6th June 10
The Financial Advice sector is due to undergo a major change on 1st January 2013. Bar Insurance (I.e. Life & Critical Illness) and Mortgages, the way an Adviser is remunerated will move from produc...
Read More26th May 10
Volatility...not Grease ...has been the word over the last few days in relation to the Stockmarket. As a Private Investor – not a Trader (day or otherwise) – run for the hills! But seriously, thi...
Read More23rd May 10
In one of the TV breaks tonight, a new Paul Whitehouse ad popped up. You know the ones - good characters, quite watchable...nicely funding his pension plan. Of course, it was for Aviva , advert...
Read More19th May 10
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) today published its Complaints data for the period 1.4.09 to 31.3.10. As an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), I am happy to note that the proportion o...
Read More13th May 10
My dear Mum recently celebrated her 65th birthday. It dawned on me that she is now entitled to an enhanced Personal Tax Allowance – the amount of money she can ‘earn’ before paying tax. The allo...
Read More11th May 10
I really, really thought I had seen everything in the markets, but last Thursday had to be marked down as new. The Dow plunged a thousand points in a few minutes. Why? Although it was already ...
Read More9th May 10
Today, I could be mostly stating the obvious! (Credit to The Fast Show ) Income Replacement Insurance aka Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) aka Income Protection...whatever term you use, this is vi...
Read More3rd May 10
“...and now for a little bit of Politics”, or words to that effect. An Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) talking about Politics...hmmm. I’m probably wholly under-qualified to have an opinion on ...
Read More21st April 10
Truly off-topic in Personal Finance terms, but I have witnessed the tremendous work put in by the lse.co.uk staff over the last week or so to re-launch the Premium Services section. If you click ...
Read More8th April 10
I've seen some real heartbreak stories on the bulletin boards and mailed to me regarding the huge markdowns in some of the Falkland Island oil shares. For instance, shares such as Desire Petrol...
Read More5th April 10
I had a visit from the ‘National Sales Manager’ of a Carbon Credit investment company on Thursday last. The lady was personable, enthusiastic, and possessed a foundation level of knowledge in direc...
Read More30th March 10
This time last year, the FTSE100 stood at the 4,000 mark or thereabouts. Today (31.3.10), it closed at 5,672. The 1,672-odd point difference represents a rise greater than 40%. An extreme perio...
Read More15th March 10
By December 31st 2012, Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) will need to make two potentially major changes/improvements to their businesses. These are: 1. To achieve a ‘Diploma’ level of professi...
Read More10th March 10
It looked at one point last month that 2010 was going to see the return of lots of new issues to the market. That is, companies hoping to ‘float’ on the stock market. There were one or two of the...
Read More24th February 10
Apologies for my pre-occupation with Pensions in this Blog of late, although I have come across a couple of interesting scare-mongering (possibly) developments in the last week. The first was in ...
Read More17th February 10
I presented to 25 local business-people this morning on various financial advice topics. One was headed ‘At Retirement’. The heading is self-explanatory, although there are two issues worth mentio...
Read More10th February 10
Hello again. You may have noticed that we removed the Personal Finance section from lse.co.uk. I thought this Blog section had gone too...but is seemingly the Blog that shall not die! Hardly a so...
Read More17th December 09
It is the time of you to review our successes, challenges, and progress made. It is perfect timing, then, to suggest my top 10 points of ‘Best Practice’ to ensure that you have a good 2010 in Persona...
Read More9th December 09
I caught the last 5-10 minutes of a consumer programme about failed insurance claims on ITV on Monday evening. I will only comment on the part I watched, which focussed on a gentleman who was dys...
Read More1st December 09
Legal & General, Hargreaves Lansdown, and Money Mail recently produced a natty little table showing the relative monetary merits of saving into a Pension or an ISA (Individual Savings Account). The...
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