It was clear that the industry (Solar PV) was going to be making the most from the 'over generous rebates' to the industry and it was clearly not going to be long before someone pulled them up, indeed that is exactly what the government done finally!.

The newly announced reduced feed in tariffs are making more sense for us as taxpayers and electricity users however for you as a home owner they still make perfect sense from a Financial Planning perspective and  from an enviromental standpoint they  also make a lot of sense.

Based on our calculations (taking into account the newly changed tariff – post April 2012) you should be facing about 9 years before the system will produce a profit and this assumes that electricity prices remaining the same over the coming couple of years which of course is unlikely.

From a financial planning perspective having Solar PV panels installed on your roof may be one of the best investments you could make in the coming couple of years, not only that but perfect for our environment too.

Get them whilst stocks last is one of my 2012 – must do's.

Taking that stance is not one that should be considered, and some related comment is here, it's not from us but still useful.

Financial Planning – Preparing a Budget

From an administrative point of view getting a will in place deals with several issues

• Stops my dependents from being left with a mess
• Potentially reducing the amount of tax paid by my estate
• Protects my spouse and children
• Reduces the cost of dealing with probate

In a nutshell gives full control over your affairs once you die.

There is a good article on this subject here Why Write A Will

If you need an specific guidance or just want a review of your existing will we can do this for you. If you decide to use our services all of our fees are fixed which means no surprises or shocks when it comes to sending you the invoice, importantly if you are not happy with our work at any time there is a complete money back guarantee.

You can contact us here  or call on 0845 226 9106

Pension Investors are losing thousands of pounds in fees!

Pensions are one of those marmite investments (love them or hate them) with many investing a good deal of income towards a safe retirement. However as you would have read on this site before, pension charges are a real issue.

For many the providers in the market place (probably your pension provider) is charging you more than you could be paying simply by looking around at the alternative providers in the market place.

The key is that it's not that simple. Some of the highest charging pensions around are those recommended by Independent Financial Advisers, in particular Self Invested Pension schemes (SIPPS) and those placed inside a so called wrap, and many are not easy to compare.

Money Management (one of the Financial Services sector trade magazines) will be releasing research in February that outlines the effect of these Pension Charges and will show the differences between the best and the worst charges on all UK Pension Plans.

They use the terms 'skimmed off' in on of their press releases and that is probably about right. The difference between once Aviva plan and the AXA Elevate wrap is more than £30,000 less (based on a £200 per month contribution over 20 years).

The annual Pension Survey will show how you could expect to pay 20% of your pension fund in charges with a range of providers.

As always you should review and check your plans before it's too late. You can contact us using the usual route for further guidance. But guidance you will need.

What a year this has been, the recession has continued and we have managed to find ourselves getting to the end of  the year and things are not looking much better for the New Year. Well that's  got the negatives out of the way, the next thing  I will be doing will be to give some guidance as you need to be acting in 2012 and what the options are for then and beyond.

The audio file is below.


Personal Financial Planning Update

It now just needs me to wish you a great christmas and a even better 2012.

Richard Smith

Trail Commission – making the difference to your investments

Unknown to most investors is the issue of trail commission being paid to Financial Advisers once any initial payments have been made for the setting up of the investments. Now I feel sure that if most investors using an adviser bothered to read the papers provided once an investment is made I am sure things would be clearer.

This 'trail commission' usually about .5% per year but can be as high as1.5% is paid by the product providers in order to cover the cost of ongoing advice and support which is fine but is often not provided.

My concern as a Financial Coach is simple; much of this income paid by investment and pension providers is wasted, in that far to many Financial Advisers cannot really be bothered to provide this ongoing advice and support for which they are being paid.

Over the last couple of months I have been doing my best to educate you as a consumer in the same things that my Finance Coaching clients get, decent high quality advice and guidance about these, the matters that will make you money or save you money.

Lets look at a few examples of what it could be costing you.

• Pension Plan – Trail Commission = .5% Fund Value £60,000 payments to your adviser £300 and assuming no growth in the value of the fund over the next 10 years this income could be as high as £3000 
• Investments (including ISA Investments) lets say you have £50,000 each (husband and wife) this equates to payments in the region of £5000 over a 10 year period for you both.

From an Investment Advisers perspective this is easy money for doing, well you tell me. If you are getting great levels of service and reviews of your plans every 3 – 6 months and are happy that the advice you are getting is worth that kind of money thats fine, if not then you need to take some action. At least consider moving to another provider or getting some of the income paid back to you.

Most IFA's are not willing to make payments back to you and for good reason, however if you are not happy with the service you are getting or feel disadvantaged you should make contact today in order to discuss your options. Our financial coaching sessions could save you thousands and immediately.

In particular if you hold investments with any of the High Street banks, which includes Barclays Investments/Wealth or Lloyds Investment Advisers or indeed any other IFA firm you should get in touch sooner rather than later for some guidance.

Richard Smith

0800 781 2031

• Pure  Life Insurance  – OK
  
• Mortgage Insurance Plans – OK
  
• Life Insurance with Critical Illness included – proceed with caution
  
• Mortgage Insurance Plans with Critical Illness included – proceed with caution
  
• Stand Alone Critical Illness Plans – proceed with caution
  

• We factor in the things that matter to you.
  
• No savings to you,or  no charge by us.
  

Contact Richard Smith

If you have a financial services complaint about the financial advice you have received then there are several options open to you and we are pleased to outline the process for you.

• Take it up with the firm or adviser that provided you with the advice in the first place.

• If that does not provide you with the settlement you require.

• Take the case up with the Financial Ombudsman scheme who will investigate on your behalf.

Now that all seems to pretty straightforward at least initially. The problems occur when you see things from a different perspective.

The issues  take on a slightly different slant:-

• Most of the time the advisers and advisory firms will provide a lot of wriggle when presented with a potential complaint and usually defend any complaint vigorously and in our experience with a very biased and jaundiced view of events.

• Many complaints about financial advice and the miss selling of financial products in the UK are initially checked by non qualified staff that simply want to make sure that 'sales process rules' were complied with and often do not understand the advice may be flawed.

• When your complaint finally arrives at the Financial Ombudsmen they are reviewed by poorly qualified Case Adjudicators who initially decide if there is a case to answer. A recent article on the FT website is here  [Financial Ombudsmen]

• Often your complaint is refuted (kicked out) at this stage and the letter that arrives at your home often seems to indicate that all is lost.

It's not!

In the past couple of years we have dealt with a good number of refuted/refused complaints and have managed to put most of our clients back in the situation they would have been, had they not received the so called advice.

A few samples of these are below:-

• Advice to transfer pensions from one provider to another made by a High Street bank, initially denied by them and the ombudsmen. Result the complaint fully upheld once we prepared the letters for the clients. Result £65,000 of compensation.

• Advice to take out a Mortgage Protection plan (Life Assurance) that was incorrectly set up by the Mortgage Broker. Result a full refund of payments made to the Life Assurance firm and an amount in settlement to cover the increased cost of the new plan.

• Advice to invest in With Profit bonds (there are a whole series of these bonds in the market place and most are not suitable for many) which clearly did not fit in with the investors overall investment attitude. Result complaint settled in full with the client put back in a no loss situation (some £14,000).

We work by initially analysing the advice provided by the firm.

We then outline the likelihood that the advice was poor and prepare a case for you.

We then asses any offer in settlement and provide you with the guidance accordingly.

We do not take any share of your compensation and only work on a fixed fee basis of which part is refundable in case you do not succeed.

You could spend days working through a complaint to an investment adviser and our charges are a lot less than doing it yourself. Let us take some of the stress away from the process.

We speak their language and often get things done in very quick time (not always though)

Our service is simple and specialised as we are the only firm in the UK that has the experience to argue the case on your behalf.

Poacher turned Gamekeeper is one thing we have been called. For the last 20 years we have worked a compliance consultants and designed the advisory processes in use at some of the largest financial firms in the UK and subsequently worked with a large number of people who believe they have been badly treated by the industry.

The problems most consumers face is not knowing what to do and putting their faith in the systems that are in place by the range of governmental bodies that have been in place during the last 20 years. The sad fact remains that mis-selling has been rife in the industry for many years from a range of firms.

Whilst we agree that in the main the financial services industry gets it right a lot of the time there are lots of occasions when they fall short of what is really required.

One issue is the level of commissions that a paid by the insurance providers to advisers, and the others relate to poor sales processes. We can help you to get what you should have had in the first place.

It's not only us that thinks like this here is a website dedicated to the problems

http://www.financial-ombudsman-problems.co.uk/

We want to save you the trauma of dealing with these issues and put your points across in manner that the firms and the Financial Ombudsman understand our team can certainly give you the guidance and support you need. Of course if you wish to deal with it yourself you can, but without specialist help.

You can contact me using the form here http://www.thefinancezone.co.uk/contact or on 0845 226 9106 as always we are always happy to provide some guidance without any obligation.

Richard Smith 0845 226 9106

Before the internet came along finding cheap (or the cheapest life insurance) was not an easy task. Most of the comparison services were controlled by a handful of brokers or you were forced to get on the phone and trawl the market place in order to get insurance quotes from the various life insurance firms in the market place.

In the last 10 years the market place has changed dramatically, with most forms of Life Insurance being available online or at least comparable online.

Some of the major brokers (some new and some not so new) have also provided Electronic Life Insurance applications which means you do not even need to sit down in front of an adviser.

This is quite important as the kind of plan you end up with could well be the kind of you plan you don't need rather than the type you do.

Often there is just too much choice.

All of my Financial Coaching clients get access to a range of documents outlining exactly what kind of life insurance they should have, covering Mortgage Protection, Life and Critical Illness protection and of course the more complex Whole of Life and Short Term insurances. Of course of you know what you want it is safe to go direct and buy it yourself.

However please make sure you check and double before making the final decisions about what is the right kind of plan for you.

For most consumers it is now possible to make good savings by comparing your present life insurance plans, and with the level of information now available getting an advisers involved is probably not necessary

Richard Smith