Planning for Life Today

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37989070722921799232011-07-07T22:50:24.033-07:00Planning for Life TodayPlanning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-15412069281477428142010-03-19T17:32:00.000-07:002010-03-19T17:40:15.443-07:00The 2010 IFP Conference - four reasons to be there

We are still six months away from another superb IFP Conference at Celtic Manor but the team at Whitefriars have already announced our keynote speakers and they give a strong flavour of the main themes of the conferenceMark Tibergien, CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions, made a significant impression on those who heard him speak last year. Mark is an expert at making financial planning practices

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-67991318058168794242010-03-05T02:26:00.000-08:002010-03-05T02:39:30.961-08:00"Genuine care" must be at the centre of our service to clients

You may be financially solvent, but are you "solvent in mind and soul" and if not, who are you going to call? This is the groundbreaking question raised by Susan Galvan in her recent post, "A Fiduciary of the Heart" on the FPA's Future of Planning blog. Its a stunning question and Susan's answer hits the nail on the head.Galvan is a thought leader in the field of life and financial planning and

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-59184736692367663692010-02-24T01:31:00.000-08:002010-02-24T01:31:00.556-08:00High fees to restrict access to advice

Recent research published by Aviva adds more fuel to the debate about client services and fees triggered by the Retail Distribution Review.ICM carried out a study among 2,000 consumers at the end of 2009 for Aviva and found that only 3% of consumers will be willing to pay £100 or more per hour for independent financial advice. About half of the consumers surveyed would be unwilling to pay any

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-13192677474745715732010-02-19T06:13:00.000-08:002010-02-22T00:37:24.330-08:00FSA review to make advice less available, more expensive

The FSA's Retail Distribution Review (RDR) has the potential to affect both the availability and quality of financial advice according to Jeremy Deedes, Director of Planning for Life. This is the view emerging in the financial planning community as it debates two RDR related issues, both of which are pertinent to Planning for Life's position in the market place, and both of which give rise to two

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-37645601321116778642010-02-17T07:20:00.000-08:002010-02-17T07:39:03.381-08:00Life coaching is great, but what about the money?

In our previous post we asked:Do consumers want long term relationships with their planner?Are consumers afraid to visit a financial planner?Phil Calvert, founder of IFA Life, says in his "This is when I'll pay for financial advice" article that consumers should positively embrace a visit to a planner in spite of any short term pain and should relish a deep relationship with their planner."

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-71388467123990814502010-02-16T07:22:00.000-08:002010-02-16T10:11:27.224-08:00Are you afraid to talk to a financial planner?

Maria Nemeth is a US coach who has worked in the money arena for nearly 30 years. She is the founder and creative director of the Academy for Coaching Excellence. Her book, The Energy of Money, has been published in five languages.Yesterday she led a packed day-long workshop for financial planners organised by the West Midlands Branch of the Institute of Financial Planning. Maria started with the

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-71677854059997318332010-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:002010-02-16T23:02:31.986-08:00For better or for worse

Most of us are hoping for a more stable year in 2010 that builds on the 22% rise in equity markets in 2009.However, not all the portents are good:Weak growth in China; China growth supported global markets in 2009 and any withdrawal of support is bound to have a significant impact.The property market could stall again, as negative equity persists and the huge number of US sub-prime mortgage

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-29987842054975766092009-10-14T03:59:00.000-07:002009-10-14T04:02:31.972-07:00Times, they are not changing in some quarters

I was interested to receive an e-mail this morning that shows how times are definitely not changing in some quarters. The advert, aimed at financial advisers and financial planners, announced a “new range of high yielding products your clients will love, with a minimum 10% commission”; the sub-headline is “a great commission while offering all your clients want: guaranteed performance.”Further

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-11932577612706361662009-10-07T04:35:00.000-07:002009-10-09T04:45:23.780-07:00IFP Conference, Day 3

Well, it was a great night last night, with excellent food and wine provided by Celtic Manor and great entertainment from the Chepstow Male Voice Choir, Siren (wacky electronic violins) and the Casino Company. When we were designing the conference we put networking as a key benefit of the conference and it was gratifying to note that networking was still in full swing in the bar at 3 am after

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-49800320980267925902009-10-06T11:06:00.000-07:002009-10-06T11:08:30.232-07:00IFP Conference, Day 2

Well what a day! We got into full swing at 9.00 this morning with an introduction from Barry Horner, our president, who spoke of the huge opportunities for the profession, the achievements of the last year and things to look forward to in the coming year. Key amongst these is the concept of financial planning firms, which the board will develop over the next few months with a view to launching a

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-87425939864244942992009-10-05T21:51:00.000-07:002009-10-05T22:35:55.190-07:00IFP Conference, Day 1

Jeremy reports from the Institute of Financial Planning annual conference at Celtic Manor, near Cardiff. Jeremy is there both as a Certified Financial Planner looking for technical updates, ideas and people who can help to develop Planning for Life and its services, and as a Member of the IFP Board and Conference Committee responsible for organising the conference.This was always going to be a

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-49453386719636983802009-09-18T08:03:00.000-07:002009-09-18T09:05:47.362-07:00Jeremy Deedes stands for re-election to the Board of the Institute of Financial Planning

Jeremy Deedes today announced his intention to stand for a second three year term as a member of the Board of the Institute of Financial Planning. He has been proposed by Board President Barry Horner and seconded by Neil Bailey who also sits on the Board.Jeremy sought the views of a number of Board members before making the decision to stand again, offering to withdraw if anyone felt they would

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-56550383789794051882009-09-17T09:22:00.000-07:002009-09-18T09:29:47.386-07:00IFP Branch Chair's meeting

Jeremy writes:I attended the annual meeting of the IFP's Branch Chairmen today in my capacity as chair of the Membership committee of the IFP Board. The purpose of this is to update the BCs, exchange views on how we might improve the branches and to start the process of developing the branch programmes for 2010.As usual, it was a very constructive day, with many good ideas brought to the table as

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-89052581217137241452009-09-15T09:50:00.000-07:002009-09-18T10:06:14.992-07:00The joys of a trip to London in the torrential rain!

Jeremy writes:This was for an IFP Membership Committee in the morning, followed by an IFP full Board meeting in the afternoon, followed by a specialist sub-committee meeting, then a brief meeting with George Kinder who is in London to deliver workshops and presentations.Our start time had been put back to 10.30 (thanks, Kerri), which meant the 8.00 train from York - reasonably civilised.Our

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-37510450271304627392009-09-07T10:08:00.000-07:002009-09-18T10:16:35.645-07:00Financial Planning Week and financial planning - a life changing experience

Today is the start of the second annual Financial Planning Week organised by the IFP.We mark this occasion with the following brief item to remind readers of what financial planning is all about:Money is central to our lives; from birth to death it shapes the way we live. Ever present, it will have a bearing on most decisions we make in life. Money and life are so deeply entwined that the promise

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-34101959113229155402009-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:002009-09-18T08:03:40.138-07:00The holidays are over

Jeremy writes:Alex went back to school today, after an inordinately long holiday of 10 weeks, and whilst it has left us all frazzled we did enjoy ourselves.Routine and normality return, at last.

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-89805443156531396852009-07-31T09:30:00.000-07:002009-09-18T09:49:38.240-07:00Our new services finally launched

Well, launched is probably too strong a word, but we finally put almost six months research, development and design work to bed.Over the years we have been gradually reducing our dependence on commission, and certainly for the last three or four years our charging structure has centred on fund based renewal income. However, investment management is only a small part of our service to clients.

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-24117028568798389592009-07-07T07:41:00.000-07:002009-07-07T07:53:47.251-07:00George Kinder inspires UK financial planners

It is a while since my last post - its been an extremely busy month, but during June George Kinder held his customary UK two-day Seven Stages of Money Maturity workshop, closely followed by a five-day Lighting the Torch workshop.Judging by the chatter on the net, both were exceptionally well received and I want to take the opportunity to endorse much of what planners have said in their messages.

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-39612481275976737862009-06-01T00:01:00.000-07:002009-06-06T02:39:14.884-07:00Understanding in just two hours

Today, 1 June, we launch Mapmaker in response to the requests we have had for a fast, unencumbered financial planning service. Mapmaker will help you become financially well organised with a thorough understanding of your financial situation, and a clear strategic way ahead. And if you are a self help person with a long-standing intention to sort out your finances but never seem to get round to

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-34021173021137801612009-05-29T02:56:00.000-07:002009-05-29T02:58:27.989-07:00Self help books

The topic of self help books came up on one of our professional forums yesterday. The question was, which self help books would you recommend and why? A few responses had been posted, to which I added that I would of course agree that George Kinder’s Seven Stages of Money Maturity is a profoundly important book and very helpful for dealing with the financial side of personal development, but its

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-92058986094976076482009-05-25T03:42:00.000-07:002009-05-25T03:42:00.713-07:00What will Planning for Life look like four years from now?

This is a leading question and we have spent much of the last two weeks trying to answer it by developing a farsighted and radical business plan for Planning for Life.For most people, 2012 is the London Olympics. For us it is also the year the Financial Services Authority inspired Retail Distribution Review (RDR) will come to fruition. The RDR is likely to change the face of retail financial

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-59870399172067478422009-05-22T02:21:00.000-07:002009-05-22T03:42:10.239-07:00Your key to succesful entrepreneurialism

"The primary role of the entrepreneur is to create more life for him or herself"These well known words of Michael Gerber are profoundly important to the entrepreneurial psyche. For most entrepreneurs, it is not about money - it is about freedom.In providing life and financial planning help to our many entrepreneur and solo-preneur clients we have observed that there are three key elements to

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-58346104950287491772009-05-21T06:27:00.000-07:002009-05-21T06:27:00.589-07:00Battle of wills?

Apparantly the recent falls in property and equity values are having unexpected consequences for the beneficiaries of some estates, leading to a marked rise in the number of contested wills.Julia Rangecroft of McCormicks Solicitors in Harrogate, in a recent interview for the Yorkshire Post, said that in the last six months she has seen an increase in the number of inquiries about rights to

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-29417442013453726372009-05-20T04:58:00.000-07:002009-05-20T06:22:49.036-07:00There's something about Newcastle...

Newcastle is a wonderful place, and the Geordies love to see you there. There are plenty of excellent road signs directing you into Newcastle, Gateshead and the Metro Centre, where I had to get to for an investment workshop yesterday. However, they are evidently very reluctant to let you out, judging by the paucity of signs pointing you in the direction of exit routes. Even the signs that are

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-26744175446990271522009-05-13T12:24:00.000-07:002009-05-20T00:41:59.401-07:00When it comes to estate planning should our clients really be the children, not their parents?

Estate planning and wealth transfer is often a low priority for the senior generations, because inheritance tax is not understood, death is a taboo subject and “as I am going to spend it there won’t be any left anyway and even if there is I won’t be worrying about family in-fighting when I am gone”.In fact, estate planning and inheritance tax mitigation is fairly straightforward and with a little

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-59536349318325176582009-05-13T01:00:00.000-07:002009-05-13T01:27:15.832-07:00Noelle's Cottages - the best holiday cottages in England

Congratulations to our clients Tim and Noelle Thornton on their fantastic success in winning the “Self Catering Holiday of the Year” category at the national “Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2009.”Following their success, after a lot of hard work, in winning the Best in Yorkshire Award last year, Tim and Noelle were eligible to enter the national awards this year held, appropriately, in York

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-59150490763142249382009-05-06T12:44:00.000-07:002009-05-06T12:44:00.890-07:00Ali Brown and the internet

I am very grateful to my life planner, Phil Dyer, for introducing me to Ali Brown. Ali Brown is a successful entrepreneur who has developed an intensive course in internet marketing strategies (The Online Blueprint Success System) and both Phil (in his office in Maryland) and I are both ploughing through this at the moment.What’s brilliant about Ali is that she starts with a conventional

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-12224402933939571272009-05-06T05:32:00.000-07:002009-05-06T05:39:21.952-07:00The financial crisis in pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you are still in doubt about the financial crisis, its causes, course and effects, then click here to see a superb piece of work from freelance designer Jess Bachman, who has created this Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis (use zoom controls to enlarge the picture).

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-49394220418927214882009-05-05T12:40:00.000-07:002009-05-05T12:40:00.412-07:00Searching for a niche

Since inception our business strategy here at Planning for Life has been one of differentiation. To that end we have used our life planning expertise as a way of positioning ourselves differently from the bulk of financial planners. This has manifested itself in our service, our brochures and our website amongst other things. To a degree it has been reasonably successful.However I was forcibly

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-24264275003830052472009-05-04T12:28:00.000-07:002009-05-04T12:28:00.708-07:00What are we going to do about the children?

The subject of inheritance tax and estate planning came up in a meeting with clients today, as it so often does. The couple in question admitted to being very uncertain about estate planning and the distribution of their estates in their wills. Not only that, but they each had different views on what they should do and admitted that they kept changing their minds about the issue.Having spent

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-72367793417083348622009-05-01T12:10:00.000-07:002009-05-01T12:10:00.820-07:00The joy of clients

Amongst all the doom and gloom of a shrinking economy, falling stock markets and higher taxes, it was good to be forcibly reminded this afternoon that the job of life and financial planning is both deeply rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable.It was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to discuss the deepest and most personal thoughts of clients who came in for their annual review, and to work out

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-30940814334835114792009-04-30T12:04:00.000-07:002009-05-01T01:22:56.615-07:00The Budget and higher earners

We have spent much of the last week working through the implications of the Budget and in particular the impact on higher earners. This comes in the form of both higher rates of tax of up to 50 per cent and a loss of tax relief on pension contributions. The mathematics of bands and the degrading of the personal allowance with rising income means that in some instances taxpayers could be paying a

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-50807928897961156012009-04-29T01:43:00.000-07:002009-04-30T05:13:09.384-07:00Our monthly marketing meeting

We held our regular monthly marketing meeting today with Sarah from Sarah Lamper PR who looks after our press and publicity. As we develop our business plan for the company these meetings become more and more involved and rewarding. Much of this meeting was spent brainstorming our proposed new services, thinking in particular about names for the services, tag lines, the client proposition and

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-51203643457265637452009-04-23T06:15:00.000-07:002009-04-23T06:40:58.225-07:002009 Budget summary

The following summary of the 2009 Budget has been compiled by Andrew Wenzel of WENZ Financial Planning (01367 250237), who deserves thanks and praise for his sterling work in plowing through all the papers to extract the meat. As usual, espescially as it is only a day since the Budget, this should not be regarded as comprehensive or complete. More "details" will no doubt emerge over the next few

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-29007151823504202382009-04-22T08:55:00.000-07:002009-04-22T11:07:33.097-07:00The 2009 Budget

Today is budget Day. I am very wary of commenting so soon after the Chancellor has packed up his briefcase and returned to the refuge of Number 11, but there is more than enough in today’s speech to warrant a brief tirade. These days we have to wait for quite some time to get the really bad news (or detail, as it is often called) so there will no doubt be more comments to come.The background to

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-46555217271103779142009-04-22T07:05:00.000-07:002009-04-30T04:32:34.696-07:00Back from holiday

Well, its great to be back in the office, albeit a day late. We had a wonderful time in south South Africa (see the Deedes Diaries), although marred by the theft of our cameras, phones, bags and other items from our rooms whilst we slept. It took all day yesterday to deal with Hiscox insurance but the incident was efficiently sorted out by thier loss adjusters, who gave us clearence to pick up

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-67843866867529462802009-03-30T08:05:00.000-07:002009-03-31T09:09:56.189-07:00A more canny younger generation?

As financial planners, we were delighted to read the Year Two findings of The MoneySense Panel - an unprecedented five year survey of over 9,000 young people, aged 12-19 years, examining the effectiveness of financial education - which were unveiled this week . The survey looks at earnings, budgeting, debt, and hopes and aspirations for their future finances. The results from this year's Survey

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-32896052246442472852009-03-25T12:07:00.000-07:002009-03-25T12:14:55.922-07:00Working with our professional partners

Today was one of those mornings that make this profession so worthwhile. The event was a tripartite meeting with clients, ourselves and solicitors to thrash out an estate and inheritance tax plan for the clients.It involved the full range of legal and financial planning skills, with debate and discussion to ensure the client’s wishes could be fulfilled efficiently, economically and tax

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-67179697926610585372009-03-24T12:15:00.000-07:002009-03-25T12:29:51.052-07:00The IFP North of England Conference

Today the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) hosted the first North of England Financial Planning Conference at Oulton Hall near Leeds.My involvement was substantial, including giving a presentation in the morning to my fellow planners on the benefits of providing a life planning service to a niche market known as “freeformers” - a phrase coined by Richard Duvall and Robert Alexander of Zopa (

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-70586858677218042082009-03-20T12:30:00.000-07:002009-03-25T14:47:07.569-07:00Investment matters and professional partners

For some while we have been looking at introducing our wealthier clients to private banking and discretionary portfolio management, and it was a pleasure to welcome Chris from UBS Private Banking to the office to meet some of our clients today.These services will give clients access to a wider range of asset classes, enabling them to benefit from the risk reduction that this wider range would

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-70821169069586584602009-03-19T02:12:00.000-07:002009-03-20T01:30:45.469-07:00Changes to Premium Bond Prizes

On the 1st March 2009 National Savings & Investment (NS & I) announced that they will be changing the distribution of one of the two monthly Premium Bond £1m jackpot prizes.This change, which comes into force with the April prize draw, will result in one of the £1m jackpot prizes being replaced by a wider mix of prizes allowing more people to win, but still retaining the chance of winning the big

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-48155257921181256602009-03-13T03:59:00.000-07:002009-03-13T04:22:15.184-07:00Why QE is bad for pensions

Dr Ros Altmann - not someone known for pulling her punches when it comes to Government policy on pensions - has written an Article for IFA Life on the impact of the Government’s Quantitative Easing policy.She argues forcibly that buying Gilts instead of corporate bonds makes no sense at all.One of her reasons is the impact on pensions. Just a few quotes make the point:“...many taxpayers are also

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-29925716794951253522009-03-09T04:06:00.000-07:002009-03-09T04:12:07.603-07:00An introduction to quantitative easing

The FT has produced a short film to explain quantitative easing, the Bank of England's latest policy initiative to get the economy moving.Quantitative Easing Explained

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-88887786359982740692009-03-08T12:54:00.000-07:002009-03-11T02:53:56.891-07:00Equities v Bonds

Some interesting research by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates is published in the Journal of Indexes.Arnott has compared the relative performance of equity and bond indices over the long term (as reported by John Authers in the FT). The research relates to US data and shows that at the end of last week the S&P 500 index (a more relevant index than the Dow Jones) had fallen by 64.4% in real

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-50943580738312111592009-03-05T05:06:00.000-08:002009-03-08T05:30:28.510-07:00Options for income

The Bank of England cut interest rates by half to 0.5% pa today, and embarked on a programme of quantitative easing ("printing money" by writing cheques on itself to buy corporate bonds). The cut will probably make little difference, although it is arguable that as interest rate bills come down lower borrowing costs will be a disincentive to households to reduce debt. The outlook, though, is for

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-74449350542078459852009-03-05T04:55:00.000-08:002009-03-08T05:00:44.575-07:00The cost of buying missing State pension years is going up next month

From April 2010 the Government is changing the way that entitlement to the basic State pension is calculated. People will require fewer ‘qualifying years’ but the cost of buying any missing years will increase from 6 April 2009. Currently, the full basic State pension for a single ‘qualifying’ person is £90.70 a week. Worryingly 70 percent of women and 15 per cent of men do not qualify for the

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-65498837238688611432009-03-03T10:14:00.000-08:002009-03-04T10:50:30.661-08:00A long-term, structural devaluation in equities

Markets fell to new lows yesterday and the Price Earnings Ratio (PER) on the FTSE 100 Index is now just 7x earnings.Clarification: this means that, in order to buy the Index, you will have to pay seven times annual earnings per share on the index.In context: at the end of 1999, at the market's then peak, you had to pay around 30x earnings to buy the index. Over the longer term the average PER has

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-81013136150922183482009-02-25T22:25:00.000-08:002009-02-28T03:43:06.387-08:00Religious values in public life

Yesterday, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, the BBC published a poll that shows 62% of those questioned want religion and the values derived from it to play an important role in British public life. Even 40% of those with no religion felt this way.More specifically, 63% of those questioned agreed that the laws of this country should respect and be influenced by the UK's religious values, a

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-4948265003041683632009-02-25T01:21:00.000-08:002009-02-26T01:52:41.736-08:00Life goals and financial planning again

Much of today was spent helping a couple from London make difficult decisions about whether to move to another country and if so what to do with their London house in the context of a very difficult property market.As usual the decision was made much more simple by referring back to the client’s profound life goals and applying fundamental financial planning principles relating to debt, financial

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-86392980196031662372009-02-23T09:01:00.000-08:002009-02-23T09:55:58.845-08:00New services

We are in the process of carrying out a major review of our business plan at the moment to take advantage of the many opportunities we see coming up in financial services.This includes the development of new services, and we are designing a “2-hour special” for people wishing to carry out a very compressed financial planning exercise, a sort of financial health check but oriented towards the

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-72724778127342161042009-02-21T02:30:00.000-08:002009-02-23T02:46:49.350-08:00Coalface financial planning

A meeting with clients this morning was a classic example of life and financial planning in operation.The question under discussion was retirement - now, in five years time, or at some point in between.The decision to gradually reduce work commitments to nil over the next two years was fairly straightforward and centered on earlier work done to develop deep personal goals; in support, detailed

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-55687589786355897032009-02-20T16:05:00.000-08:002009-02-23T01:28:25.204-08:00Building the profession of financial planning in the UK

Today involved another trip to Bristol in my capacity as an Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) Board member.Each year we shuffle our roles on the Board as some members leave and new members join. This year I was asked to chair the Membership Committee, one of the three working committees of the main Board. We met for the first time today and since we were all new to the Committee we took the

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-49961861286322829762009-02-19T08:57:00.000-08:002009-02-19T09:20:57.438-08:00Letter from New England

I met Robin Young of Northstar Financial Planning on my life planning course in Boston, and we have remained in contact. Robin kindly sends me a copy of her client newsletters, and I found the opening paragraphs of her latest edition both moving and inspiring, and so I reproduce them here:“Dear Clients and Friends, February in New England - a month seemingly far away from both the upcoming

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-59050514971275356372009-02-19T04:58:00.000-08:002009-02-19T09:15:55.284-08:00Transact can be such a pain...

Both Jeremy and I lost it with Transact this morning.We both love the system. Generally, its simple and efficient. However, this morning we wanted to invest cash held in Cash ISAs for a couple of clients, which means moving the cash to their Stocks and Shares ISAs first then investing it. We assumed this could be done by a simple secure email, but were told by Transact we had to get the clients

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-58252969600066317912009-02-18T07:28:00.000-08:002009-02-19T09:17:00.849-08:00Our regular staff meeting

We held our regular staff meeting this morning to discuss the last quarter. Most aspects of the business seem to be working well, although income had dropped off marginally in the last three months. This reflects the fact that a number of our clients are still paying us by asset value fees; we resolved that we must make greater progress in moving clients across to the retainer basis, a process we

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-57404405742246528722009-01-19T00:48:00.000-08:002009-02-18T07:28:13.436-08:00Maximising your assets?

Reprinted from Lifelines, 17 September 07. How things have changed!This morning I received a very smart invitation from a firm of solicitors to attend their "Wealth Management Evening". These come through my letterbox from time to time, usually from large organisations using Inheritance Tax as an excuse for selling single premium bonds.This one was different. It was a wide ranging and interesting

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798907072292179923.post-34204217068033648382009-01-17T10:38:00.000-08:002009-02-18T00:54:39.362-08:00Appreciative inquiry

Taken from Lifelines, 2 April 2007You are a Certified Financial Planner, at the pinnacle of your profession and responsible for helping your clients make life critical decisions about their finances. Although you have done an outstanding job for your clients - and indeed your clients are utterly amazed that anyone like you even exists in the sordid world of financial services - you have a

Planning for Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737985256158580831noreply@blogger.com0