Our Weekly Column
Figures released by the Equity Release Council (which represents 95% of the equity release market) show that older homeowners unlocked £3.94 billion of property wealth in 2018 up 29% year on year. The market saw 46,000 new customers in 2018, an increase of 25% on 2017. The number of returning pension drawdown customers was also up 27% in 2018.
Philip’s Comments
Well there is a job based at Trimstone about to become available! It is to work for me in the role as Senior Administration Assistant to the Managing Director at Philip J Milton & Company Plc. More details can be available but you will have to be efficient, dynamic and capable and able to work on your own initiative for much of the time and with a vast array of different tasks which will be added over time. The opportunity for the right person is excellent. Some knowledge of the hospitality trade is likely to be helpful too! Please send a CV and salary expectation by email!
Our Weekly Column
Sadly, we still live in a world where there are people who do take advantage of the vulnerable for their own financial gain. Our financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) who monitor ourselves and over 58,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, confirm that they have seen a five-fold rise in the number of people seeking advice about pension scams, since the launch of their recent collaboration with the Pensions Regulator. Victims of pensions scams according to the Financial Reporter have lost an average of £91,000 each to fraudsters.
Philip’s Comments
Well, what can be said? Rather than a Santa rally, the markets have been torrid and Wall Street will have threatened to have had the worst December since 1931, the great crash heralding the Depression. Within the month, it fell by significant daily amounts as well as rallying on one of the lowest volume trading days of the year too to rise by the most points ever seen on one day. This volatility is not especially helpful, it has to be said, as it confuses investors in terms of the difference between short-term speculation and risk-taking and long-term investment in real assets.
Our Weekly Column
Happy New Year! As the memories of 2018 fade into the distance, our thoughts turn to what is to come in 2019. The markets have been volatile over the past year as a result of the Brexit complications with the FTSE All Share index falling by over 14% from its highest point in May, compared to its lowest point in December. We have also seen the bubble burst for the over hyped Bitcoin falling over 74% over the twelve month period. Whilst the markets have fallen (which is the nature of stock market linked investments), it is not all doom and gloom as the lower prices enable investors to buy in at a more competitive price and will hopefully reap the returns when the markets recover. However, we will have to wait and see what’s in store for 2019.
Philip’s Comments
Leading North Devon Wealth Manager and Independent Financial Advisory Firm Philip J Milton & Company Plc is delighted to have been appointed to be responsible for managing a further £55Million on behalf of over 1,600 new individual investors. This follows the suspension of the previous London-based investment manager by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in early December. Whilst the Firm was not looking specifically at this stage to increase its responsibilities in this direction, it was contacted in view of its connections, stability, trust and reputation over the thirty-three years of the Firm’s existence.
Our Weekly Column
While you are soaking up the leftover turkey, mince pies and chocolate, you might start thinking about your aims and objectives for the New Year, whether it be personal and financial. Maybe one of your goals for next year should be to invest in new financial opportunities such as stocks and shares?
Philip’s Comments
Still, this may cheer you all little. An interesting article in the Remain-focused Financial Times on 6 December noted that a strong focus on office space was confounding the pessimists. It refers to the old BT HQ where the incumbent buyer will have very significant costs of refurbishment to find when the present occupant vacates in the next three years. Priced at £200million, there were more than ten bidders with several well over the asking price and many from overseas’ climes and those looking through the short-term uncertainties from ‘Brexit’.