak truth. This, Brian asserts, will lay to rest the question of Clea’s mortality. The fantastical is set against the backdrop of the plainly defiant ordinariness of a fairly bland life. Yet we quickly witness many moments of magic in the ordinary and are reminded of our humanity and ability to connect and relate to one another with grace, patience and goodwill.

The contrasting lives and experiences are set against one another, the minimalist nosy neighbour who can barely tolerate Michael’s chaotic overgrown garden. The ‘brother-in-law’ who has lost everything as an adult, yet can find his childhood being restored. The lost treasure within our clutter. The hopes of superstore staff who dream of careers whilst serving others intent on their own DIY, most being oblivious to all that is in front of them (bucket scene) and missing the mystery and magic within the ordinary.

So what? It is so easy for us to forget the basics of life, to connect and be connected, to pause, to think and to thank. The talent and skill of genuinely caring. To be curious and to allow our curiosity to explore the mundane to the mystical. It reminds me of what I sometimes hear from clients “we have a fairly ordinary modest lifestyle” as though I may judge your life choices or maybe perhaps you aren’t sure if you are quite rich or ambitious enough.

The point of great financial planning is to live on your terms, not those of others. Whilst it may not be mathematically ‘best’ to repay your mortgage, the sense of liberation felt by doing so is priceless for many. To be able to live and give generously, on your own terms, without strings attached and to be able to see your legacy taking shape during your lifetime. These are things that are ordinary yet deeply fulfilling and are the true profits of a rich life.

The short 6-episode series, which I watched on the BBC iPlayer was a great way to end an evening, that may otherwise have been punctuated by a stream of “nothing good” on social media. I agree with those who gave it the high score of 8.5/10 on IMDB. Here is the trailer.

References:

When to report a missing person: https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/missing-person/missing-persons/what-to-do-when-someone-goes-missing/

Missing Person: https://www.gov.uk/report-missing-person

What is financial planning: https://www.solomonsifa.co.uk/what-we-do/

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What profits?Jemima Thomas2026-03-27T15:01:26+00:00

Would A Film About Investing Help?

Dominic Thomas
March 2026 • 1 min read

Would A Film About Investing Help?

One of the few firms that I believe to have been consistent with their approach to investing and providing evidence-based analysis with decent investor value, is Dimensional Fund Advisers. Founded in 1981, and staffed with Nobel prize winners, they recently surpassed $1 trillion under management. In essence, Dimensional argue that a proper philosophy, process and purpose are everything that a successful investor requires.

They recently produced a ‘film’ which is aired on YouTube called Tune Out The Noise. Now I should caution, that I am biased, Dimensional have formed a key part of my development as both an adviser and owner of a financial planning business. So I will hang my hat on the peg of “this is a company I rate very highly indeed”. They produce some excellent resources for advisers and their clients, many of which I have used over the years. These all help to make investing easier to understand and to help all investors take a long-term approach to “getting rich”.

Dimensional would argue that buying the haystack is a better approach than searching for the needle, however they would look to long-term data trends which reveal that the most successful returns are achieved by those with a tilt towards value, small companies and profitable businesses (the latter which one would have thought of as rather basic, but looking at the accounts of some very large firms, you will observe that profit isn’t always there).

Anyway, if you would like to take advantage of their free to view film, 90 minutes about value for money – here it is.

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Would A Film About Investing Help?Jemima Thomas2026-03-17T13:59:02+00:00

How would you Cope?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2026 • 3 min read

How would you Cope?

Amour

It’s the award season for films and one previous winner is the French film Amour (2012). It’s beautiful but a really tough watch about a topic that many of us will experience.

George (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) are a retired couple, they have been married for decades and are enjoying their retirement in Paris. Anne used to teach piano and has helped launch several professional careers.

Life changes dramatically for them when Anne has a stroke and the couple navigate all it entails. This is a brutally frank depiction of living with a degenerative condition. They experience a mixture of responses and support and have some firm views of their own.

The sudden upheaval shifts their focus from the finer things of life to the basic tasks of surviving as comfortably as possible. Fortunately they have ample financial and emotional resources to weather the initial challenges and are able to look back appreciatively on their long life together.

When we create your financial plan, we emphasise the importance of living on your own terms and having those experiences that you can whilst you are fit and healthy enough to do so. When we have a decent level of health we take these things for granted, often ignoring the warnings from health experts and our good fortune.

None of us know how long we will live, but it’s also the case that we don’t know how long we can live with good enough health. The ONS data for 2024 showed that in England 531,953 people died, the bulk of them (69%) were over 75 as you might expect, but 26% were 50-74 (yes, so 5% were under 50). The data doesn’t tell us how unwell they were or for how long; we do know most causes of death but not the duration of the decline. Strokes account for nearly 10% of deaths each year.

You may be reading this and thinking – come on Dominic, could you be a bit more cheery and less pessimistic. In truth, I doubt the data will really encourage anyone to make the most of this short time on earth, what may be encouraging is the confidence you can take from a well-crafted financial plan, based around your values and hopes about the future.

It’s the ‘living with regret’ that I think most people struggle with, realising a little too late that they had other choices. Your plan can be a bit like a sliding doors moment, a what if …

Let’s ensure that you live your life on your own terms as far as possible, and whilst we are at it, let’s tell everyone that this is the real purpose of a decent financial planner, not simply to find a better ISA or pension. Those are the tools not the purpose.

It makes a lot of sense to also talk through the difficult issues of personal crisis and life changing health issues.

The charity The Stroke Association report that on average around 400 people a day in the UK have a stroke. That’s about 1 every 3 minutes.

Here is the trailer for Amour which took best film in a foreign language at the Oscars and BAFTAs in 2013. This may be a good way to prompt some discussion about the subject and how we might think about it together in relation to your plan.

Click here to tell a friend about the power of a proper financial plan.

References:

How many deaths in the UK?

What is the data for Stroke in the UK?

What is Critical illness cover?

What is Estate Planning?

Who do Solomons help?

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How would you Cope?Jemima Thomas2026-03-24T16:25:22+00:00

Has a line been crossed?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2023 • 2 min read

Has a line been crossed?

It was over a decade ago that I was at the BFI London film festival and saw a preview of Desierto (2015) by Jonas Cuaron. It was a truly horrifying film about the Mexican border with the US and how various extremely brutal nationalists ‘protect’ their border. At the time, I took this to be a grim story that thankfully was a stretch of the imagination.

A year later Trump was going around the United States calling for a wall to be built and paid for by Mexico. Once elected he began arranging contracts for its construction. It is not a continuous wall and even “Sleepy Joe” Biden agreed to fill in some gaps. Trump, in his second term has issued new contracts for further work.

The sentiment of the film is a hatred and dehumanisation of Mexicans or frankly anyone in opposition. As we have all seen, the brutalism by ICE murdering US citizens and lynching anyone in the wrong place, there is a palpable sense that the film was, if anything ‘mild’. I often hear people say “oh that would never happen here” but then, to be blunt, they didn’t really expect it to happen in the US. Yet here we are.

Investment doesn’t really have borders. Your portfolio is global and holds shares and bonds from companies located all over the world. The investment world is generally carved up into national or regional markets and the North American market (including Canada) is roughly 65% of the entire world market. Whatever you and I may think of it, remember that the companies that build walls, buildings or anything else when contracted to by a Government are invariably enormous and listed on the market. That includes concrete suppliers, bulldozers and so on – so generally Government spending on private company contracts is probably good for your portfolio. This assumes that things go well (we can all recall the PPE Pandemic providers when it seemed you could be a minnow and grab a piece of the £48.1bn of contracts awarded to known political connections, of which around £14.9bn was written off by the Department of Health). The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is determined to get back some of this money, which of course may win her some praise at last.

Reference: HOC statement: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-12-09/hcws1144

Trump signs contract to build the wall (25 January 2017) – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/25/donald-trump-sign-mexico-border-executive-order

Here is the trailer for Desierto (2015) … warning, even the trailer is brutal:

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Has a line been crossed?Jemima Thomas2026-02-16T11:10:12+00:00

Would you hire a person to pretend to be your… ?

Dominic Thomas
Nov 2025 • 2 min read

Would you hire a person to pretend to be your…?

One of the adages most of us grew up with (perhaps negatively) is the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. The societal pressure to use our money to buy things and experiences so that we fit in with our neighbours (who do the same thing). I think it sits in an uneasy relationship with the religious concept about coveting.

As is invariably the case, real life is more nuanced than a list of dos and don’ts. There is a degree of merit to be found in improving our lives and communities (if that is what it is); on the other hand it can be rather vapid consumerism that is nothing more than tokenism, ‘society’ is surely what we choose to make it and conformity is the method of control and regulation.

The film Rental Family considers a more extreme aspect of Japanese family life and the expectations placed upon people to save face. This is on many levels a wonderful thing but of course has its evident flaws – an inability to accept the reality of difference.

It is very debatable if Japan is actually extreme at all in this regard, perhaps they are merely more honest about the problem than we may pretend. The recent rise in far right rhetoric is quite evidently appealing to those who like conformity, uniformity and control with little regard for the reality of difference or a hatred of it.

Rental Family is essentially a story about the need for support and understanding of difference and an acceptance of it. In a crowded world where isolation is rife, despite the illusion of increased interconnection, we can see that many people struggle with their sense of aloneness, sadly an increasing number (over 6,000 a year) take their own lives.

Platitudes don’t really help, practical support and attention may, the effort is certainly worthwhile. The idea that in our ‘service economy’ we could now sell the service to act as a family member and actually make life better, which of course isn’t always true of actual family members. One might also consider that transactional relationships are nothing new – most of our monarchs have been based on transactions, not love.

Set in Japan, we witness where this service might be deployed – in an apology, a wedding, any social event, the selection process for a child applying for a school, someone to show interest in the end of a career (or life) or even a mourner – something that is actually a very ancient ‘paid for service’.

Who better than an actor to pretend? Someone who is skilled in character and responding to context.

As a financial planner, I hope that it is evident that we offer rather more than simply arranging money stuff. To be blunt, the part of my work that I enjoy the most is getting to know you, your values, personality, friends and family. It’s your story and is what interests me.

Our role is to help you make your story more obvious, more aligned to your stated values and to help remind you that it (life) is mercilessly brief. Our world has an unlimited number of distractions from the moment we wake until our head returns to the pillow (and that’s for those of us who have an ability to switch off at that point).

Money is not the goal, it is the lubricant to your life, its feature is to function, not to count.

As for the film, I utterly loved it, it’s beautiful, and it reminded me that I would like to visit Japan, a world that seems so familiar yet different, that is perhaps its beauty to me.

References:

ONS data on UK (England and Wales) suicide rates

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Would you hire a person to pretend to be your… ?Jemima Thomas2025-11-21T10:09:56+00:00

What the F**K?

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2025 • 2 min read

What the F**K?

“F**k” is just a word yet conveys so much. Imagine yourself building a wonderful career in the service of others, attending a ceremony to acknowledge your work, where the Queen will present you with an MBE only to find the moment so overwhelming that you uncontrollably blurt it out to her majesty … except this time you have had the benefit of history and context.

I swear is the beautiful story of John Davidson who develops Tourette’s syndrome as a young teenager. Those of you offended or put off by swearing will struggle with the film, but to miss it would be a mistake. It is a beautifully told film, highlighting the misunderstanding and mistreatment that those with the syndrome experience every day and the salient point is that they cannot control themselves; it is a genuine condition.

We return to the 1980s, the pre-tech age, where corporal punishment was regularly meted out to those who crossed a line. Many of those draconian punishments were dispensed from ignorance (perhaps all of them). The Davidson family struggled to come to terms with Tourette’s in a world that lacks awareness, life is a challenge and John is eventually another misfit of academic data.

The intervention of Dottie is arguably the turning point in John’s life. It is her welcome and acceptance as someone outside of the family that changes the course of this story. Often, we can feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges we face, yet we know from history and perhaps experience, that a single person or act can have a remarkable impact. One person leads to the next and the next. John is welcomed, accepted, encouraged and importantly – empowered. His life becomes one of influence and it’s awesome.

What has this story got to do with financial planning? Tourette’s is not curable, but as we see in the film, technology in the hands of some rather good medics have made life much better for many of those with the syndrome. In particular, the research at Nottingham University. Invariably such research and prototype solutions require funding to develop them and bring them through the complete product lifecycle to the marketplace. This is often where investment in ‘life sciences’ happens, the sort of investment that is not in your mainstream portfolio (because there is a high risk of failure) but can be found through Enterprise Investment Schemes and Venture Capital. As this sort of investing is much more speculative (often with a far greater potential upside), there is Government inducement with tax relief on the investment of 30% or even 50% in some cases. The investment is invariably ‘locked in’ for five years or more, but the intention is to bring a world-changing solution to market and sell it to a much larger organisation at significant profit which can release it on a global scale.

There’s that and, well, frankly it’s a good reminder that when our plans and hopes look bleak, sometimes what it takes is the right conversation with someone who sees you and wants to help. Here’s to more conversations and I don’t mind the swearing.

UPDATE:

Congratulations to Robert Aramayo who collected an unexpected BAFTA in February 2026 as leading actor for his portrayal of John Davidson.

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What the F**K?Jemima Thomas2026-02-25T17:09:56+00:00

The Salt Path is even more salty

Dominic Thomas
July 2025 • 2 min read

The Salt Path is even more salty…

Well, if you’ve read the book, seen the film or read my blog you will know this story of Moth and Raynor Winn who lost everything and found what was important. However, it seems that this is yet another story that is largely fabricated to self-serve. We are used to our own gutless politicians, and the plain lies and warmongering of the likes of Trump, Putin, Netanyahu and the deranged Farage, but once again fantasy and fiction collide to make falsehood.

Investigative journalist Cloe Hadjimatheou was intrigued enough about the elements of the story that didn’t add up. I suggested that I had some concerns as the complete loss of a home due to a poor investment is somewhat unusual and extreme. Hadjimatheou has done a thorough examination of the story and now it seems that everyone involved is backed into a corner with nowhere to hide.

The reality is rather different from both film and book, even whilst allowing for artistic licence and dramatisation, there are important aspects of the story that make the original tellers subject to the charge of complete liars.

According to Hadjimatheou’s thorough research, it would seem that Raynor Winn is herself a fictional character as is her husband Moth, in fact they are Sally and Tim Walker. Sally embezzled money from her employer to the tune of around £64,000 but it seems probably rather more. A family relative provided a loan of £100,000 to cover the legal fees and repayment to her employer Martin Walker an estate agent and surveyor in Pwllheli. The family relative who had provided the loan lost his business and creditors, together with the permission of the Courts, subsequently wanted repayment of the £100,000 which with interest had become £150,000. Failing to meet the repayment with a year to do so, resulted in repossession.

However, there are further plot twists with the couple buying property in France and publishing a book with a prize of their home (which it was suggested was mortgage free). So to say there are some serious questions about the credibility and character of Mr and Mrs Walker would be, well, something of an understatement. This then calls into question Tim Walker’s claim that he was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, as it is clear from the alleged time of diagnosis that nothing short of a miracle has occurred with his condition, something that medical experts find highly dubious. Medical records are of course, rather conveniently, protected.

Anyway, you can read the investigation by Cloe Hadjimatheou for yourself in the Observer, it was published on Saturday 5^th July – here is the link

As for the Walkers, it seems that they have created a web of lies and have a lot of explaining to do. There are consequences for work held out as factual when it is actually deliberately misleading and this may have further ramifications for the Publisher, film company and the Walkers themselves.

Sadly, we live in an age where truth is being eroded every day, mainly by politicians and media moguls or the ‘tech bros’. Where we come across it, I believe we need to oppose it and expose it for what it is. As a story, it’s heart-warming, but at it’s core is now a collection of lies which ruin its perceived purpose.

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The Salt Path is even more saltyJemima Thomas2025-07-08T16:29:46+01:00

The Salt Path

Dominic Thomas
June 2025 • 3 min read

The Salt Path – lost and found

There is a new film The Salt Path based on the book by Raynor Winn about her own story. In essence, it’s a couple that loses everything, and I really mean everything, and decide rather impulsively to go hiking as a way to clear their heads. In an interview, Ray talks of the walk being a line and a map for them to follow step-by-step, having lost everything and recognising that the way through had to be one which was a planned route.

We quickly discover that this is an impulsive decision, not well thought through; in fact it’s hard to think it even vaguely wise given the physical shape that her husband Moth is in – walking with great difficulty due to a condition diagnosed (in the same week as being made homeless) as corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which I understand to be a Parkinsons-related illness impacting movement and cognition. Not ideal when walking a coastal path with unforgiving sheer, steep drops.

To call it a walk isn’t really accurate, it’s a 630 mile hike, with all their meagre worldly possessions carried in rucksacks or worn. It’s an endurance, though I am pleased to say that the story is not. Rather, it’s uplifting and revels in the human spirit and our ability to endure hardship. Set in the familiar beautiful scenery of the West Coast, they walk along the coastline from Minehead to Poole, funded only by a few pounds in benefits that they receive.

Together we face some of the reactions to them as a homeless couple, often with a great deal of kindness exposed. I haven’t read the book, and the film is naturally an adaptation with heightened dramatic impact, but it seems as though they also lack any friends willing to help, which may not be accurate (I don’t know).

I wondered why and how they managed to lose everything (their home, money and possessions) and it would appear that they invested in a friend’s business which failed and their assets were seized by creditors. Clearly there is another story there, but it is something that I have been asked about numerous times … “I have a friend who has asked me to invest in their business, what do you think?”.

As a business owner myself, I can assure you that it looks easier than it is. The failure rate is exceedingly high and whilst there may be a sense of ‘self determination’, there is an awful lot that is simply beyond your control. Geopolitics, pandemics, recessions, technology, competition, legislation, climate crisis, social trends, economic reality all batter the best of businesses. Perhaps investing in a friend or family member’s business is a great idea, maybe they are the next Bill Gates (hopefully not the next Elon Musk). So perhaps some pointers…

Can you afford to lose all the investment?
How much of your overall wealth would be exposed? Would this scupper your own security if it fails?
How would your relationship cope with ongoing involvement, failure or success?
Are you an active investor (regularly involved with the operational decisions) or passive? And if the latter, is that really code for “I don’t know what I’m doing”?
What experience do you bring that can assist, beyond capital?
Have you understood the risk? Have you checked past and current performance of the business? Do you really believe in the future projections or are these hopeful guesses wrapped in a spreadsheet?

Most of us are not venture capitalists, which is what investing in your friend’s business means. However, a professional VC looks at hundreds of businesses each year and considers the risk/reward very carefully indeed. The Government must incentivise most of us to consider any form of VC investment – with 30% or 50% tax relief and the promise of tax-free gains (in controlled investment solutions like VCTs, EIS and SEIS). These are regarded as suitable investments for probably no more than 1% of investors (according to our regulator, the FCA).

Whatever Ray and Moth invested in, I am confident that it would not have passed muster with any decent financial planner, and a compliance person somewhere would be screaming that they hadn’t had their appetite for risk or capacity for loss properly tested and explored. I understand these concerns, but of course the irony being that even having lost everything, their capacity for loss was not exhausted, they found a way through, it was not ‘the end’. Today, they would be classified as ‘vulnerable clients’ due to illness and experience, yet vulnerability as humans is how we learn most about ourselves and each other.

Ray and Moth rediscover a purpose and the value of life and their relationship. I don’t know if they learned any lessons about investment, other than to avoid it. The film is charming and life-affirming with a couple of familiar good actors – Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

Financial planning is meant to be about helping you verbalise and clarify your values and goals, setting out the life that you want in your remaining years. We provide the pathway to help you assess the viability of them and how we might make things easier, less arduous and less taxing; minimising risks whilst ensuring you never suffer total financial loss.

Should you feel inspired to buy her books with a link here to Penguin, and here is the new film from Black Bear.

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The Salt PathJemima Thomas2025-06-12T10:12:36+01:00

What is your love language?

Dominic Thomas
April 2025 • 3 min read

What is your love language?

Life can take a sudden, unexpected twist. One of many twists is the loss of a spouse or partner. This is hard at any stage of life and brings its own challenges. Raising the family you started together on your own, or starting a family without the other being there to even witness its beginning are both situations that we have experienced with our clients. Life can change in an instant.

Any good financial plan will ensure that you have ample financial protection in the event of a spouse or partner suddenly dying. This would normally mean clearing off any outstanding debts and mortgages, everything from the credit card to the car finance. In addition, a regular income or a fund to provide one for a given period of time or perhaps indefinitely.

A serious or long-term illness can arguably have a worse financial impact – should the main income earner be unable to work, all those bills keep arriving and many probably increase, so it is important for those reliant upon an earned income, be they self-employed or an employee or perhaps own a business, that this is reviewed regularly to make sure there is ample cover in place. When such a situation arises I have never heard anyone tell me that they had too much cover, but most had wished that they had considered rather more.

The new Bridget Jones film Mad About The Boy is a sympathetic look at life after the death of Bridget’s husband, Mark Darcy. In the previous films we witnessed their haphazard relationship of opposites attracting. The latest in the series is perhaps rather more unexpectedly autobiographical from the author Helen Fielding, who explores singleness in our culture and the pressures to conform. Fielding’s first book Cause Celeb was published in 1994 and followed up by Bridget Jones’s Diary in 1996 which was released as a film in 2001 and saw two further follow ups in 2004 (Edge of Reason) and 2016 (Raising A Baby). She published Mad About the Boy in 2013. She started a relationship with her partner Kevin Curran in 2000 and they had two children together. Curran died of cancer in 2016 aged 59.

Admittedly, in the film, there isn’t any talk of Wills or life assurance, but it is clear that Human Rights lawyer Mr Darcy has ensured that Bridget and his children are well provided for; her choice about returning to work is optional, not financially necessary.

As the film was released around Valentine’s Day, an email caught my attention from an insurance company who pronounced that an act of love is to ensure that you have taken out life assurance for the benefit of those you love. I had heard something similarly expressed before, but in all honesty, dismissed it as a bit gimmicky. Nowadays, I do rather think it’s probably one of many “acts of loving” that make the world of difference.

The death of a spouse or partner will happen at some point, if you are fortunate for this to be much later on in life there are other impacts too. Often finances are handled by one member of the couple, or perhaps one has an old-style final salary pension which provides ongoing income, but at half the level. Adjusting to a new paradigm isn’t easy and we take great care helping clients fully understand the important elements of their finances and provide reassurance about their ability to maintain their standard of living without running out of money. The challenges can often feel overwhelming, but we will be here to help ensure that everything works to your advantage.

Inheritance tax may be a regular hot topic in the media, but this is only an issue for people who are not married or for beneficiaries. Whilst important to ensure your estate is passed on as you would wish, it is rather more important that your spouse/partner is able to adjust to the new reality of life without you.

If you know someone who is recently bereaved and would welcome clarity and understanding about their finances and new reality, do suggest that they get in touch. All our initial meetings to discover if we can help are at our own cost.

Meanwhile, here is the trailer for the new Bridget Jones film:

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What is your love language?Jemima Thomas2025-04-17T18:01:03+01:00

Money & Film: Bank of Dave 2

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2025 • 2 min read

Money & Film: Bank of Dave 2

“We’re going to need a bigger boat” is a line from the 1975 film Jaws as Captain Martin Brody recovers from the shock of seeing the destructive great white shark glide past Quint’s small trawler boat (The Orca) leased to hunt and destroy the predator currently consuming the inhabitants of Amity Island.

The Loan shark is similarly as consumptive, ruining the lives of those who attempt to borrow a few hundred pounds to meet the latest small calamity for which they have no other reserves. The exorbitant interest charged and the intimidation by ‘collectors’, all result in a toxic, suffocating environment that many unsuspecting borrowers become quickly entrapped.

The Netflix platform is currently screening Bank of Dave 2 – The Loan Ranger. The film is largely a work of fiction; it’s an exaggeration, but it doesn’t detract from the central message that payday loan companies are ruining lives. However, it is far from a documentary or even a dramatisation of what happens. It is a decent, charming little film of David and Goliath and of course panders to our British support of the underdog.

Dave Fishwick (on whom the story is based) is a credit to his community and frankly I thoroughly agree with his desire to destroy companies that deliberately destroy lives. You may never have used a Pay Day loan company, many of which originate in the US, and many are or have been key sponsors of football teams, normalising the ‘service’ that they provide. He took on many of these companies, who did indeed attempt all sorts of dirty tricks to thwart his attempts to stop their practices.

There is a documentary The Loan Ranger (released on 15^th January 2025) which considers the real story that inspired the film and the misery that Dave Fishwick seeks to end. Payday loan companies will of course argue that they are providing a service to people that need it, one which traditional banks do not or will not. These are invariably short-term loans for a couple of weeks until the next payday. The interest charges are high (one has an APR of 1721%). These lenders, like all others, fall within the regulatory remit of the FCA.

The problem is that there will always be a market for people who struggle with finances and unless there is a change in circumstances, and perhaps behaviour, the likelihood of climbing out of the money trap is small at best. Whilst our clients don’t have these sorts of challenges, few people are actually terribly good at budgeting. Those with ample incomes rarely look in detail at how much they are spending, save for a few significant purchases. Having a well-managed cash system and control of your finances is crucial to your long-term financial wellbeing. To find out more about how to do this successfully, please get in contact with us.

You can see Bank of Dave 2 starring Roy Kinnear on Netflix. Here is the trailer.

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Money & Film: Bank of Dave 2Jemima Thomas2025-02-25T13:37:00+00:00

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