What’s Your Opinion About the Budget?

Dominic Thomas
Nov 2025 • 4 min read

What’s Your Opinion About the Budget?

There was a palpable sense of adolescent schoolchildren during the Budget. The team here couldn’t quite fathom the petulant behaviour of adults. It didn’t help women’s causes that the three main characters seemed like characters from St Trinian’s, Grange Hill and Mean Girls. You can decide who was who.

The short version – nothing much happened. The Budget is often an exercise in shuffling the deck attempting to please the public who want more for less, the media who want sensationalism and the markets which want certainty. If we are honest the “greater good” should prioritise the planet, society and the economy in that order, but little is achieved without money, so the reverse generally holds.

A main problem that any Government has is that roughly 10% of all taxes ends up going towards servicing interest on loans the UK has received, (it’s now almost as much as the entire spend on education). This includes paying you your interest on your UK Government Bonds and Gilts or National Savings. As it is just the interest (not actually repaying the debt) market responses to a Budget can increase this considerably.

I’m not sure that I can really comment on the Budget without getting ‘political’, but … I think it’s a pity that:

Young people attempting to buy a home were not given any good news
The Landlord tax will likely only increase rents, which seems entirely counter-productive
Tax relief on pensions could have been simplified to a single rate for all
Working taxes are punishing work and are overly complicated. If you want to get people spending, raise the personal allowance and give it to everyone irrespective of income. I’d be bold with this
NI needs to be sorted properly and with gumption, employers have seen enormous increases in staffing costs, which results in both inflation and reduced new hires as well as possibly redundancies. I don’t know what the solution is, but I think I would amalgamate it into income tax
Small farms haven’t had any relief of note, these people feed us and look after the countryside and are being squeezed on their own margins. I think the £5m exemption would seem fairer
There is about £11bn of uncollected corporation tax that is hidden offshore by multinationals. This can and should be collected
I’m curious to know how EV mileage will be monitored
We need to encourage entrepreneurs who take a risk to start a business and employ people in good jobs with good salaries which generate tax. So the cut in reliefs isn’t helpful
Clearly tax simplification isn’t that simple

To me, tax is a bit like someone who plants a tree for future generations to sit in its shade, whilst never doing so themselves. It’s a price paid to the future.

I don’t pretend to have the answers and it is very easy to criticise a Government. I rewatched the disastrous Kwasi Kwarteng Budget of September 2022. I would imagine that most people would actually agree with his policies to reduce income taxes and welcome many of his proposals at the time, but we are beholden to the servicing of debt on the Bond market. All Chancellors are subject to the wisdom of Proverbs 22:7 “The borrower is a slave to the lender”. [For your interest – it is generally believed that King Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs.]

Anyway, perhaps you have some thoughts of your own?

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What’s Your Opinion About the Budget?Jemima Thomas2025-11-27T14:28:54+00:00

Would you be hit by a Wealth Tax?

Dominic Thomas
July 2025 • 4 min read

Would you be hit by a Wealth Tax?

We live in a world that is lurching towards fascism, which is largely due to the failure of centrist Governments to address the inequalities in our society. Whilst evidently aware that the UK overspends and hasn’t enough income each year to continue to provide the services that we expect, sadly this Government, much like those before it, is adamantly refusing to tax the very wealthy (those with more than £10m of assets). Instead, they are taking a wrecking ball to the working and middle classes and small businesses with tax upon tax.

Plans to raise even more from inheritance tax (IHT)

We know that inheritance tax is unpopular and probably not because of the amount it raises (which is a fraction of taxes, accurately less than 1% of the total £857,821m) but rather more to do with the approach that Government simply taxes you again, taking bites out of the same money. Your savings have already suffered income tax, capital gains tax and possibly stamp duty and VAT, yet also finally succumb to inheritance tax.

The Fake Exodus

The failure of the current Chancellor, who in fairness is just as ineffective as all her predecessors over the last 40 years or so, is unable to appreciate the biases that she has – an inability to believe that taxing a few people more will not cause them to leave the UK with a proper wealth tax. Pandering to right wing reports of an “exodus” of millionaires from the UK, which is an utterly inflated and bogus interpretation of the available data, we, like the Chancellor and most politicians, are being fed the lie that we must allow the very rich to pay minimal taxes or risk their departure and then share the burden between those who remain here. In fact, our tax system is deliberately structured this way. The firm touting the narrative, seized upon by billionaire media moguls, is Henley and Partners – a company that basically specialises in servicing the ultra-rich. Its equivalent is a gun manufacturer distorting violent crime data resulting in fear and widespread gun ownership (ker-ching!) and … more violent crime.

Reality Check – Millionaires care about a thriving society too

The reality is that only 0.2% (zero point two percent) of millionaires migrate. This rate has barely altered. The Tax Justice Network and Patriotic Millionaires UK have both attempted to address this grossly deliberately misleading narrative, providing data and facts, but UK and global media outlets are rarely concerned with anything other than sensationalism and stoking division. It wouldn’t be a surprise if you had never heard of either organisation. It might surprise you to learn that 80% of UK millionaires support a 2% wealth tax. These are people who have at least £4m of net assets, which does include some of our clients.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, like those before her, has fallen for it and is pressing ahead with frozen allowances, increases to NI and tax rises for inheritance taxes in particular, impacting anyone with an investment-based pension fund (you) or a farmer (we have a few farmer clients but not many). Whilst Henley and Partners have backtracked on their false and inflammatory statements about an “exodus”, the media has not caught up and neither has Reeves.

As a result, the gradual reduction of the welfare state, the sense of distaste that most of us have for our ever-rising bills and taxes, the billionaires and ultra rich continue to build wealth and remain largely outside of scope. The constant failure of the UK Government and in particular Kier Starmer, leaves the door open for an irate electorate to vote for change, sadly the party that garners attention (thanks to a more than willing media) is that of Reform and the duplicitous Nigel Farage, who is a Trump mimic and fans the flames of fascism. For some people he is a protest vote; but the evidence suggests that he is not merely a protest. His rhetoric (backed by very wealthy individuals like Elon Musk and businesses) calls for dismantling the welfare state (including the NHS) and taking an authoritarian approach – threatening our democracy. On the rare occasions that he and his supporters admit that Brexit has failed, he states this is due to Government not going far enough (by which he means far right enough). Whilst the focus may initially be on “illegal immigrants” and abandoning plans to save our only planet, his “policies” or words will inevitably fail to address any real problems; his argument will always be that centrists (the vast majority of the electorate) didn’t allow him to go far enough, and so we are, in my view, at a crossroads. He also advocates “relaxing” gun laws and defended fascists (laughably calling them “concerned families”) attempting to burn down a hotel which may have housed asylum seekers. You know your history.

When new information comes to light, I am forced to rethink and change my mind – how about you? My role as your adviser is not to tell you how to vote, but to advise you about your wealth and how this aligns with your lifestyle and the general sense of wellbeing when contextualised within our society. Successive Governments have all largely failed most of us except the very wealthy which doesn’t include you (or me) despite our combined efforts to save, invest, grow, innovate, employ, repay debt and minimise taxes.

Instead, an employed person earning say £120,000 will have tax rates of 62% whereas I can assure you that someone with sufficient capital will be able to generate the same level of income with tax rates no higher than 28%. Taxing income and taxing wealth are not even vaguely comparable. You will note that in the diagram about tax receipts, most of those taxes are paid by working people under State Pension age.

I’m actually of no particular political persuasion, I attempt to vote for who I believe will serve our country and planet best, not necessarily my own interests. The choices today are highly influenced by media bias and false representation. Somehow, we have to pick our way through the noise and vote for decent people who hold everyone’s interests; not simply those who have a particular distorted view of monoculture, a faux respect for the protection of women and children (look at what they vote to cut) and conveniently forget our history whilst at the same time portraying a distorted view of the past. It is time for hope, not hate.

Ref: HMRC latest tax receipts: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk/hmrc-tax-receipts-and-national-insurance-contributions-for-the-uk-new-monthly-bulletin#headlines
Henley and Partners: https://www.henleyglobal.com/services
Tax Justice Network: https://taxjustice.net/press/millionaire-exodus-claim-backtracked-but-media-re-run-story-anyway/
Patriotic Millionaires UK: https://patrioticmillionaires.uk/
Who Owns the UK Media 2023 Report: https://www.mediareform.org.uk/blog/new-report-who-owns-the-uk-media
Farage defending Epping fascists: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-epping-asylum-hotel-protests-b2793289.html
Hope not Hate: https://hopenothate.org.uk/

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Would you be hit by a Wealth Tax?Jemima Thomas2025-08-13T10:19:38+01:00

Sit tight

Dominic Thomas
April 2025 • 2 min read

Sit Tight

What the global markets are currently experiencing is not new. It is only different in the sense that it’s utterly pointless and caused by one particular individual. That in itself suggests that ‘the system’ is very flawed and if I could change it I would – but I can’t and neither can you.

Our regulator would want you to know that a 10% fall has happened – it hasn’t yet, but frankly by the time you read this, it may have done. Knowing that doesn’t help. In fact, I would argue that you are better off switching off the news and social media and not looking at your portfolio at all. It’s not good for your mental health or any sense of wellbeing.

Your financial plan is designed for the long-term – the rest of your life. It is not designed for the next year, but for every year. We believe, because of the wealth of evidence from history, that markets rise and fall very suddenly, often for poor or misguided reasons. However, they always recover, given enough time (which is key). I do not like seeing the valuation of funds drop any more than you do – I can assure you. In fact, I am pretty certain I’m far more fed up with it, as it is so needless.

“Sit tight” is very easy for me to say, but it’s very hard to do, I know that. However, we have been through similar events before, lots of them. It’s never comfortable and often feels like “this time it’s different”. It is certainly different having an idiot as a President, but there are lots of similarly foolish and vile men (and some women) running countries around the world. It’s part of our lives and something we each contend with. Yes; Trump is unpredictable (other than in his capacity to lie) but even so, there is a limit to his real power. You are invested in companies around the world, many of them trade with each other and are interconnected, something that Trump will never understand. No economy is an island of penguins.

Yes, this is concerning, anyone who has invested in the last month has taken a hit on value, but it will recover. You still own and hold the same ‘stuff’, it’s just that the perceived value is lower than it was at the start of January. Attempting to ‘time the market’ is only ever easy in hindsight and requires at least two decisions, to exit and to re-enter. Neither are easy and from experience most fail to get even close (and if they do, to be honest it’s nothing more than luck as they can never repeat their achievement).

Your portfolio is global, hugely diversified and very low cost. Values will rise again once we have got through this period of self-inflicted insanity. Sadly, I have nothing good to say about the current President of the United States, or his cabinet and supporters. To me they look, speak, sound and smell very much like a fascist dictatorship, certainly it shows all the signs and actions of one in its infancy. I can only hope that his premiership and his regime ends very suddenly before the allotted time. He has no sense of decency and no understanding of history. The sooner he is gone the better.

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Sit tightJemima Thomas2025-04-11T15:47:25+01:00

IDENTITY CRISIS

TODAY’S BLOG

IDENTITY CRISIS

Confession time, I really enjoy Ben Elton’s books. His latest publication “Identity Crisis” is both hilarious and gripping. As is often the case, he wraps some serious uncomfortable truths about the world we live in, our own hypocrisy, in a blanket of comedy. He is the equivalent of Lear’s Fool, offering deeply pertinent wise observations that make you laugh.

The novel is frankly a must read for anyone with a social media account of any description. That’s you. It is set in the very near future, Britain undergoing an identity crisis and having yet another referendum, this time about the separation of England from the UK. The motivations are unclear, except for a backlash against “latte drinking liberal London lefties” and the struggle to adjust to new realities of virtual realities, multiple and changing identities. Throw in some gender politics, a dash of religious discrimination, a pinch of disenfranchisement wrapped in the ribbons and bows of a “proud heritage” and he creates a mix that leaves Politicians running for the comfort of soundbites.

Money, Sex and Power

This of course has absolutely nothing to do with financial planning. Then again, it has everything to do with financial planning. The way that money, sex and power combine to persuade people to behave in a way that may serve their baser instincts but against what is in their own interests.

Solomons IFA Blog Identity Crisis - Ben Elton

Incoming SPAM

I am sure that if you have an email account (you must do). At some point you have had various emails that have somehow bypassed your spam filters. These may offer the promise of lucrative rewards for assisting moving money around, perhaps offer a money-making scheme or threaten to expose you for something you have done, might have done, or never have done but the fishing trip alone is enough to make you wonder. We have all heard of cyber bullying and generally assume this is something that happens to children at school, where bullies now have constant access to their prey via social (unsocial) media. Yet we all know that those three pillars of money, sex and power are more vulnerable amongst the adult population, those that possess a modicum of one or more.

You may well find yourself confounded by the changing social attitudes to gender and its new fluidity, but everyone of us has an identity that we do not wish to see trashed by the prospect of blackmail, however baseless and fake. You are in my electronic address book and I in yours. So I wonder whether you have considered what a financial planner, (or any of your professional advisers) but particularly a planner that knows all about you and your money, might compromise if placed under the duress of blackmail. Not given it much thought? No neither had I until I wondered how someone that had actually done some of the things suggested in an email might have responded differently to the threat of “exposure” in exchange of payments of Bitcoins. I simply hit delete, but I did wonder how some would respond.

Hashtag Keep It Real

We all want those that we trust to be “decent” people, we know that we are all flawed. None of us wish to expose our own. Everyone has their thing. Please know that I am not remotely interested in yours and assume the same. It is this that any blackmailer preys upon – the delusion that your private life is of any significant interest. Those possessing a grasp on reality and a healthy amount of self-awareness recognise a world in which we are all flawed. Rather than face our own failings, we live in times that crowds now gather virtually around the corpse du jour, perhaps joining the mellay. Occasionally making a Game of Thrones battle look like a Sunday picnic.

So, haven given it some thought (it is a work in progress) I would encourage everyone, you and me to ignore blackmail. We are what we are, a blackmailer only wins when we pretend to be otherwise. Accept that we have a flawed identity, own the truth.

Here is Ben Elton talking about his book.

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

IDENTITY CRISISDominic2025-01-21T16:40:15+00:00

Financial Planning in a Box

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

Financial Planning in a Box

It is easy to believe that the world is an unsafe place, full of people determined to do us harm or ill. We all know about the continuing extremism and acts of terror, but are increasingly aware that the answers provided by world leaders seem misguided at “best” and “just as bad” at worst. Politics is one way we tend to divide ourselves into camps of allegiance, yet this is simply one of many ways to put each other into a box, indeed perhaps your understanding of financial planning is in a box – or a certain type of box. Perhaps we could remember more about what we share alike than what differentiates us.

Tick Box Approach

Marketing is perhaps the ultimate tool for putting us all into a specific box and if this is done to identify who might benefit from a product or service, then there’s nothing that I can see that’s wrong with it. We might exclude ourselves or be excluded for good reason, the problems come when we are excluded without any valid reason. It ought to be win-win if I am excluded from the mailing list of skydiving weekly – I have no interest in skydiving and cannot believe that this would change. Those marketing skydiving courses or related products are not wasting their resources attempting to offer me great deals. That’s a win-win as far as I can tell.

Outside the Box… or how about a different box?

So, I was challenged and encouraged by a TV advert “All That We Share” from Denmark (and no I’m not on their mailing list either!). A friend shared it and it is a great reminder that the boxes we put each other in can vary enormously, yet the media (not all) and politicians (not all) seem intent on placing us into more limited, confrontational boxes. Its title might have a message for those of us that use social media too – what we share, how and to whom. Anyway, have a look for yourself.

The financial planning angle…

What has this to do with financial planning? Well very little – except to say that your financial plan should be about your life, your values and your future, not the things you think advisers want to hear (a yacht, fast car, enormous house and huge portfolio). These might have a place in your financial plan, but until we meet to discuss it, I’d rather assume nothing and wait to hear your story.

The right fit

So, when it comes to our own marketing, we are looking for people that we can help. That means – helping to improve, organise and structure what you have better, so that it works for you, saving you time, reducing anxiety and bringing about a sense of “peace of mind”. Obviously, we need paying, which means you need to have resources to do so, but its more than that – it’s also for people that are looking for a long-term professional relationship from which we can work on your plan together.

Anyhow, here is the video.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

Financial Planning in a BoxDominic2025-01-28T13:29:12+00:00

A Day of Infamy – Alex Massie

Like any normal person, I was appalled by the murder of one of our politicians, Jo Cox, yesterday. I came across a very good piece online by Alex Massie, writing in The Spectator on this subject which he wrote yesterday. I’m not an expert in copyright and have no desire to plagiarise his content, but would simply encourage you to read it if you can.

He writes movingly and powerfully about the way the EU referendum has impacted us all. Whichever side of the debate you are on, this is one piece that is perhaps most sobering of all.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

Oh – the image I used is from the cover of 6th June, not the current one.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

A Day of Infamy – Alex MassieDominic2023-12-01T12:19:09+00:00

Money and Power

Perhaps my age is showing, but it is only day 6 of the new year and I am already fed up with the election campaign. I ought to be celebrating our democracy and the opportunity to hear reasoned arguments, however inevitably we seem stuck in a cycle of who will tax or cut most, the prospect of genuine change and improvement for all seems rather unlikely with the inevitable tension around money and power.

In a more reflective moment, I remind myself that this is not a dictatorship and we at least get to vote and I don’t really think we are at the mercy of a despot who has anger issues and a twitching finger poised over an end-all button. This isn’t the case for millions of “voters” around the world who are marched off to vote for egomaniacs. This in mind, a relatively new musical to arrive via New York at the National Theatre “Here Lies Love” is based on a 2010 concept album of the same name, which gives musicals a nightclub injection. If you think that a nightclub is exclusively for the “young” perhaps think agains as, the creators Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) is 51 and David Byrne is 62. The production has the flavour of community theatre, with the execution of high-end night club. A moving stage and audience, all combine to great effect and an entertaining, immersive experience.

Imelda Marcos

This is the story of Imelda Marcos, her rise and fall from power. Byrne and Cook wanted to explore what makes powerful people behave the way they do. I’m not so sure that this was explored terribly well, whilst displaying a delusional, drugged up Imelda, she isn’t portrayed that badly – a little bit too vanilla in Manilla – little about her excessive flamboyancy and penchant for hundreds of shoes. The story is chronological, revealing the fragility of her marriage, her inability to cope with her rags to riches story and a familar narcissism of Heads of State that seem to believe that they “give their all to their people”.

The Price of Democracy

There was little in the musical that gave me reason to believe such behaviour was understood or how to spot it in others and take precautionary action…so no tips for our elections. The world seems to have done little during the period of martial law and assassination of the opposition including the shooting of Benigno Aquino on the steps of his ill-advised return flight to Manilla on 21 August 1983 (age 50) which you may remember. In the Philippines, the Marcos regime was eventually cast out by a peaceful protest, following a corrupt election (February 1986) against Aquino’s widow following which the public simply decided enough was enough. Marcos and his family took US advice and support then fled to Hawaii along with 24 suitcases of gold bullion and jewellery. Sadly for Imelda this took precedent over her 2,700 pairs of shoes. It is estimated that Marcos stole over $10billion from the country, much was invested into various family related businesses and Swiss accounts. The Swiss have so far returned about $684 million. So for me, this musical, whilst being entertaining does little to understand how and why power corrupts so absolutely. Indeed one might argue that the catchy tunes, flashing lights distract from the real story… but then, perhaps that’s the point.

Dominic Thomas

Money and PowerDominic2023-12-01T12:39:50+00:00