Happy Talk?

Most of you may recognise my son, Noah although in fairness, most pictures I post of him, are when he's awake!!

This was taken after a particularly heavy 5yr olds birthday party where much cake was consumed. Before we could get his coat off, he was almost asleep, standing up.

So why this picture?

Well readers, I'm wondering if this is how we all feel, after all financial news bulletins tell the same story of financial doom & gloom for years to come, once the autumn statement was announced. 

I'm sure that if we went through old newsreel from the second world war, I can't believe the messages would portray the same doom and gloom, in fact we know that wasn't the case. I'm just amazed that, predictions for our financial futures from think tanks who have made mistakes in the past, are forming the basis of so called ' no opinion' TV & radio stations when in fact, no one really knows what the landscape will look like once we commence exiting from the EU. We know it will be uncertain, we know it won't be a smooth run- so why not leave it at that?

There is certainly a lot going on over the next 12 months that will add to the volatility, so I do understand the need to highlight such things, but I do not see the need to constantly drone on and on because ultimately, we'll hear white noise and just fall asleep.

France, Holland, Austria, Germany, Italy all go to the polls and the political outcomes will potentially have consequences for the EU, as well as our hard earned savings.

Certainly we need to remain well spread (diversification is the word!). It could be a time to review any European focused investment, but then again, it might not. There no way I can call which way we need to invest , other than keep an eye on things and react as quickly as possible, should the need arise.

Yet again, we find ourselves faced with " unknown, unknowns" and the best way forward-in my humble opinion- is to treat this as a airplane flight- know where the exits are, put your seat belt on & try an enjoy the in flight entertainment.

If anyone wants to provide me with a topic to blog about, feel free to let me know at victor@vsasscociates.co.uk and I'll be sure to mention you!

Have a great weekend 

Victor 


Victor Sacks is an independent financial adviser & company director of VS Associates Ltd an appointed representative of Sense Network, who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority . 

You can follow Me on Twitter @SmartSacks , connect on LinkedIn or get in touch on 01480 384711

"Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name"

The White House. Pure. Imposing. The power seat. Occupied by 44 presidents and up until now, the 44th was deemed a landmark. The 45th has possibly Trumped them all.

I landed at Birmingham Airport 7am 11th November and for the last three days, I've been itching to write this blog. This is a personal view-not knowingly plagiarising anyone else's blog or article-but just an observation of being in the land of the free, for a week.

Arriving on Thursday 3rd November, there was no escaping the Wall St Journal, Fox News, NBC, Bloomberg etc-It was all about the elections and notably, what would 'HC' (yes, she was known by her initials) have to trip up on, for her to lose the election-Emails came to mind.

Friday to Sunday was taken up by meeting my family (my Dad's sister married a GI so I have lots of cousins out there!) and celebrating a wedding, so I got immersed in it all again on Monday. We ( I was staying with my late aunt's eldest son-Lawyer, CPA and Financial Adviser) started reading about the 600,000 emails apparently sent by HC using the wrong email address. We paused...taking 3 seconds an email to read, that equates to roughly 21 days worth of emails to go through, if you have someone reading every 3 seconds, every minute, hour of the day for 21 days & yet the all clear was given a day later that all was well. We were both sitting there, watching the TV with one eyebrow raised.

DT (yup, initials again) was shown at a rally in Louisiana (I think) saying "your unadjusted unemployment is over 20%, you got crummy schools, your kids are gettin' crummy grades, you've got no jobs-why not vote for me and give me a chance...I mean...what else have you got to lose?" At this point, a Bottle of Balvennie, 16yr old Triple Cask was opened and our eyebrows were raised further.

By now, I'm beginning to draw parallels with our own 'Brexit'.

I'm not familiar with the 'bit in the middle' of America....I've been to a few states within the East and West coast during my 50yrs of seeing my family, But I haven't been to Nebraska, Idaho, The Dakota's, Alaska etc and who would've thought that DC (District of Columbia) would have a high rate of unemployed? it has the White House for goodness sake!...But it seems, much like we saw here, some 250m people were starting to show signs of having enough. Enough of bureaucracy. enough of seeing zero wage growth, enough of seeing rich get richer and enough of being prodded and push around and enough of being forgotten about.

Now, any other candidate than DC and Hilary had a problem...but a misogynist, sexist, bigoted, xenophobic, homophobic man like Donald Trump? Even Kanye West would have got more votes, surely?!! and yet......

Conversations with 'East coast' individuals, talked about Trump as "What you see, is what you get....At least you know what you're getting with Trump...I don't know what I'd get with HC..." Conversations, still east Coast, then went further " She'd be a diplomat-seen all over the world shaking hands with leaders, that's not where I want the president, or where we need our president-we need the president here, sorting out our issues first and foremost"

By Tuesday, my cousin is calling this tight. "We won't know the results by 10pm or 11pm, this could go on...By 1.15am eyes could not be kept open and we were still none the wiser-Wednesday Morning-the world knew.

On Wednesday morning, I was greeting with news bulletins showing people in the HC camp being sick-literally sick at the result. It seems HC and her advisers, failed to grasp the mood of the people of America and by the people, I mean those we don't see, the journalists don't see but call them 'stupid' or 'ill educated'..predicting Armageddon on the markets and a pompous attitude lacking any respect and more importantly, lacking any understanding of what vote won. Just as we failed to understand the mood of the people here and with our high court ruling and threats from certain factions in parliament to block Article 50, we potentially face civil riot on our hands.

I know that the vast majority of the british public fail to see what Trump can bring to the white house. He hasn't worked as a politician, been an army general or close to any sort of public office role. He is a businessman and wants to turn his back on the rest of the world (providing it makes sense to do) and rebuild his country-In fairness, I'd be very happy if Phillip Hammond said the same thing in a few weeks time when he announces the budget-borrow money because its cheap-lets build roads, rail, runways at airports..lets put the Great back into Britain..etc

I don't agree with Trumps' attitude to Women, LGBT, race, colour or religion . But to me, it just goes to show what happens with the 'silent majority' have had enough and want a change and clearly, they Didn't want Clinton.

Europe have already voiced their disgusted opinion of DT being 'president elect' USA couldn't care less. Indeed, is it now the case, given our Referendum and the USA vote, that the eyes of the world turn to France, Holland, Italy & Germany? if Marie le Pen, Gilders, etc get in, we could be looking a very different World indeed.

All I ask, is when considering the USA and yes, I guess I'm biased because of my family- Don't call them stupid-At a time when we remember those that served their country-They are entitled to mourn as hard as we do. DT suggests 'boots will not be on the ground' if it makes sense. He will need military advisers-he has no experience, but I don't see Trump going for the 'round em up, put 'em in a field and bomb the B...rds' as the late Kenny Everett portrayed the general, unless of course, it is deemed necessary to do so.

It will be interesting to see how Trump goes about trying to change attitudes and mindsets.

The picture? taken by me, when I was there in 2014.

The blog title? lyrics from "Sympathy for the Devil"-what else could I use.

Victor Sacks is an Independent Financial Adviser and company Director of VS Associates Ltd and an appointed representative of the Sense Network, who are regulated and registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Feel free to get in touch with Victor via:

email: victor@vsassociates.co.uk

T:01480-384711

M:07866 504896

Twitter: @SmartSacks or, check out the website www.vsassociates.co.uk

 

A view from...Cyprus!

I don't know whether its 'Blog protocol' to use a holiday picture-but here we are! myself on the left, then going around clockwise; Tina (my wife) our good friend Ria who lives in Cyprus, my son Noah and our good friends Janette and Carl who came with us.

So what-I hear you say-has this got to do with a financial blog?

Well....I thought I'd try something different. A bit 'Alan Whicker' meets 'Robert Peston' type thing....your feedback will tell me whether this worked..or not!

Cyprus-a population of 1.17m as of 2016 and a land mass of roughly 9,000 km2, Wales 3m population on a land mass of 20,000 km2 is almost proportionally the same size with regards to population and land mass.

So it comes as no surprise, that in certain beach areas along Cyprus' southerly coastline, the five of us were virtually alone and had swathes of beach and Mediterranean Sea as well as 34 degree heat, all to ourselves. We were staying 15 minutes drive from Larnaca Airport in a village called Pervolia. The picture was taken around 7.30pm on a Saturday Night...It seems that the tourists were more interested in Paphos, Ayia Nappa, Downton Larnaca or Limassol, as opposed to this little village and as far as the locals and the tourists that were there, that suited everyone fine.

It seemed to me, in this part of the world, taking it easy while working was the mantra. Nothing too busy please...just a gentle trickle of customers, with plenty of time on their hands is what there all about. As a relaxing holiday, that suited us fine-but...That ethic? in a Eurozone country? what's that all about? and that, readers, is what bugged me. Now don't get me wrong, Cyprus has every right to want to be chilled-200 miles east & Southeast is Lebanon/Israel 200 miles Northwest is Syria,  100 miles north is Turkey and a couple of hundred miles south is Egypt, so its not surprising that Cyprus becomes a relative Oasis of calm. Even the busy town of Larnaca, franchise owners of Haagen Das, KFC, Burger King etc, sit outside drinking Iced Coffee, inviting the lovely ladies to sit down and enjoy a similar beverage, appearing to pay no attention to the fact that the restaurant is quiet and maybe, like a few years ago, he should be offering menus and discounts to passers by, in the hope they'll sit down and spend a few Euro's.

On building sites (on which there were several) the laissez faire attitude appeared to exist along the banal decision to lay tarmac at 11am in 30 odd degree heat hoping it will set. With no signs put up, a lot of people walked onto to the path, becoming temporarily stuck and the workmen tutting as they had to re-apply the tarmac. Far be it for me to suggest laying it at 5am and then finish the day at 1pm! these workers toiled in the heat until 4pm most days. It was also interesting to note the half finished buildings. It turns out that the government demand taxes on built-but empty properties-from the developers, so the developers build a shell and wait until they sell it, before completing it-consequently, there are plenty of what looked like 'Abandoned builds' and houses with no roofs, swimming pools etc, as the developer waits to sell it.

But the quietness of this space between Paphos and larnanca and Larnaca and Ayia Nappa may not be quiet for long. 5 and 7 million Euro mansions are being built in areas such as Limassol and Pervolia. why? because wealthy Lebanese and Russians are buying them up. Why are they buying them up? because according to the locals, spent upwards of 5m Euros on a property and you get a Cypriot Passport & residency. Spend 300k Euros on a property and you get residency. A boardwalk is being built from Pervolia to Larnaca. The boardwalk will have houses to left, which will look over the sea to the right. This will not only sell the houses, but must surely indicate that restaurants, Bars, clubs, supermarkets, etc must soon be opening, to cater for these newly found 'residents'

'Passports for Houses' in Cyprus first raised its head in the FT in 2013. There are clear concerns about whose buying the properties, the money laundering checks that go on etc. That aside, Cyprus could become a quiet little spot for a lot of money and with that money, Cyprus could become a jewel in the severely dented and tarnished Euro Crown. Only time will tell.

Hope you enjoyed a different type of blog from me-please let me know!

Victor

Victor Sacks is an Independent Financial Adviser and Company Director of VS Associates Ltd, which in turn is an Appointed Representative of the Sense Network, who are Registered and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

If you want to get in touch with Victor;

E-victor@vsassociates.co.uk

M-07866 504896

T-01480 384711

Or, connect on Twitter @SmartSacks, LinkedIn and Google+

Can't touch this....

I daresay, the title of my blog for some of you, has conjured an image of MC Hammer, sliding along the floor in pantaloons that, were affectionately known around my neck of the woods as..well...'Sh*t Catchers' The middle seam, when legs were apart would be below the knee, yet around the ankle, there were elasticated cuffs..quite a sight!

For others, it's a familiar rant by a parent or child, or even as I show above, a simple message on a case or on a folder basically saying 'leave it'

So where am I going with this? an hour ago The Post Office announced a series of 24 hour strikes, as branch closures, job cuts and pensions come under attack.. The following is my own viewpoint and I've used my own ideas-So don't take this as advice, just something that hopefully, gives you a bit of info and food for thought....

Earlier this year, Financial Times Journalists voted for a 24 hour strike over Pensions, so did Dorset Firefighters and two Belfast leisure centres closed for a day as a result of similar action. Tube workers did the same in May this year.

Yes, the message is clear-Don't touch...my pension.

A pension? they strike for a pension? the same investment vehicle we hear Andy Haldane -Chief economist at The Bank of England- say is "Too complicated" and I'd "sooner invest in property"

The much maligned investment that most financial journalists pick holes in and the investment I hear being described as "Rubbish", is causing strike action?

We need to look into this then....

Let's be honest, any investment that starts off with "You can't access this until you're 55" isn't going to win many friends is it? OK, the access age will lower, if you are in a profession/Job that has been given special terms; Armed Forces, Police, Professional Footballer, Jockey etc-I could go on, but you get my drift.

Once we get over the Duration, we start to see some goodies:

-Tax relief on contributions at highest marginal rate of tax paid...So if you earn say £30k per annum, your highest income tax rate will be 20%, so with tax relief, an £80 per month from you, will be inflated to £100 overnight! 20% growth on your money!

-Once invested, your money grows predominately free of tax-Now there is a small element of dividend tax that can't be reclaimed, but in your hands, it grows tax free

-If death occurs before you retire, the fund is payable to your selected beneficiary(ies)

-At age 55 (or earlier, when dealing with special recognised careers) you can take a quarter of the fund value as tax free cash-either as one lump, or a bit at a time.

-The rest of the pot can be invested to provide you with an income for life, which will be taxed in the same way your income is now or;

You can opt for a flexible access pension and draw off what income you want when you want and ultimately when you die, it can be left to whoever you want to.

Oh, and we haven't spoken about the 2,500 + investment funds available.

What about costs, I hear you say? well yes, no one does "'owt for owt" If you are putting your money into a series of investment funds, there will be a charge which the fund manager will deduct-typically anywhere between 0.5%-1.5% per year, dependent upon the complexity of the investment recommended, so lets say you have £30,000 in your pension pot, £150-£450 per annum will be deducted. But remember, you're getting 20% PER MONTH tax relief, every time you pay in. Ultimately, you have no idea what your final value will be, but reviewing it regularly will help you and when the day eventually comes for you to start taking benefits, there won't be any surprises.

Now, when we consider the strike action being taken, we are talking about schemes that have similar mechanics, but the structure is very different. They are based on a percentage of Salary and so long as that individual stays employed, the pension value per annum, is a known figure to the individual and in fairness an unknown cost to the employer.

Lets take an example. A boy of 18 starts stacking shelves at a supermarket, earning £5k per annum. 35yrs later, he is chief executive of that supermarket, earning £450k per annum. His percentage payment into that scheme is set at 8% of salary from when he joins and doesn't change. His potential pension could be worth £262,500 per annum, yet at his peak earnings, he paid  just £36,000 per annum.

The supermarket would have had no idea how far this persons' career would have gone and no idea what the future cost of his pension would be (there's a good chance some £50-60k per annum would have to have been paid in by the supermarket, when our man was paying in £36k).

Now, lets say this supermarket faces competition, it starts losing market share and enters into a price war-its profits reduce, there isn't enough capital to fund pensions and they need to create breathing space-what can they do? push out retirement age? increase contributions from members? penalise anyone who wants to retire at the original retirement age? change the definition of 'pensionable pay'?

When I worked for a big Corporate company, all of the above were implemented and its my perception, that along with other measures, it's what's being put forward to members of the aforementioned companies who are going on strike.

Mr Haldane and others got it so wrong....A pension is a valuable asset. It doesn't have to be complex...and Isn't complex when someone takes time out to explain it.

By the way, if you understand a bit more about pensions now, that you did 15 minutes ago...tweet, text, or email me.

Have a great rest of week,

Victor

Did this post pique your interest in Pensions? do you have one and want to know a bit more about it?

E: victor@vsassociates.co.uk      W:www.vsassociates.co.uk

T: 01480 384711                         Twitter: @SmartSacks

M: 07866 504896

Victor Sacks is An independent Financial Adviser and company director of VS Associates Ltd an Appointed Representative of the Sense network, who are Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Interest-ing times........

Hello!

I trust you're enjoying some 'down time' as well as the glimpses of great weather we have seen in parts.

While you contemplate whether its 'Margarita Time' allow me to provide you with some light reading......

My Blog this week has been triggered by the Bank of Englands' decision, to cut Interest rates. My own view, was one of amazement. I genuinely thought that our fiscal policy was sound, and that the Monetary Policy Committee would hold rates, while the political parties sort themselves out. If I'm being completely honest, I think interest rates should have gone up at the back end of last year, but it is my perception, that we were playing a Mexican standoff with America-or should that be Canmerican Stand-off?

Those familiar with my blogs, will know I come at things from different angles and play out various scenarios-this blog will be no different!

So, lets assume all lenders pass on the 0.25% cut to all their clients

Taking my research from 'This is Money' (Feb 2016) the average London mortgage is £215k and the lowest  average is in the North East where a mortgage is £79,500., so lets call the average mortgage £140k 0.25% of that, is £350 a year or £29 a month. If that makes a substantial difference in someone's finances, then I'd question as to whether they should have got a mortgage in the first place. Moreover, if you are renting a property, will the Landlord pass the saving on to you? or as a saver, will the banks, building societies etc, hold off from cutting your rates further?

So here's my left field thinking;

If an Institutional lender (bank, building society etc) is seeing rate cuts from the top and they are being pressured to pass these on, then their revenues must start to reduce. Lending is what these institutions are there for, but they will-contrary to popular belief-continue to be stringent, because they do not want to end up on the front page of a newspaper being cited for 'Irresponsible lending' and the obligatory photograph of a sad faced family and in this litigious society we find ourselves in, I can't blame them. So if they are not making their money from Lending..Now at this point, I'll look at Commercial Lending-Whilst banks have a matrix of pricings, using a rule of thumb of 3-4% over base, still only generates 3.25-4.25%..a long way off from the 6%-7% they were earning 10 years ago. Banks and building societies have decimated their financial advisory salesforce-no income from that now and there is no fat on interest rates to hold back from savers. To me, this leads to increased charges (I've already had the letter-my charges go up over 200% from September) and possibly-Current account fee's. We are, as a country, in the minority with regards to not having current account charges. I know some you may have super duper accounts that come with an annual fee, but not everyone has that-yet.

So an interest rate cut that broadly affects borrowers and savers can suddenly start to affect anyone who has a bank account....

With regards to savers, they are being pushed beyond their limits. ridiculously low interest rates for the last 9 years have seen many try to achieve those halcyon days by using well thought out investment strategies, however, some have succumbed to the investment scam and even as I post this, there are so called 'experts' emailing people with stories of Armageddon and they shouldn't trust anyone-apart from the writer of the email, who happens to be a financial whizz...its dodgy preachers all over again, asking you to call/subscribe.

I do wonder, if the 'pull' on Mum, Dad, Grandma, Granddad etc, could lead to two generations funding one....

Lets say Bill is 25, a graduate & earning £35k per annum. Wants to get on the housing ladder and spies a lovely property for £250k. He can borrow 5x earnings (£175k) which leaves him way short. Bill knows that Grandma has £150k in the bank earning 0.1% and Bills' parents have £100k earning the same (you can see where I'm going, can't you?)..Bill says " If you lend me £250k, I'll pay you £1400 per month, for 25yrs, giving you back £420,000. Now, there is a risk of unemployment on my part, but look at the return on investment I'm giving you" that equates to over 6% a year return....Now I know this isn't an everyday conversation going on up and down the country, but cutting interest rates could make people think this way..giving up the liquidity of cash, to the illiquidity of property, for income.

So, Interest-ing times indeed. I personally would have sooner seen VAT return to 15%. This would make a huge difference to anyone, that bought/sold vat rated goods..that's pretty much everything we buy and whether you're a tenant, homeowner, borrower, saver you would have benefited. The Bank of England have left themselves with no wriggle room at all-even though further cuts in interest rates maybe on the cards,-Mark Carney has no 'interest' in negative interest rates.

Enjoy the rest of your summer...Is it G&T o'clock yet? must be 5pm somewhere......!!

Victor xx

Victor Sacks is an Independent Financial Adviser and owner of VS Associates Ltd; an Appointed Representative of Sense Network. VS Associates and Sense Network are both Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

If Victor has piqued your interest, why not get in touch for a free informal meeting? victor@vsassociates.co.uk or follow him on twitter;@SmartSacks, connect on LinkedIn or visit the website: www.vsassociates.co.uk

'Looks good on paper....'

Well Summer has finally arrived..The sun is here, the shorts are on and mothers all over the country are convinced that 'Wine o' Clock' starts around 11.48am as they contemplate 6 weeks of entertaining their kids!!!

My blog this week, has spun from someone else's blog actually. He asked Financial Advisers about their thoughts and views of adviser registers; places where advisers can advertise themselves and their specialist areas of advice and qualifications and equally, this is where an individual can find an adviser, based on what they're looking for. The two major ones used, are 'Unbiased' and 'Vouchedfor.' Now, both require payment from the adviser to be listed and as I've alluded to in the title of the blog-both the client-and the adviser-can look good on paper.

After all, all the client initially see's is the credentials of the adviser and in turn,  the adviser will see what the client has entered, so the next stage is to arrange a date..er..I mean meeting.

Now these blogs are my own views and thoughts-I've never used Unbiased, Vouchedfor or anything similar-neither have I used dating websites!

So, My own thought, is that there will be some nerves kicking around. The individual, making sure some questions are prepared as well  as bringing along some documents and the adviser may be trying to set the scene, go for some rapport building (nice weather?!) and not talk shop first off. The adviser may (I stress may) be thinking about the cost he pays to be on the register...either way, it's pretty tense and if neither party has the wherewithal or personality to break the ice and strike up a conversation, then this meeting could be pretty short and all the marrying up of specialisms etc will be lost.

Financial Advisers are looking to create relationships and rarely are we interested in looking at a singular bit of transactional work. In order to grow my client bank, I want to get my personality and individuality 'out there' and in order for any relationship to be successful, you have to 'know, like and trust' someone-It's why I use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, my radio show and networking-to get amongst people. Knowing that my speciality is dealing with business owners and their employee's-I also spend time with Accountants-Most businesses have one and trust them, so if I'm put in front of you because your accountant thinks it will be a good idea, chances are he knows us both as business people and individuals.

Qualifications; The Financial Conduct Authority set the bar for what advisers can and cannot do , based on their level of qualification, which is most welcomed in my view-but-just because an adviser cant do it themselves, doesn't mean that the adviser doesn't have a contact who is qualified. Zig Ziglar once said 'It's attitude, not Aptitude, that determines altitude' and I'm sure there are people reading this, who owe a great deal of thanks to an employer who looked beyond the CV to employ someone and long may that continue.

So if you're a business owner and you need to -well, sell yourself- as well being in registers and directories, get out and about and work out who you need to help you. If you're an individual looking for a Financial Adviser and you're using Unbiased etc; spare a thought for the Financial Adviser-they're probably as nervous as you are!! and to augment your search, use social media, friends and family-You never know, with this small world of ours, I could be meeting you very soon!!!!

Finally-the Picture..It is the 'Invincible' team of my beloved Arsenal that went unbeaten in the Premier League in 2003/04. They won the Premier League, but nothing else that year, reaching the semi finals of the FA Cup & League Cup and Quarter Finals of the UEFA Champions League..critics later said that they should have won the treble because "On paper, that team should beat everyone and anyone".....

Have a wonderful week

Victor

Victor Sacks is the Company Director of VS Associates Ltd an appointed representative of Sense Network, Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

If Victor has piqued your interest, feel free to email: victor@vsassociates.co.uk telephone:01480 384711 or connect to him via LinkedIn or twitter @SmartSacks

"Lights go out...Walls came a tumbling down......"

Lets be honest, no other blogger will combine a Paul Weller lyric with the bible, will they?!! After Brexit, I'm wondering how many of us thought this would happen, walls tumbling etc...But hang on? 'Property Investment Funds are being suspended' I hear you say? 'is that not the walls come a tumbling down?'......

Hence, why like buses, I thought I'd write another blog. As always, my blogs are just a comment, thought or view-not actual advice.

Property-that great stalwart of British wealth. I can touch it, see it, feel it and live in it, or get others to live in it & pay me for the privilege. I can own properties that people work in, that I work in-because after all, 'You can lose on property, can you?' and 'You can always sell a property and get the cash, or borrow from the bank against it.'

To be honest, a lot of people I've met over the years have this viewpoint. But when we look closer, we genuinely have to consider property as risky or as safe as any investment. I mean, you can't break a brick off your home, go to Waitrose, get a cartful of shopping and present the brick in exchange, can you? Investing in property has to be given careful consideration, because in order to sell, you need a buyer and that buyer has to be able to get credit, or have the cash. Now we have been seeing falling values in houses at what I would call, the top end (£1m+) for some time. This is now ricocheting down-albeit slowly. Locally here in Brampton, I'm seeing houses up for one figure, then four weeks' later, the price has reduced £10k and that's on £250k priced properties. Now true, the property prices were -in my view-bonkers already, but some sort of reality check has been taken place over the last few months and 'Brexit' has exacerbated it.

Now go from a 3 bed semi in Brampton and zoom out to the top and bottom of the country, from one bed flats in Central London to sprawling countryside mansions (probably cost the same!) add in some natural market ebb & flow together with the results of Referendum, together with the uncertainty that brings and if you're invested you might want to switch funds to areas that are 'safer havens' life cash, governments bonds/Gilts, Gold etc. Most Property funds hold cash or shares for this reason, but probably no more than 20% of its total value, again, catering for the natural swing of things. But-if huge swathes of investors want to exit, that creates a huge problem. Property funds can invest in commercial premises, big, well known iconic buildings, as well industrial estates etc. neither of which are easily sold and, if too much property comes onto to the market at one time, we all the effect this has. So rather than create such issues, quite a few Property investment funds (Standard Life, Aviva & Columbia) have suspended withdrawals for 28 days, whilst Aberdeen, L&G & Canada Life have added a fair value adjustment of somewhere between 15% & 17%-meaning if you to cash in, that's the adjustment that will be made on your encashment.

But lets not hyperventilate here...No horns are being blown...no walls are tumbling....property continues to be a low volatile investment and when investing via a property fund, you get all the income, but no 3am phone call to say the boiler has busted, or no tenant refusing to pay rent or, squatting. The L&G Property fund, for example, is £2.3BN and invests (as at June 2016) in over 100 UK Commercial properties and over the last couple of years, its returned just over 12% during that period (figures from FE Trustnet July 2016-values not guaranteed, investment returns and their values-can go down as well as up), so lets not rule out property just yet.

Most of my clients are recommended to have no more than 5% invested in property funds; which means they can still freely access 95% of their money, should they so desire. It also worthwhile noting that property funds such as First State, HSBC and hearthstone are, as I write, still trading normally, as some of these funds have exposure to property investments outside the UK and Europe.

We knew Brexit would bring uncertainties...At the Smaller end of the FTSE-the 250 index for example, we are seeing losses. These are the companies that would traditionally trade in Europe and as such, as well as the Brexit, they are also feeling the double whammy of currency exchange. The FTSE 100 contains huge multi nationals, who are dealing internationally and are not so affected by the Brexit per se.

So what does this all mean?

Diversification is key-ensure your current investments are well spread out and ready to deal with this unsettling timeframe, that as yet, has no timescale. With Interest rates possibly being cut, cash is clearly not suitable as an investment strategy- consider phasing any new investment you are looking to do-this could be a rare time when 'Pound/cost averaging-buying into investments at different time slots to take advantage of the up and down movement of markets'- could work.

Above all, keep in mind the timescale you originally wanted to invest for and if you are thinking about withdrawing funds-think about tax implications of doing so, where would you put it and is it really the best thing to do-alternatively, pick up the 'phone and talk to an Independent Financial Adviser who is ready to listen and help. If you've read this and previous posts, you may already know of someone you can call :)

Have a great day,

Vic

Victor Sacks is an Independent Financial Adviser. He is the owner of VS Associates Ltd, which is an appointed representative of Sense Network, who are regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

If Victor has piqued your interest, why not give him a call? 01480 384711 or mobile 07866 504896. Don't want to call? email him instead: victor@vsassociates.co.uk or website:www.vsassociates.co.uk

Close the door on the way out...

No prizes as to what I'm eluding to in my blog this week. All of us would have woken up last Friday with a myriad of thoughts running through our head. From "yippee" to "Armageddon out of here."

Irrespective of mine or anyone else's viewpoint, life goes on and indeed, 6 days later, one could argue, what was all the fuss about?

Financial Markets have weathered the initial storm, some companies that threatened to leave the UK if we voted out are rethinking things-some have even come out and said they're staying, The USA has changed it stance slightly on trade deals from "get to the back of the queue" to "of course we will consider trade deals with the UK" and we have countries like New Zealand, Australia and South Korea at the front of the queue, waving order forms at us.

Even the EU-yes, the EU say that so long as we agree to the four core principles of Freedom of movement-workers, capital, goods and services-we can access the single EU market (amazingly, those that we had, while we were a member state!)

My own view, is that this vote was a political one and not a financial one. Financially, the UK is fundamentally sound. We have cash stocks, we have a thriving and growing economy. We have financial stability. Politically I think we are all over the place, as demonstrated by the lack of trust the public have with all political parties-52% of voters decided to ignore the request by the three main leaders in the UK and voted against them. We most certainly didn't appreciate The President of the United States saying what he did either. So now we face uncertainty with no Prime Minister as such, a Labour Party that is so divided, one wonders when it will return as a credible opposition and a Lib Dem party that is rebuilding itself. So what next?

Well a vote 'Out' was a vote for uncertainty,that's for sure. We will see a new Prime Minister and possibly a new leader for the opposition, will this lead to a General Election? who will trigger Article 50 (the document that dictates how we exit the EU)? what will happen when we do trigger it?

Europe also have some up and coming issues: Greece has yet to be resolved. Jean Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France, is calling for a 'Frexit', Geert Wilders, head of the PVV-a right wing party in Holland,is looking for a 'Nexit' and Austria was very close to be led by an Ultra Right political party. Oh, and lets not forget the US elections as well.

Clearly, over the next few months, any of the issues I've outlined-or indeed a collaboration of, will have an effect on world trade, economies and investment markets. As I write this, Boris Johnson has decided not to stand for leader of the Conservative party. I'd imagine so as not to run against Michael Gove.

So, with uncertainty, comes a time to look at your investment strategy. Whether your ultimate risk levels are none, or off the scale, in an ideal world, we should 'be prepared' and look at spreading things around. I've said this before, but if we look at the British Summer, would you invest in Sun cream and Ice Cream, or Sun cream and Umbrellas?

Just in case you're wondering-the picture? the door to my office and its always open!

Have a great week,

Victor

Victor Sacks is an Independent Financial Adviser and Company Director of VS Associates Ltd. VS Associates Ltd is an Appointed Representative of the Sense Network and is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority no:725170

If Victor has piqued your interest, why not get in touch? check out his website: www.vsassociates.co.uk or email him: victor@vsassociates.co.uk

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'My Mum Said if I have to ask then I can't afford it.....

Value......?

Maserati, Ferrari, Breitling, Rolex, Laboutin. Hand Made Suits, Business class, bespoke furniture...

For some, the above names and items will not only evoke thoughts of a few zero's at the end, but also perhaps, quality-maybe even a big tick on the Bucket List of life. Over the years, these names and items have built their own value and are synonymous with quality-yes, we can always luck out and buy one of the aforementioned that was made on a Friday afternoon, but the aftersales service will be just as good and you'll be even more pleased you spent £850 on a pair of shoes.

You'll notice that 'Financial Advice' was missing from the list-yes I cant believe it either! In a recent article (Financial Adviser 1st June 2016 page 10 to be precise) was an article that got me. It's not a new story, but it got me thinking. the headline says 'Brits wont pay more than £50 per hour for financial advice'

Now when the going rate roughly, is £125-£150 per hour, there is a bit of gap-like turning the Marianas Trench on its side sort of gap-in cost vs value.

On the next page was an advert about the CII awards and the various categories you can enter into to (Let me tell you how brilliant I am and maybe I'll win). But if I fail to show value to my clients, then potentially I wont have a business to shout about and the CII will lose serious amounts of subscription money as advisers drop off the radar because they can't get the income they need (not want), because no client is prepared to pay the going rate. Now I'm sure I've over egged and exaggerated things to make my point, but it is a point worth making.

In whatever industry we work in, there are always assumptions made that a client 'knows' what the basics are of our job and what we do and we decide not to showcase it. In the case of a Financial Adviser, the 5,000 strong poll is telling us we need to elaborate more on the 'behind the scenes' work that goes on, so we can build up our value and that when that bill is put in front of them, it is accepted without hesitation, because the value has been perceived.

For example; when I've met a client to discuss investment or pension, I will come away with documents that will help me understand a client. I use that information to decide where, of the 3,000 or so investment funds available to me, I am going to recommend my client to invest and I wont spread across all 3,000 but maybe 15/20 which I have to whittle down. Once I've the investment funds sorted, where am I going to hold them? does my client want 15/20 bits of paper through their post every quarter? or would they prefer one place, where they can log in and see everything? if the latter, there's 60 odd places those 15/20 funds can be held-my job? who's best for the client? what were their requests? and that's just to get things going. Once a quarter, I'll look at everything again and check it's all running ok. Rarely, what I have just described, will anyone be told that's what happens.

For the sake of all our businesses, let this be an 'under the hood' check. Do I have a brand name that exudes value and quality? Do I tell my clients exactly what I'm going to do, or do I assume they know, because of the job I do?

Maybe, next year, I'll re-write this blog and hopefully my business will sit alongside those I listed.

Have a great weekend

Victor

Victor Sacks is an Independent Financial Adviser and owner of VS Associates Ltd. VS Associates Ltd is an appointed Representative of the Sense Network and is Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

If Victor's View has piqued your interest, then give him a call on 07866 504896. email him victor@vsassociates.co.uk or visit www.vsassociates.co.uk

Victor can be followed on Twitter (@SmartSacks) LinkedIn and Google+