Personal Finance Blogs

In the words of the John Lennon song...

“So this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun.” Yes, it is that time of year when some seemingly unavoidable introspection and self-assessment takes place. Whether it be in your personal life, work life, financial decisions, share trading success or failure, 2008 will have taught you something for good, bad, or indifferent.

I hope you do not harbour any regrets from 2008 and have a positive view of 2009. The recent economic woes may actually become worse before they get better, however I believe if this storm can be weathered and you still have the shirt (or blouse) on your back, you can congratulate yourself and move on.

I am not sure if I will write again before 2009, so this seems the appropriate time to summarise lse.co.uk’s 2008 and provide a sneak preview of 2009. Websites are often judged on the amount of people that visit them and the amount of pages they look at per month.

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The 100 most powerful people in the City, mid-Credit Crunch

If you are a business-person and your commute takes you into the City of London each day, it is likely that you have perused a copy of the CityAM newspaper. This business-focused paper today announced the ‘Power Hundred 2009’ – listing its top 100 ‘Movers ‘n’ Shakers’ in City financial circles.

Are you considering transferring your pension?

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published guidance for Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) as to what could be perceived as an inappropriate pension transfer from one provider to another. The majority of such pension transfers will be from Personal Pension schemes rather than Occupational ones.

RIP Woolworths (and my portfolio update)

So here it is, a final indication of how bad things are in late 2008. One of the most well-known UK High Street retailers, Woolworths, is being read its last rites.

With Icesave thawed, what next?

A while back, I penned an article admitting to the heinous crime of having money in Icesave, the failed Icelandic bank. This act of folly aside, my interest was then in how long the process would take to return my money, and whether their tax-free Individual Savings Account (ISA) status could be maintained upon re-investment.

Financial Advice: Trust, transparency, and shopping around

I’ll try not to be smug, however, I think this story bears repeating. One year ago a Client came to my door in his search for an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA).

What does the Pensions Act 2008 means to me as an Employer or Employee?

The Pensions Act 2008, started by the White Paper of December 2006 entitled ‘Personal Accounts: A new way to save’, has now made its way through Parliament and into legislature. From this, the Government-backed scheme of ‘Personal Accounts’ will actually commence in 2012.

Life insurance and the reformed Smoker

I receive a lot of e-mail from life insurance companies. The majority is not of interest to me, but one grabbed my attention last week. It urged me as an IFA (Independent Financial Adviser) to consider those protection (Life insurance, Critical insurance, and Income Protection) policies I advised on and arranged before the smoking ban came into force on 1st July 2007.

Rarer than the Yeti, I have spotted some excellent mortgage rates and products from 2 large lenders in the last week

It is fair to say that mortgage advice has been off my agenda since March. This is not for the want of trying, however. Being a ‘good’ IFA (Independent Financial Adviser), I have sent letters and made calls to all of my existing Clients 3 months before their existing mortgage product expired - as per my original 'Service Promise' to them.