Dear Friend
SAVING PEOPLE FROM THEMSELVES
It is very hard doing that sometimes. It doesn’t matter how hard we try, the pretty advertisement promoted by some TV celebrity (adverts of which they are oblivious) saying how much of a fortune they have made from the latest scam still sounds more appealing to some people than sensible investments which can go up and down in value. Why do people do it? Really, these promotions should read “I wish to steal your money, will you please send me money. We aren’t regulated so there is no protection when you realise this is a basic scam and I’ll be long gone before anyone catches-up with me. Hey, you’ll enjoy some initial excitement, imagining for a moment how you will double your money in just a few months and it will solve all your financial problems, let you have some wonderful lifetime experience holidays and cruises, buy that Italian holiday home in the mountains or that French gite, pay off the mortgage, change the car, buy a boat and allow you to treat the children, save your marriage and…“ Please don’t be tempted. If you do have surplus money above what you need day-to-day and for emergencies, invest it sensibly with us. We’ll deal with all the boring regulatory issues, spread your eggs around and construct a ‘portfolio’ for you and at the moment, there are some great bargains out there. And yes, we are regulated and that is no small cost for us. We also have to buy Professional Indemnity insurance against negligence or other unanticipated failures too, a sum which has increased 20% this year on the back of industry-wide claims through complaints and compensation. I should not be surprised if our firm’s bill increases to a six-figure sum in a few years’ time and all for your protection.
How else do we try to ‘save people from themselves’? As you will know, we have ‘rescued’ the many unfortunate investors from collapsed Organic Investment Management Plc. We are working hard to help these poor people secure compensation but it will take time as the total losses are not known. The average client is quite small but a few have much larger sums. We are doing all we can and are working with the Regulator, the Compensation Scheme with which we have direct contact and the Financial Ombudsman Service to secure redress. We are doing all of the generic work as a free service and any compensation is all the clients’. We have told these clients NOT to appoint claims’ management companies – ‘claims’ chasers’ as they are out to line their own pockets and frankly, at this stage they are not needed. They will take up to 40% of any compensation these poor afflicted clients receive. They don’t know as much as we do nor about the latest state of play as we do. Sadly, last week we were informed that a client with a larger pension has instructed a small outfit in Edinburgh which has not yet secured full regulatory consent by the FCA. Its last reported accounts showed a deficit and I have been threatened by the main man there (in theory he is not involved – his family runs the firm). What is so wrong is that if this client continues with that, she could lose £50,000, yes, £50,000 of her compensation. If she bides her time and lets us work with her she will receive the full compensation for herself. What can we do? Many of these CMCs are predatory and the sales staff will say anything to secure a signature, arranging couriers to call at clients’ homes and pretending we have engaged them for clients – which we have not. We have reported several to the Regulator already.
Well done to Felix for making it into the New Model Advisers’ top Young Advisers’ category again this year! It still surprises us how few financial advisers have many qualifications in their specialist fields these days – much better than it used to be but still there are many who have only just done the basics. Experience is imperative but if you don’t have the specialist qualifications to back-up your general knowledge and also to prove that you can study a subject…. It is interesting how in the comments some rather longer in the tooth advisers are defending not having the exams… we believe that as a professional firm, it is imperative to prove the pedigree, to continue learning and improving what we know and can do and to be frank, if you are not, you are going backwards. https://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/10-next-gen-ifas-pitch-goals-for-the-profession/a1228855?re=64517&ea=367898&utm_source=BulkEmail_NMA_Daily_Summary&utm_medium=BulkEmail_NMA_Daily_Summary&utm_campaign=BulkEmail_NMA_Daily_Summary#i=1
I am sorry to hear of it but yet again another scam has been uncovered, a company called GPG (previously Dolphin Trust) which may have taken £600million from investors. Why, oh why do people do it? Why would a nice salesman promise to double your meagre pension fund in just a few years when the attraction to him is a 20% commission as of course he isn’t regulated and so can get away with anything? I am very sorry for these people but why, oh why do they trust their money to such entities as this? What makes me the angriest is that as a Firm we spend so much time, money and resources on being properly regulated, properly qualified and contributing considerable sums to industry-wide protection schemes and yet these members of the public shun our ‘proper’ industry for some reason and respond to rubbish like this. A few months ago it was LCF where the selling organisation took 25% of every penny subscribed. Fraudsters work on the premise of ‘there is one born every minute’ – but please – why do people do it? Entrust an independent professional. Remember – the word is TRUST. Just how much is that worth? It may save your life. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48363794
Who remembers the 1999/2000 tech bubble? For the FTSE100, what marked its artificial success at that time (a level which it has hardly exceeded even now, some nineteen years later), was Vodafone. It was the Apple, Tesla, Uber, Google, Twitter, Amazon… of its day, fuelled by the latest in mobile telephony and the prospects which the roll-out of ‘the latest G’ licences would bring. There was no stopping the sector and at the same time, old industry’s shares were dumped unceremoniously. Vodafone breached £4 a share but since then, where have they been? Yes, it’s a different company now but so many of those hopes and dreams for the sector have been more than fulfilled but here we are, with the shares languishing not much above £1.25. Will the names above experience the same and rather than the present growth multiples ‘justifying’ these astronomic valuations, shall we look back in nineteen years and wonder how on earth we tolerated and encouraged such exuberant valuations? When Vodafone peaked, the total value of the company was minuscule compared to some of these trillion-dollar beasts. Something ‘going wrong’ would suddenly make the financial world realise that for these companies it is a long way down. I’m not saying it will happen (though I have said for some time that I believe modern tech stocks, especially in the US, are over-blown at the moment regardless) but memories are often too short. Conversely, there are some ridiculously cheap ‘boring’ stocks out there which will still be in business in a few years’ time.
Thank you again for the unsolicited endorsement. The Company is rated ‘strong’ of which apparently only 1,200 independent financial advisers are. We are in the top 200 for profitability, the 136th most valuable and one of the fastest growing. We have been rated ‘best trading partner’ – Plimsoll’s highest award and are named in two exceptional performance categories. Thank you to our staff team and all our clients over the years who have all helped us achieve what we represent now!
RISK WARNING
Stock market investments can offer income through the payment of dividends and interest and good opportunities for capital appreciation over the longer term. By this, generally we mean periods in excess of five years, preferably much longer. However, we can never promise you particular returns, especially in the short-term. At any point in time but especially in the short term, your capital could be worth less than the original amount invested as some of the selected holdings may fall in value, regardless of expectations at the time of acquisition. We may also invest in funds that hold overseas securities. The value of these investments may increase or decrease as a result of changes in currency exchange rates. Returns achieved in the past cannot be relied upon to be repeated.
To remind you, why do I send out occasional emails? Because everyone can save money. We have no connection with any companies mentioned and you have to make your own contacts and satisfy your own enquiries. What is in it for us? If we can prove that we are knowledgeable and that our service and advice have good value, then you might contact us for professional financial planning and investment help. You don’t have to do that though and there’s no charge for emails. If simply they save you money, then accept them with our compliments! However, you’ll know where we are!
If you have any queries of any form or indeed any subjects you think I could include, please contact me. I also refer you to our website www.miltonpj.net. We celebrated our thirtieth anniversary in 2015 and have been publishing a well-respected independent column in the local Paper for most of that time and free client newsletters as well.
Do not forget however the usual caveats – this is not ‘advice’ and you are encouraged to seek that before embarking upon any financial route involving investments, etc.
My best wishes
Philip J Milton DipFS CFPCM Chartered MCSI FPFS FCIB
Chartered Wealth ManagerFellow Of The Personal Finance Society, Fellow Of The Chartered Institute Of Bankers
