Is Love Ever in the Air?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2026 • 2 min read

Love is in the air

As you will gather from your inbox, television and general trips to the high street, Valentine’s Day is upon us. I imagine that we all have different responses to this, I have a great deal of sympathy with those who think it’s commercialising love and actually making many people feel entirely left out.

I should probably admit my own biases. I started dating my now wife on Valentine’s Day many years ago (we were at school) and I took her to Paris to propose to her on a Valentine’s Day a few years later. So I’m a sucker for ‘romanticism’! I was a lot younger then and far less experienced (weathered by life). We still celebrate and mark the occasion, but I certainly see the problematic side of commoditising ‘love’.

For me, Valentine’s Day is an anniversary, a reminder of the past and a happy form of accounting. Whilst I am not a fan of nostalgia, I do think it can be helpful to look back and see how far you have come. One of the greater challenges in financial planning is that we are often pointing to the future, the illusive horizon of opportunity, yet it is really important to pause to consider just how much has improved.

Most of you will now have an incredibly low-cost investment portfolio, genuinely designed and shaped around your plans for the future. You can check in to monitor its progress at any time (not a great idea, but you can). It is optimised for tax planning and incredibly well organised. Many will have a far better sense of structure and order having got rid of the deadwood or expensive legacy ‘stuff’ that you once had. You’ve had a proper clean out, a new broom though your finances. It’s a far cry from a collection of dog-eared papers stuffed into files or retained for posterity in their envelopes with nothing seemingly joining up and feeling very random.

Your financial planning now, hopefully feels that it fits you like a good outfit, bespoke to your circumstances and needs. I appreciate that you may not completely remember why an ISA is so good, or what pension rules you are adhering to, the tax and charges saved that you didn’t pay, but you presumably (yes?) trust us to have this under control (and certainly under our responsibility).

It may be a stretch, but might I suggest that your financial planning now holds the imprint of love – your passions, people and dreams. You are living and giving. It’s not simply about you, it’s about you and. Yes that is a deliberate statement, not an unfinished sentence.

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite.”

Act 2, Scene 2 Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare.

So as we face a world that often seems in desperate need of love; I encourage you to pause to remember how far you have already travelled; you are and have been, taking action to make the world a better place.

Much love.

Oh and here is a lovely scene from Romeo and Juliet (1996) directed 30 years ago by Baz Luhrmann with a few very familiar but much younger fresher faces.

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Is Love Ever in the Air?Jemima Thomas2026-02-25T09:38:23+00:00

Is this The End?

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2026 • 3 min read

Is this The End?

One of the most difficult topics with new clients is a discussion about endings. Sometimes a new client is leaving an existing adviser or abandoning their former way of thinking about their finances; however you will probably gather that I’m more of the Stephen Covey persuasion … of starting with the end in mind. I encourage discussion about what will have been truly important when you reach the end of your life and look back on your decisions.

At the start of the month, I went to see a new play by David Eldridge at the Dorfman – National Theatre simply called End. It’s a single act with just two characters – Alfie (Clive Owen) and Julie (Saskia Reeves). I found it utterly engaging. Set in north London in June 2016, it’s a remarkable piece full of topical history and poignancy. Alfie and Julie are confronted with an inability to communicate well in the present for fear of the future and the legacy of the past; a very familiar condition. As the play only runs until 17^th January 2026 I doubt I will be providing many with problematic spoilers.

We quickly learn that Alfie has terminal cancer but has had enough of the treatment, therefore he is thinking about his ‘end’ and reminiscing, but perhaps romanticising it. He doesn’t want Julie or their daughter with him, therefore he will say his goodbyes and head off quietly, like cats do. He wants to be buried with his parents.

Julie is shocked at his reluctance to continue his treatment, she wants him to fight to live and has been scouring the internet for alternative treatments. She admits her own romanticised ideas of burial, but it wouldn’t be with her mother-in-law and she also notes what a practical problem it would be for her to make the trip to visit the site anyway.

As you might expect, there are heated and emotionally exhausting exchanges. We learn of their past relational problems, their disappointments with one another and their very deep real love. We learn of their careers, triumphs and setbacks, their ‘dirty laundry’ and some of their contradictions. Life and relationships are never without complexity if they are honest. The societal setting is also helpful – Brexit, the recent end of an era as Alfie’s team (West Ham) moved from Upton Park to the Olympic stadium and his particular taste in music, acting as a wonderful signifier of change. There are plenty of nods to the social forces that are about to be unleashed and how for many of us progressives, the London Olympics was the high point of the last five decades with a decline ever since.

Alfie and Julie just about manage to navigate the highly charged topic of impending death, something that many of us have experienced (and some of you very recently) and undoubtedly each audience will have been touched deeply by these experiences too; it is all too common and all too ordinary, but ordinarily ignored or avoided. Dashed hopes and expectations from a life that we have little real control over.

The truth is that great financial planning is about your ‘story’, wherever it may have started and whatever direction it may take. My role is to help you to clarify what is important, therefore bringing a sense of structure and direction – and then build the financial pathway to facilitate this, but of course, we cannot predict the future. I have a crystal ball in the office as a bit of a joke, but I rarely use it in a meeting (it’s a fairly lame joke and to be honest I forget about it!). The point is of course that on one hand we all would quite like to know the future, believing it would provide the illusion of comfort, but the reality is almost precisely the opposite. Knowing the future strips the unpredictability of life and its joy. The little that we can truly control and hope to master is our response. Much like you, Alfie and Julie, I am also a work in progress with much to learn. I wonder how your conversation’s going about the one certainty?

Therefore as we face a new year, which appears to have begun with more chaos, quite deliberately manufactured by a deranged right wing, I am mindful of the challenges to be confronted, whilst acknowledging that people are people and beliefs, however baseless, are rather difficult to change.

Is this the end? Yes and no. It is the end of something but the start of something else. What I do know is what you know … life is brief – so make the most of it. Was the play worth seeing? Most definitely, brilliant performances from both of them. You will probably be able to see it on the National Theatre streaming service. Here is their trailer which gives little away (as a trailer should!):

Ref: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/end/

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Is this The End?Jemima Thomas2026-01-20T13:45:24+00:00

Clickbait headlines anyone?

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2026 • 3 min read

Clickbait headlines anyone?

I honestly don’t know whether the headline “Majority of UK divorce settlements don’t consider pensions assets” was a deliberate attempt to get eyes on the page or held any truth. It would seem very unlikely to be correct if it means we are to assume that solicitors specialising in divorce “don’t consider” a pension. What is more likely meant, is that most pensions don’t get split up as a result of divorce; in other words – there are other assets around to come to an agreement.

It won’t surprise you that after a house, a pension is most people’s largest and most valuable financial asset – which always makes me wonder why so few people get advice about theirs. The ONS has data on divorces in England and Wales that goes back to 1858 (there were 24!).

The reducing number of divorces is open to interpretation, with the most obvious being that fewer people are getting married. The chart below shows the gradual decline in marriages (of all forms) since the peak in 1972 of 426,241. The pandemic saw a decline, but interestingly, there wasn’t a ‘double-whammy’ to make up for this.

It has been said that the fastest way to lose a fortune is to divorce, and it is indeed almost certain that without proper consideration of all marital assets, divorce will be very costly. The data backs up the statement that women generally have smaller pensions by an average of around £53,000 (for a variety of reasons) and we are all aware that pensions can be complex. The two basic types are final salary (Defined Benefit) which are a promise of a future income based on salary and service, and an investment-based pension (Defined Contribution) which is “simply a matter of the pot size” though this reflects the amount paid in, charges, investment profile and success.

Despite the fact that it is surprising that only 11% of divorces in the last two years have had a pension attachment order, I don’t believe for a moment that the majority of solicitors ignore pension assets; rather it is the agreement on how these are split up that often surprises me. Many will see the value of a home in the very real present to be of greater value than an income in the future.

What I would urge divorcees and their legal representatives to consider is a proper financial plan – a model of cashflow requirements into the future. This may do much to take some of the pain and heat out of discussions; with all parties able to be realistic about what is possible.

Divorce may not be something that you feel is relevant to you, but perhaps someone you know is struggling with this or you have children who may need to carefully consider the financial implications of the marriage contract. It is widely reported in the media that January is the most popular month to start divorce proceedings; the suggestion being that having got through Christmas and the New Year, newfound resolve is apparent. In practice, March is generally the month that most petitions are started, maybe it’s something to do with the approach of the end of the tax year?

As ever, here to help.

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Clickbait headlines anyone?Jemima Thomas2026-03-24T16:26:59+00:00

What about Grief?

Dominic Thomas
Nov 2025 • 3 min read

What about Grief?

The taboos of my childhood era were sex, death and religion. These, I was told (not by my parents), were topics that would divide and were not really up for discussion. The way the world seems to have evolved; the only remaining taboo seems to me to be death.

Like many of you and all of us eventually, I have had an ample dose of bereavement in my lifetime. The loss of very close friends, family members and clients. I can (obviously) only speak to my own experience and how facing each has been different, depending on the circumstances and relationship. There is a common process for grief or loss, but each has its own nuance.

An attempt to reflect on the misery, devastation and despair of losing a spouse is brought to life on screen from the book by Max Porter. I’ve not read the book and now intend to do so; the film attempts to make the unfilmable a film. Visually violently and bleak, it’s not one for those traumatised by Hitchcock’s The Birds and suffering ornithophobia.

As I watched I couldn’t help but think of one of my closest friends and wonder if I had even come close to helping him enough as he wrestled with the challenge of raising two boys alone. I realise that many people do this as single parents (mainly women) but that isn’t quite the same as also processing the permanent loss of the other parent forever. No conversations or arguments about the exhausting parenting experience with one another.

I’m curious and a little apprehensive to learn what he would make of it. The film shows ineffective conversation and platitudes of help. I hope that my approach of simply doing stuff was more useful. As a taboo, perhaps most of us aren’t really confident in our ability to talk about death with one another. I hope that I’m not misguided in thinking that I don’t find the topic threatening, I’m comfortable sitting with the uneasy … my psychotherapist spouse may want to add some thought to that though.

I found the film difficult to watch, not because of its content but because I was bottling up a list of seven things that could have been done to make the process better.

A properly connected therapist
A cleaner
Someone skilled to help with childcare
Someone to alleviate or handle a lot of the practical administration of death
A lot of life assurance
Relationships with friends who properly engage and get in the mire with you
A community

The sense that we have to do everything on our own is one of those ridiculously badly communicated notions set at school about our independence.

You do not have to do everything on your own. That’s certainly harder when you are single or your circle of friends is relatively small or you don’t have any obvious community. However in my experience, those can be discovered, built and encouraged. Even as your financial planner, we will more than readily get involved to help you with any elements within out remit.

You don’t have to be a genius or expert in all of life’s topics. We are here to help you master money management, we don’t expect you to simply figure it all out yourself and should grief arrive at your door, we will be on hand. In the meantime, we will encourage you to be ready by being prepared and making the most of now.

References:

Book: Grief the thing with feathers
Make your Will

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What about Grief?Jemima Thomas2025-11-07T16:28:45+00:00

Do you know what you really want?

Dominic Thomas
July 2025 • 2 min read

Do you know what you really want?

There are lots of difficult big questions in life, one of them seems relatively simple, but most of us find it hard to put into words precisely what we feel. What is it that you desire? What is it that you really want?

It’s tempting to list a number of things or experiences, perhaps a sense of wellbeing or contentment. Whatever you wish for, it is likely that it will alter over time. When you don’t have something you tend to want it, when you possess it, there’s something else. It’s almost as if we are programmed to remain restlessly preoccupied with something other than what we have. Some of us are better at coming to terms with this than others; some simply deny it happens.

Think back to when you were finishing school, as many are at the moment. You were probably looking forward to finally leaving the confines of your classroom, hoping for a good long summer holiday and the right grades to get you to your next step. If you went to University, graduating and finding a good job and somewhere to live, then saving for your first home, then wanting a mortgage and then not wanting a mortgage, worrying about your career steps, your loved ones and your retirement, then if you will maintain your health and will you need help.

There is a sense of never really arriving.

We may experience certain critical moments in life when our values are brought more into focus, stress tends to be the catalyst for this. Love, death, sickness, betrayal, loss or simply change. These are moments where our values become tested and often the noise of life falls away and exposes what is actually important to us.

At Solomon’s, our planning attempts to evoke responses from you about the life you want to live. There are no judgements, no wrong answers, but of course it isn’t always easy to verbalise what you want when asked. Most of us don’t have a bolt of lightning moment when we know, it tends to evolve over time, sometimes many years. I think that for some people, a sense of purpose is really important, or connection to their community, however that is defined. Whatever it is I imagine and hope that it produces a sense of joy and deep calmness, a sense of your unique character being in a state of nirvana.

When life feels precarious or endangered, a sense of anxiety naturally rises, so whilst a financial plan cannot control the external, we can at least provide a roadmap for your route to contentment. One of the most common notions behind financial planning is that it brings about a sense of ‘peace of mind’. It’s a phrase that I’ve heard regularly over the years, but it’s never really sat well on my tongue. Any and every good financial plan has an acknowledgement of uncertainty – we don’t know what the future holds. We can align our finances and actions with our values and prepare for the future, getting organised, disciplined, making better choices and decisions.

For me, the thing I want, other than deep human connections, is a sense of limited freedom – I will always have limitations, but within those it is the freedom to choose and the sense of empowerment that it brings.

How about you?

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Do you know what you really want?Jemima Thomas2025-07-18T10:47:11+01:00

Relationships and Money

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

Relationships and Money

Money is a constant source of artistic material largely because of the power that it has over us. History has been formed on the basis of taking, defending but rarely creating. Empires, Kings and Queens, Dictators all thrive and feed off the power that money provides. Our society is built upon the need for money and progress within it is invariably reliant upon it.

It is fairly difficult to escape the value system that money provides. Our legal system is founded upon protecting property, not necessarily people. Ownership and its legal entitlement are the basis for building wealth. A walk around London, or most British cities, at this time of year exposes an alarming number of homeless, rough sleepers. Yet we live in one of the world’s richest societies

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Awareness of Lack

We all struggle to find our own sense of balance and place in society. Some are better at achieving this than most, becoming gurus to finding peace of mind or a state of contentment. No easy feat in a world in which we are bombarded by messages designed to make us feel anxious. We anaesthetize ourselves with a new purchase, providing temporary relief to make us feel better. We walk the tightrope of an awareness of lack and soothing this with a pursuit of more, however small or insignificant. There are few better examples of this internal war than within my own field of financial services.

Acts of Loving

Any relationship with another person, particularly one which involves the formation of a marital partnership, will experience the pressure and exposure of differing views about money and how it is handled, or indeed what it represents. For some, money represents love. So it follows that spending and extravagance are merely demonstrations of that love. For others, it represents security and provision, so acquiring more (spending less) demonstrates love. No religion is immune from money, some selecting an approach of more is a blessing and less is a punishment. Others that less (or none) and reliance upon deity for the next meal and a place to rest a weary head each night is true spirituality. In short there is a very varied spectrum of values that in turn form the basis of our beliefs and actions when it comes to how money is handled and thought about.

Peace of Mind

So it is little wonder that most of us struggle with our relationship money. We are aware that there are enormous differences, culturally, socially, economically, politically, financially and spiritually. Our personal values are shaped by our upbringing and the context of our place in history. So when I talk in (what can seem bland) terms about “peace of mind” I am of course meaning a sense of balance. A balance between what you have disclosed to be your values and how this inter-relates with ongoing actions that you take within a financial context. Actions that you have taken to demonstrate love and care, for yourself, others and wider society. Dare I suggest that a financial plan might be an act of love itself?

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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Relationships and MoneyDominic2025-01-28T13:29:10+00:00