WONDERVISION

TODAY’S BLOG

WONDERVISION

Its not a typo, I am well aware that the latest Marvel series is WandaVision, which far from being about superpower, is all about the very real human feelings of grief and loss. So no, today I am not talking about that.

This morning (too late?) ok, so tomorrow morning when you wake up, I’d like you to think about how many companies have been involved in your morning routine. Let’s face it, morning routines have been fairly routine for months now, so this may require very little effort as many of us are on autopilot.

RISE AND OBSERVE

To the matter at hand. I am going to assume that you are waking in your bed, with a pillow in your own room. Can you remember where you bought these from? Or who made them? How about your bedside table, lamp, clock, book (and pen?) what about your nightwear, sheets, carpet? How much “stuff” can you observe that you have bought before you have even put a foot into your slippers or directly onto the floor? A surprising number already I imagine. Where is your smartphone at this point? Do you have lots of applications running?

The image below is one that I have been using recently, but it is very flawed, there are about 100 companies shown here, there are about 1600-1800 in the global equity part of your portfolio. So that’s about 5% of the list. Note the size and position of each logo means absolutely NOTHING.

X-RAY VISION

Now for the superpower, imagine that you have x-ray vision. You can see all the components of all the objects around you, the springs and stuffing in your bed, the wires and plumbing, the bricks, plaster, cement, the metal window locks, the PVC, glass, the screws, nuts and bolts. How about all those automatic things that are also supporting this modest existence of yours? The utility company, your broadband provider, your insurance policies, water supplier, your bank accounts and so on. A vast number right? So many you probably gave up or did not attempt to count.

Most of those products and services are provided by companies found listed on the world stock markets. They are also in your portfolio, no matter how big or small it may be. They are there. This is investing. Deploying your money to back businesses that we all use, many of which we do not even realise. Even with the huge rise in technology where you will be using software on hardware that perhaps you are so familiar with it does not even register until its replaced, upgraded or fails…much like (exactly like) all the things you have just observed.

You own a part of all of this. A small part, but your money is backing those companies to improve what they do. We all know that the future will be different, and some businesses will need to adapt to the changes or fail, but new ones will emerge for things that none of us can imagine clearly (if you can, please get backing (money) to make it).

This is what your investments do.

Should you wish to see the mini-series WandaVision about Wanda and Vision, it can be found on the Disney channel, another holding in your portfolio.

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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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?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

WONDERVISIONDominic2023-12-01T12:13:09+00:00

Lady Luck – The Domino Effect

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Lady Luck – The Domino Effect

I have a growing awareness of my good fortune. I might call it luck. This week I was on a training course and we had a very good talk about diversity. We examined the topic from several perspectives, but for the sake of time, this was for application to our own firms (how we employ and empower staff) and also for clients and prospective clients – how we engage in a way that is authentic and accessible.

There is no doubt in my mind that I am fortunate. Lucky to have many “natural” and geographic advantages. Lucky in so many ways and many that I will probably never truly appreciate.

The session prompted some thinking and will inform some of the decisions I make in the future. New, helpful, relevant information tends to do that, doesn’t it?

Luck is not a Superpower

On the train home, I thought about the new film “Deadpool 2”. OK, it probably isn’t everyone’s “cup of tea”. It is an ironic, send up of the superhero, by a superhero. Violent and full of choice language it pokes fun at itself and the cinematic world. There are many comedic moments, which are best understood in the context of superhero films, this is not really a family film, yet it is about family.

Domino (Zazie Beetz) claims that her superhero strength is “luck”. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) mocks her, claiming that “luck is not a superpower… it’s not cinematic”. It is unreliable and outside of anyone’s control…yet Domino uses her natural skills which are enhanced by luck, which of course makes for an amusing sequence of events in the movie.

Checking back to real life, many of us may fail to appreciate the luck we have. Few can fully do so, some give it a different name. However, when it comes to reliability, luck sometimes isn’t a lady (Guys and Dolls). Luck is not a plan, it is not a super-strength and it definitely has no place in a financial plan, unless your plan is to gamble.

Coming to terms with Carnage

Markets are what they are, hostile for those that do not appreciate how they operate, they have their own “natural laws”. One is a correction. Equities are volatile, we need them to be, that is precisely what provides long-term growth and value. Yet almost everyone behaves as though it is your enemy. The media will fill its vacuum with tales of Armageddon like carnage that neither Deadpool or The Juggernaut could possibly match. Yet this is the unvarnished truth… markets are volatile, they fall, and they rise again… repeat, ker-ching…

The great untruth, is that risk can be removed, that there is growth without pain. Risk can only ever be swapped, not removed.

OK, so here is the trailer… click play at your own risk, lots of F-word and violence. You’ve been warned.

Oh.. if you do go to see the movie, as with all Marvel films, there is more to come within the long rolling credits.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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Lady Luck – The Domino EffectDominic2025-01-21T15:53:25+00:00

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

The myth, fantasy or religion of the superhero or saviour is pretty much embedded in every culture in the world. For those of us that grew up watching Spock, Kirk and Bones boldly go where no man had gone before, the idea of a mixed crew facing new existential threats in new frontiers is nothing new. The global melting pot that is post-modern America, is represented in contemporary superhero saviours.

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the many branches of Marvel comic superheroes. Unlike many of the more two-dimensional superheroes that are “good” and fight “bad”, the Guardians are a more eclectic mix of pirates with a conscience, out to save life-kind. Any reading of most myths would likely suggest that subtlety is an unlikely prerequisite for the role of hero, saviour or guardian and this motley crew are as subtle as the obligatory movie soundtrack sale (ker-ching!).

Sadly, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is a rather more obvious copy of previous attempts of the same story, almost a direct copy of “Return to the Forbidden Planet” which is derived from “The Tempest” by Shakespeare. The CGI is obviously better, but essentially, it’s the same.

Superhero your financial plan?

So what on earth can a financial planner gain from a Superhero film? Well, perhaps a reminder that relationship is at the heart of everything and those that are obsessed with their own ego, the narcissists, are just about the worst people to hang out with. However, perhaps allowing for the more nuanced subtlety that real people (and real clients) require, there is one particularly vital lesson for investors. It is this. The perfect world does not exist…. life is brief.

The real world is as complex and as messy as the people that inhabit it. Investors seeking illusory risk-free bumper returns, yet despite regulation, your inbox or “newspaper” is probably crammed with offers of them. Investing in property because you believe equities are “risky” is a misunderstanding of both. We might want jargon free, easy to understand financial products (most could be substantially improved) yet we live in an imperfect world where often all is not as it appears and our own desires may not necessarily be the best path for us to take. Simple is not always better.

The Perfect Life?… good luck with that

We live in a world of fairly immediate gratification, yet there are consequences to every decision. What we require, all of us, is wise and good counsel, that is designed for our best interest, not necessarily the convenience of “perfection”, which is invariably disguised as more earthy, pithy virtues such as redemption or restoration of broken relationships… or perhaps simply finally attaining the approval of a parental figure, through the acquisition of “stuff” that is the equivalent of those unnoticed (or noticed) gold stars.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on: and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

The Tempest, Prospero Act 4, Scene 1.

As for Guardians, well it’s a bit of fun and in a world where distraction from the trials of life is the invisible drug that keeps most of us going, it will doubtless make a fortune. I hear that the third film is already commissioned. Here is the trailer for the latest movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2… and no it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, however Guardians is all about the ordinary doing the extraordinary when sharing a common cause together as a family, tribe or group of misfits.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Email me to get in touch

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2Dominic2023-12-01T12:18:34+00:00