View Full Version : Quick Qn: Name of financial adviser at Shawbury?
Torque Tonight
18th Aug 2010, 10:53
Just a quickie:
About ten years ago when going through DHFS at RAF Shawbury an independent financial adviser used to visit the Officers' Mess once a month. He arranged the mortgage that helped me buy my first house and a fine job he did too. I would like to use his services again but I'm having a complete blank trying to remember his name or company. Searching through old paperwork and googling hasn't yielded the answer either but someone here must know. I think he was based somewhere around Birmingham and did a lot of work with the forces. Anyone? Thanks...
kharmael
18th Aug 2010, 11:00
When I went through EFT a fellow from Invesco Perpetual (http://www.invescoperpetual.co.uk/portal/site/splash-uk) came round...
Old-Duffer
18th Aug 2010, 11:22
It might be Roger Holloway of JB Financial Services (used to be Jackson Britton) in Evesham.
If you think this is y'ur man and want an address/telephone number please PM me. Roger has a strong brummie accent, if that helps with the identification!!!!
O-D
PS His predecessors were Lt Col J F G Jackson and Sqn Ldr Ted Blackwood (ex helio pilot)
RODF3
18th Aug 2010, 14:25
mike spinak?
Floppy Link
18th Aug 2010, 14:34
Brian Brock?
(from 1990ish)
Torque Tonight
18th Aug 2010, 16:50
Thank you very much for the suggestions chaps. Further loft rummaging has yielded a scrap of mouse-eaten paperwork which identifies the mystery IFA as Jonathon Plant of First Service Financial.
Military Advice (http://firstservice.ifa-web.co.uk/SBIZ/SBX01046.nsf/All+Documents/CE66279423D955408025750E0051FCA0?OpenDocument)
Thoroughly recommended. Thanks again.:ok:
Old-Duffer
19th Aug 2010, 05:26
Well that thread was a nice bit of free advertising for the battered and blooded financial services sector!!
Report in yesterday's papers tell me that the rates of return on things like ISAs and the current rates of inflation mean that only one product of this sort, currently available on the market, actually lets your investments grow in real terms - perhaps I should adopt the 'suitcase under the bed' approach to saving!
LongExcursion
24th Aug 2010, 04:23
Thankfully there are one or two honest, competent firms left to park funds with.
The Old Fat One
24th Aug 2010, 07:33
Unless you are subscribing to the the more sensationlist media (never a good idea when you are safeguarding your own shekels) I'm afraid honesty and competency have very little to do with the security of your money.
I say this for several reasons...
If you are investing in a geniune financial institution in the UK, that organisation will be governed by the principles of the financial services act ergo, all UK financial institutions are more or less equally "honest" and "competent" (despite what might be written on the tin).
The principle features defining the security of a financial institution is the size of its cash reserves and its exposure to high risk.
The most practical (and easy-to-find-out) feature of any given UK institution is whether or not it is covered by the UK Government's banking guarantee scheme.
Speaking personally, I would not put my money into anything not so covered - irrespective of return on investment.
PS It is perfectly possible to get 3% (with instant access) on the high street at the moment.
Old Fat One,
Not much help with RPI currently running at 4.8% though.
Effectively, all you are doing is subordinating the fear of inflationary or shortfall risk. I'm not suggesting that you have to embrace risk to make money, but to focus solely on institutional risk means that effectively, fear of losing money can become a self fulfilling prophecy.
Dependent on liquidity needs, a Higher Rate Tax Payer currently needs to be aiming for returns of at least 5.5 - 6% in order to just stand still.
BEagle
24th Aug 2010, 16:36
With stock markets currently doing a fair impression of whores' drawers on boat race night, it is pretty difficult to know where to invest.
A lot of people seem to be saying "To hell with it - if it's not producing any interest, I may as well spend it and have fun!".
Equally, it has been reported that a significant number are having to spend their savings just to meet household bills. Avaracious energy suppliers don't help, but the "I want it now and I don't care how" generation Y types who don't understand the concept of 'saving up' to afford their next new toy are going to have a pretty ropey future....
racedo
24th Aug 2010, 18:05
With stock markets currently doing a fair impression of whores' drawers on boat race night, it is pretty difficult to know where to invest.
Decent vintage wine as if prices don't go up at least you can drink the proceeds and enjoy rather than think that the money was used to pay some jumped up nobody in a suit hefty commission.
The Old Fat One
24th Aug 2010, 19:32
I my ever-so-uneducated opinion the best investment you can make in these difficult times is in yourself.
That may sound like a cliche, but the more strings to your bow, the more choices life will offer you.
May I make a recommendation...
"Selling to Win" by Richard Denny. Cost me about a fiver, and has made me a sh**load. Now that's what I call a decent return on investment.
PS
Wine is for drinking...which is why I am enjoying this nice little Oyster Bay Merlot, at £8.99 more than adequate for my unsophisticated taste.
Beagle: With stock markets currently doing a fair impression of whores' drawers on boat race night, it is pretty difficult to know where to invest.
A lot of people seem to be saying "To hell with it - if it's not producing any interest, I may as well spend it and have fun!".
Equally, it has been reported that a significant number are having to spend their savings just to meet household bills. Avaracious energy suppliers don't help, but the "I want it now and I don't care how" generation Y types who don't understand the concept of 'saving up' to afford their next new toy are going to have a pretty ropey future.
Keynes said "The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries reward". Damned right.
As part of my work, I construct portfolios for highly speculative <-> highly risk averse young professional clients (many military clients are quite ethical and require bespoke arrangements) which have the chance to return 30-40% pa, and which, even outside the protective ISA wrapper, are covered by a half decent CGT allowance. But given that we are taxed to hell and back, it doesn't make much difference how well investments do, if the basic underlying tax situation isn't squared away as well.
Equity based ISAs and conventional portfolios are fine, but those same (safe <-> mad) funds can also be accessed via private pensions arrangements which offer most military officers an instant 40% tax uplift, or Venture Capital Trusts which although slightly more speculative, a 30% tax uplift, slightly more liquidity and unlimited contributions. In addition, many of my military clients don't have private pensions for spouses/partners either, which is a huge, basic oversight. A personal pension for a serviceman too, offers flexibility and the chance of good growth but is always dismissed out of hand.
They allow ('even' for non working home makers) a 20% instant uplift from HMRC (within limits) and the chance for a family to get almost 7k income in retirement, free from tax. Why tax one partner's (usually the husband's) income to hell, when £6475 worth of income can be had from the other partner, free of tax? The hidden advantages going in and drawing income (often a couple of k per annum) are often overlooked by busy, professional households because they aren't offered as a Screamer in a High Street bank window.