FIRST MAN

TODAY’S BLOG

FIRST MAN

The new film about Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is a compelling story. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in 1969. The world was gripped by faint black and white images streamed around the world from another one. I do not remember the event, I was a few months old enjoying an ice cream on a visit to my grandparents. There’s even footage to prove it – though its lack of sound exposes the gap between widespread technology of the day compared to NASA.

I’ve grown up being fascinated by space, a product of my time and childhood posters of the Americans on the moon. This new movie is the story of Armstrong, much of which I did not know. The advantage of cinematic technology is that the audience are taken on the ride which feels very realistic. We ride up on Gemini and Apollo with deafening sounds of rockets, fire and metal. We can only marvel at the courage of anyone that has boldly gone where no one has gone before. Every experience new and unique, full of thousands of “what if’s”. I am only able to applaud the sort of courage I lack and the genius of the engineers, mathematicians and scientists involved.

The Sea of Tranquility

This is also the story of a family, one that isn’t terribly good at communicating. Their own inability to communicate well is echoed by the silence of space and the sea of tranquillity. We witness this through tragedy, but it is the constant silence of the background noise.

Financial planning is all about your story. You and I may not make history, but we certainly impact those that know us. Good communication in any relationship is a major element of its success. Yet many struggle to express their feelings and hopes when it comes to money. Couples have their own backgrounds that inform their own decisions and these are rarely always complimentary. Much is unsaid. Yet for any financial plan to achieve the results that you want, communication is all. This is far more complex than simply helping you get from A to B.

History in the Making

Your financial plan might be unique, but you don’t have to be the test pilot for the tools that help you. You can rely on timeless principles of investment markets and ancient realities – all things will pass. Today is tomorrow’s history. As with the skill set deployed by Armstrong, some is art, some is science and some is intuition. The issues for all of us to understand are the real risks that we run and the importance of a stress-tested plan. You may not have the need, desire or resources to get to the moon, but wherever you want to go, understanding what horizon you are looking at and what the compass is telling you are vital.

Here is the trailer… one thing that I noticed during the film was the music. It has a very familiar tune. You may remember that Mr Gosling starred in LA LA LAND which almost won the Best Picture OSCAR by mistake, against… well Moonlight. Just saying…

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

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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?

FIRST MAN2023-12-01T12:17:45+00:00

Time for the Oscars

Time for the Oscars

The Oscars take place on Sunday night. To my mind, this always signals the end of the awards season. It also acts as a reminder and marker about certain years. Its 20 years since The English Patient picked up a bunch of Oscars. Frances McDormand, Juliette Binoche, Geoffrey Rush and Cuba Gooding Junior. Twenty years since Jerry Maguire and “Show me the money”. How time flies.

As you will have gathered I use film to explore various financial planning issues. At times I admit the links are a little stretched, but in essence a client comes to me with a story in progress and seeking help with how it turns out. There is some required editing, script writing, direction and the key characters all need to play their part. Of course original and unique content is always preferred.

So here are my posts for some of those nominated for the 2017 Oscar ceremonies. If I were a betting man, I’d suggest that La La Land are likely to take a bunch of awards. I enjoyed it greatly, but for me Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge and Elle all had more of a profound impact. It was a shame that “I, Daniel Blake” didn’t get picked up in the US but was recognised at the BAFTAs.

https://wp.me/p2Rtww-1pA

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

Time for the Oscars2023-12-01T12:18:41+00:00

Are you living in La La Land?

Are you living in La La Land?

So the BFI London Film Festival is here again – celebrating its 60th yet retaining a considerable fresh approach to film which this year even includes a very good temporary cinema in Embankment Gardens… thankfully it is an indoor cinema!

La La Land is the latest film from Damien Chazelle (who Directed “Whiplash”) it’s a charming love letter to Hollywood. With all the ranting and sheer stupidity displayed in American politics (we aren’t much better) it is worth remembering what the US does best – storytelling and entertainment. Of course there are many, many things that are done incredibly well in the US, but these, to my mind stand out.

Dreams and Tension

This latest film is a musical about how difficult it can be to hold onto your dreams, particularly when so many others appear to share the same dream and perhaps have an advantage or two. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have a fantastic chemistry and remind us that despite appearing similar, timing is everything and holding the tension of a relationship and a single-minded focus on your dream can be a lonely and exclusive experience (as also explored in Whiplash).

movie poster, piano keys for La La Land

Lifestyles and styled lives

In years gone by, financial advisers were much more obviously” selling dreams”, in fact I might suggest that many were simply selling fantasies. Providing descriptions of a future version of you – helping you to imagine yourself in that yacht, with that house, driving that car… essentially marketing a lifestyle to you to consume. Today things have changed. Today a financial planner is not there to prescribe, but to help digest, encourage and help verbalise what it is that you truly want so that a plan can be crafted to help you achieve it. Sometimes significant behaviours need to change in order to have the future that you want, but in truth this is fairly rare. However, it is worth pointing out that getting a couple to think about their future does on occasion mean reflecting on whether they want one together.

Baggage that matches…

The truth can be rather difficult to swallow, sometimes uncovering aspects of a relationship that are difficult (how we handle money, why and what for). It should be obvious that a financial planner, is not a marriage counsellor, yet on occasion the conversation can lead in a direction for which a financial planner has no training at all, merely life experience. How a couple talk about money, but more importantly their goals for the future is not always easy to manage. We all bring the baggage of our experiences, values and expectations, some will be helpful, but some will not. How your own parents handled money is often just below the surface, there can often be an echo of the past in the present relationship and this can form a significant element of “how things are done” today. Let us not forget that Relate cite finances as one of the most stress-inducing aspects of a relationship, so many will simply ignore the problem hoping it will eventually go away…

And all that Jazz…

As in the movie, (which is a real homage to Hollywood musicals, the place and jazz) whilst there is a very valuable element of recognising and preserving the originals, those were ground-breaking and new, so to simply maintain is to fail to understand a key dynamic. We all need to forge our own path, which may be informed by the past but not governed by it. The difficulty is figuring out the path you want to take and whether it is one you both want… which brings its natural challenges and given voice in the romantic melancholic song “City of Stars” which you may be whistling or humming to yourself by the end.

So, having a clear and shared focus about your future is, well… vital for your financial plan to be successful. The struggle will be to confront some truths about how in-sync you are and what you’d like to do to restore your rhythm. I won’t pretend that this is easy, but the secret to any great performance is the ability to rise from the knocks, learning, practising until it appears to be easy, but “effortless” it never is…. that’s for those that really are living in “la la land”.

Your challenge is to pick up the phone or send me an email to book a time to have the honest conversation about what you really want your future to look like. No matter how  polished the final result, there is plenty of work ahead. I didn’t say that honesy is always easy to deliver or to hear.

Here’s the trailer for the new film .

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

Are you living in La La Land?2023-12-01T12:19:05+00:00
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