Loving and not so loving

Loving

Yet another example of how times have changed – thankfully. The new film “Loving” is the true story of Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred Loving (Ruth Negga). White man falls in love with black woman and marry in 1958, but not recognised within their own state of Virginia. Hard to believe that it was not even 60 years ago, yet thankfully seems a lifetime and world away from where we are today.

Or not so loving…

This is an ordinary couple, with an ordinary story, except for their determination to fight for what they believe to be right. Their surname is, of course, perfect for their story and perfect backdrop for its opponent, the State of Virginia.

A lifetime ago

60 Years ago, not that long ago really is it. Of course it’s a lifetime ago. Certainly, in lifetime financial planning terms these days that would be the rough timeframe we use for clients in their 40’s. Lots of people will be celebrating their sixtieth birthdays this year, people like Jo Brand, Robin Cousins, Steve Davis, Fern Britton, Paul Merton, Jayne Torvill, Dawn French, Billy Bragg and Stephen Fry to name just a few. It may interest you to recall the BBC TV news programme called Nationwide, which aired its infamous April Fool joke about Spaghetti growing on trees… was aired in 1957. Fake news is clearly not new.

Tempus Fugit

In short, time passes quickly. You cannot really put your financial planning on pause. Life moves on, rules change, economically, socially and environmentally. Change is our constant and whilst often feared, is generally our friend – except when it comes to deteriorating health.

Not always happy, shiny people…

The problem I have with some financial planners and supposed gurus within our field is that whilst they mean well, the future is uncertain. However adept they are at cashflow planning and deep-diving on your personal values and goals, life isn’t always a neat straight-line. Sometimes, horrible stuff happens, like an uninvited thug turning up in your bedroom in the dead of night. Health can fade, as can memory and the real problem is if everything is as it is today. Now. It is in the darker moments that a great financial plan will be tested. Your concern is unlikely to be about your next holiday or where to moor your yacht.

A New Rising Star

At 35, Ruth Negga, was nominated at the BAFTAs for the 2017 Rising Star Award and is nominated for an OSCAR as leading actress for this film “Loving”. She is great in the movie, though will have tough competition with Isabelle Huppert, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep and Natalie Portman. Anyhow, if Ruth Negga were a client (do get in touch if you are keen), then we would likely consider a 65-year time horizon for her financial plan. That is a long time. So much can change. She’s a talented actress and I hope that she has plenty of opportunity to get some good roles (there are woefully few for women). Yet her future is no more or less certain than anyone else’s. This is precisely why it is vital to review your financial planning regularly – and clients know we do this annually. Checking our assumptions and progress towards the future you are creating. Little remains unchanged, which based on history, is a rather good thing.

Anyway, here is the trailer for Loving. I gave it 7/10, shot and acted beautifully, some great lines, but it felt a little slow.

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

Loving and not so loving2025-01-28T13:29:11+00:00

Retail Distribution Review (RDR) Chaos before Christmas

Just A Few Days Left… until Retail Distribution Review

Most of us now buy a large proportion of our Christmas gifts on-line. Those that have not planned ahead, may have an anxious wait for the parcels arriving during the busiest period of the year with only a couple of weeks left. In a similar way, advisers have been awaiting RDR, the Retail Distribution Review which is also only a few working days away now. It officially starts on Monday 31st December 2012 (that’s in 24 days time). Sadly, whilst full of noble intentions (clearly priced advice, better quality advisers, clearly defined types of adviser) I regret to say that its a complete shambles across the majority of the financial services industry.

What The Dickens?

You need proof of course, but take Nationwide. One of the few mass-market banks/building societies that has intentions to provide advice going forward. Most Banks elected not to do so as they priced their hourly costs at over £250 an hour, which of course is not likely to be afforded by most of their customers, who are likely to scream “more? you want some more?” in that Oliver Twist way as yet another way of extracting cash from unsuspecting customers is served up like a warm bowl of gruel. So in practice most people will no longer be able to go to their bank for advice; (I want to say that this is probably a good thing as bank advice generates the most complaints and most advisers would probably say isn’t as good). That’s a half-truth though, they have more complaints because they have a lot of customers, as for being as good – well some are, some aren’t as with all other advisers. The reality is that it should be the case that getting advice is better than not getting any, so even the Banks have a role to play.

Get Your Goose? Walks, Talks, Sounds, Smells and looks like…

Sadly, due to the way that the FSA have approached “adviser charging” this has created a raft of problem with pretty much all financial products requiring an upgrade and re-think. It is concerning that Nationwide have today announced that they are suspending their pension advice because even at this stage they don’t have the ability to offer an RDR compliant pension. They know that they want to get 3% for the “advice” and 0.5% for ongoing “advice” but bluntly to anyone in my industry this looks very much like a product selling approach. To those in the know, this is akin to “if it walks like a duck, speaks like a duck, looks like a duck… it is a duck”. To enlightened advisers, this would raise the question of Nationwide’s leadership, culture and governance to have allowed matters to get to this point with this “approach” and that is putting it very politely. Natiowide are reported to have about 460 “advisers” and are looking to get the number over 500. in the meantime Nationwide have said that customers wanting a pension should go to speak to an independent financial adviser… which of course Nationwide is not and from the end of the month, will be offering “restricted” adviser solution. As of this moment, their website has not been amended to reflect this fact.

Who hasn’t delivered… Santa or Sants?

Santa will not be bringing you a pension from Nationwide this Christmas, largely thanks to the way Mr Sants (who is seeking new employment) has decided to interpret and apply RDR. Mind you, its not as though there’s a queue of people asking if they can have one. Pensions aren’t really in that naughty or nice  discussion are they? So credit to Nationwide for being nice by suspending pension advice, although of course if they hadn’t they would have probably been found out as rather naughty and on an entirely different list. Mind you, Nationwide are “on your side” this Christmas.

Retail Distribution Review (RDR) Chaos before Christmas2025-01-27T16:15:54+00:00
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