August marked the 39th anniversary of Philip J Milton & Company, so we thought we’d take a short look back at what has changed and some momentous 1985 events.
Founder Philip Milton was born and bred in North Devon – he left school aged 16, joined one of the leading high street banks locally and quickly gained his banking qualifications.
He founded Philip J Milton & Company in 1985, starting out from a room at his parents’ home in Georgeham.
Since then, the Company has become one of the largest independent financial advisory and wealth management firms in the area, now managing more than £1/4billion for clients.
We trust we have a reputation to reflect that success for itself, our staff and most importantly for all of our loyal clients.
Philip would like to thank all the team for their input into that achievement and the journey over the years.
Continuing the anniversary theme, a recent report from Chancery Lane seems to disprove more conventional ‘wisdom’, by suggesting that ‘Investment Trusts outperform total return portfolios, passives and annuities even in an inflationary environment’.
As clients know, as independents we are not tied to any particular products and can use ‘anything’ to help achieve outcomes for our clients – it makes no difference to us – just what is best for clients.
However, these results could raise very challenging questions of other advisers who do not use Investment Trusts for their clients.
One most fascinating result (of which we were well aware but not quantified) is that over 37 years from 1986, dividend income from Investment Trusts was the same or higher than the prior year 97% of the time.
Just think of the various national and global calamities which we have faced over that time as well…
So on that note, who remembers 1985, our founding year? It was a year of many global happenings, sadly not all good but let’s take a short stroll down memory lane…
On the financial front, the FTSE Allshare index was at 1412 at end of 1985 and is now 8263 (income and costs ignored) so a gain of 485%.
Inflation means that £10 in 1985 would now have to be £30.01(or the real value has deteriorated to only £3.33). The Pound stood at a low of $1.11 against the Dollar at the start of the year.
But it was also the year of Live Aid, with concerts organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure on July 13 to raise money for relief of the famine in Ethiopia.
Wembley Stadium in London held 72,000 people and featured icons of the day including Queen and David Bowie, while John F. Kennedy Stadium in Pennsylvania hosted 100,000 and featured Madonna and The Beach Boys among others.
In January, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President of the United States for a second term – later in the year history would be made when the presidents of the US and Soviet Union met for the first time as Mr Reagan met Mikhail Gorbachev.
Later, President Reagan would begin imposing sanctions on South Africa for its apartheid regime.
In February, EastEnders premiered on BBC television, while in March, the Miners’ Strike ended after a year. The first internet domain name was registered – symbolics.com.
In May, Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
Great Scott! In July, the hugely popular movie ‘Back to the Future’ was released. Meanwhile, the bill to abolish the Greater London Council received royal approval.
In September, the Mexico City earthquake claimed the lives of an estimated 10,000 people.
In November, Garry Kasparov became the youngest World Chess Champion, at 22. Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released.
We hope you enjoyed a quick reminisce on 1985 and in the coming months we shall have to see what we can do to celebrate our Ruby Anniversary next year!
