The increase in VAT to 20%, which some said would not happen, happened and the delay in its introduction to 2011 gives business a chance to adjust and may stimulate some spending now. Children's clothing and food is exempt and as the rich spends more it is a tax that will be suffered most by those who can afford it.

A significant increase in personal allowance will help the less well off. While the increase in CGT - less than widely anticipated - will help rebalance the government's books. I have always struggled with the notion that families with a joint income of twice the national average should receive tax credits and the threshold there was pushed down.

A 2 year public sector pay freeze will be welcome, to those in the private sector at least. The public sector now enjoys disproportionate job security, pay parity and hugely expensive pensions. While, as George said, the last 2 years have seen the private sector carry the brunt of the recession - it is only fair that the pain be shared.

It will be interesting to see if the unions decide to try and change the government's mind... and talking of fairness there's a bank levy in the offing too...

Research from Axa published last year (2009) found almost 25 million Britons are suffering from financial anxiety, and 1.4 million taking time off as a result. The research concluded that money worries continue to be the biggest cause of stress and depression in the UK with stress-related illness costing £3.7 billion a year in lost productivity and healthcare costs.

There can be no doubt that the UK consumer faces a complex range of financial issues from high levels of personal debt to lack of planning for retirement.  We know that the national annual savings gap now exceeds £27bn with 13million people at work having little, if any retirement provision. But while we know issues like this exist, there’s no agreement on what the solutions should be. 

The Government has been asked to take the lead in creating a more financially capable public by offering a set of incentives to both individuals and companies. Until they do why not ask us to council your staff on matters financial.  We believe that allowing individuals to engage with money matters in a working environment will lead to improved productivity, reduced sickness absence, greater employee engagement and enhanced loyalty to the employer.

Contact Us for further information.

There is little doubt that the tax on gains will increase in the budget - perhaps significantly. If you have investments "pregnant" with unrealised gains - now could be the time to sell!

From 6 April 2010 trust rates will increase from 32.5% to 42.5% for dividend income and from 40% to 50% for other trust income.

Trustees must take action there are investments classed as "non income producing assets" these should be seriously considered.

Follow Trust Investments

The deadline fast approaches - urgent action is required.

SSAS SIPP Borrowing

Pension Property Purchase Advice

Small Self Administered Scheme Advice

Contact Us for further information.

Under gormless Gordon’s wasteful scheme people were needed to do the sums for collecting the tax and still more people needed for calculating how much to give back and to whom. All extra government salaries and pensions so kids could receive the odd £250!  

George Osborne has hit upon the right answer: save all the bureaucracy and axe them altogether. It is hardly as if anyone was going to make much money out of these things and the cost of running them was ridiculous in relation to any benefit...

"We need to take urgent action to keep our interest rates lower for longer, to boost confidence in the economy, and protect jobs to show the world we can live within our means."

So said George Osborne in his speach outlining an inital c £6bn of government spending cuts.

Cuts in government spending mean less money chasing goods and services in the UK economy. Over time this will put downwards pressure on inflation. So this in turn should encourage the bank that it does NOT  have to raise rates.

Irrespective of the economic fundamentals the new Chancellor's "demand" that rates be kept "lower for longer" will not have gone unnoticed at the bank.

Savers and borrowers should review their startegies Contact Us for advice on the best rates...

"We made two mistakes [in scrapping the 10p tax rate in 2007]," Brown told Radio 4's Today programme. "We didn't cover as well as we should have ...low-paid workers...[or] the 60 to 64-year-olds who didn't get the pensioner's tax allowance." Accountants calculated abolishing the 10% tax rate, coupled with a withdrawal of tax credits from higher earners, would leave 1.8 million workers earning £6,500 to £15,000 effectively paying a tax rate of up to 70%.

In 2002, Brown announced a 0% rate of corporation tax on profits below £10,000 to help small businesses. Overnight, sole traders such as taxi drivers and plumbers transformed themselves into limited companies to take advantage of the new rules. A Treasury minister later said "the Government did not realise how many people would engage in abusive tax avoidance", despite it being "blindingly obvious" to tax experts. Brown raised the rate from 0% to 19% when he released how much money was being lost.

Before 1997, dividends issued by UK companies and paid to pension funds were tax-free - that is, the tax could be claimed back via tax credits. Tax relief was scrapped when Labour got in, slashing the amount collected by pension funds by around £5bn a year. Pension funds have lost around £100bn over the last 12 years as a result.

Asked in an ITV1 interview about his mistakes, the PM said: "In the 1990s, the banks....all came to us and said, 'Look, we don't want to be regulated, we want to be free of regulation'. "All the complaints I was getting was, 'Look, you're regulating them too much'. And actually the truth is globally and nationally we should have been regulating them more. "So I've learnt from that...you don't listen to the industry when they say, 'This is good for us'." Horse. Door. Bolted, anyone?

In May 1999, Brown had an idea to sell-off more than half of our national gold reserves - a total of 395 tonnes - at a time when the price of gold had slumped after a decade of stagnation. The family jewels went for an average price of $275 per ounce. On the Forex Gold Index today, the precious metal is trading at $1151.25 an ounce, nearly five times as much. To be fair to Brown, he invested the money from his badly-timed bullion sale in dollars, euros and yen, which have all done better than sterling since then - though none as good as gold.

The system of financial regulation dividing powers between the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, established in 2000 missed what amounted to the biggest financial crisis of our lifetime. Whoops.

In the House of Commons in 2003, the Lib Dem's Vince Cable asked Brown: "Is it not true...the growth of the British economy is sustained by consumer spending pinned against record levels of personal debt, which is secured, if at all, against house prices the Bank of England describes as well above equilibrium level?" Brown replied: "The Honourable Gentleman has been writing articles in the newspapers, as reflected in his contribution, that spread alarm, without substance, about the state of the economy..." The rest, as they say, is history.

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

 Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005) )

“For 42 years I’ve been making small, regular deposits in the bank of experience, education and training. On January 15 the balance was sufficient to make a very large withdrawal.”

Chesley Sullenberger, the US airline pilot who successfully ditched his plane on the Hudson last year:

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change."

Charles Darwin

"The mass of men guide lives of silent desperation."

 Henry Thoreau, 1854, American author

“The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.”  

Galbraith, Economist

"If I had my way, I would write the word insurance over the door of every house, because I’m convinced, for sacrifices that are inconceivably small, families can be secured against catastrophes which otherwise would smash them up forever.”

Churchill, Prime Minister of England

"The confidence trick is the work of man, but the want-of-confidence trick is the work of the devil."

E.M Forster

"There is no cramming for the test of life."

Madeleine Albright

"Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most, always like it the least."

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letter, 29th January 1748

"Advice is more agreeable in the mouth than in the ear."

Mason Cooley (1927-2002), U.S. aphorist.

"Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it."

Gordon R. Dickson

"We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people: sometimes they follow it!"

Edsger W. Dijkstra

"Advice is given freely because so much of it is worthless."

James Geary, American aphorist and journalist

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."

Erica Jong

"Good advice is better than bad advice, if you know the difference."

Anon

At that moment, the tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.....

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the UK Government is doing business today.

SIFA membership eligibility is based on professional status, which in the case of financial advisers means qualifying to be classified as independent in the terms of  the FSA’s Retail Distribution Review, high level professional qualifications and a fee based client proposition.

The Legal Services Act of 2007 ushers in a new era of professional advice in which the dividing lines between the legal, accounting and financial planning disciplines will be broken down and reconfigured business entities will emerge which are focused on identified client needs.

SIFA’s objective is to support and assist interaction between solicitors, accountants and financial advisers in whatever form this may take. Facts & Figures joined SIFA to assist them in promoting that goal.

Contact Us for further information.

The following was published as an aritcle "IFA View" by Money Marketing in September 2009...

In 1989 there were c 300,000 financial advisers active in the UK, and while admittedly a goodly proportion were hairdressers within the previous few months, the savings ratio as a percentage of GDP was still pushing 10%. By the way conventional wisdom has it that it needs to be over 12%...

After 20 years of regulation by the hugely expensive FSA and its  predessessors the numbers are dramatically different. There are now only c 40,000 financial adviser left and the savings ratio is down to less than 3%. There have been other contributory factors to this decline; but of the FSA's many failures the fall in savings ratio is probably the most damaging.

The latest RDR is set to introduce 4 key principles; not one of which will address this:

But here's the thing. As a network member our PI insurance premium was over 7% of turnover. When we went direct (3 advisers) it went down immediately to less than three - where it has remained for the last 4 years. I queried this with my broker. The answer was small, director-owned IFA businesses are seen as less of a risk by the risk professionals than large institutions; because as the business is the directors' livelihood more care is taken and they have fewer complaints and therefore less claims.

The FSA's response is to consider pricing smaller IFA's out of business. Given their track record this is hardly surprising. But paraphrasing Ian Hislop if this is logical, I'm a banana.

It is suggested that another 5 - 10,000 advisers will leave the profession by 2012 - what hope for the savings ratio then?

Personal Account Advice

Nest will be run by the Nest Corporation, a not-for-profit trustee corporation, and will have its own website. The scheme will launch in low volumes in 2011. Acting Pada chair Jeannie Drake says: “The reforms to UK workplace pensions, including Nest, represent a consensus settlement reached across industry, political parties and interest groups. We all have one goal in mind - to make saving for retirement become the norm and to put an end to poverty in old age.”

Minister of state for pension reform Angela Eagle says: “This Government’s radical reforms to the pensions system will ensure millions of workers on low and moderate incomes are able to save for their retirement in a workplace pension with a new guaranteed minimum contribution from their employer. Nest will play a key role in this and help transform attitudes to saving.”

Facts & Figures Managing director Simon Webster was scathing about the changes. "Personal Accounts were a poorlyt thgouth idea whwen they started. When will these stupid policiticians learn. Name changes make no difference. Ten years ago stakeholder was going to be the answer to low levels of UK retirement funding. It was going to work, we were told, because it was cheap. Now they have produced something else cheap but no advice is available, and there has been total mismanagement, confusion and delay - so it too will fail. Meanwhierl the retirement aspirations of millions could be irreperably damaged.

In any event don’t wait for your employer or the Government to take the initiative, start saving for retirement today.”

Independent pensions consultant Ros Altman, a former adviser to the Government on pensions policy, warns changing the name of Personal Accounts will not make them work any better and she is equally unimpressed. She says,

"NESTs are only continuing bcause they offer short term benefits to powerful vested interest groups with no regard for workers. Politicians will claim credit for getting more people to save in a pension. Employers will cut costs by cutting pension contributions back to the 3% minimum. The Treasury will save money on future means-tested benefits and financial companies will earn fees on managing the money each year. Indeed by ploughing ahead with this project, regardless of the risks to the lower and middle earners they are aimed at, the Government is continuing to ignore the dangers of forcing workers into a pension arrangement that may not be suitable for them," she says.

Future means-testing, investment and annuity risks, levelling down, and cut-backs in existing pension coverage as a result of NESTs are "serious threats to future pension outcomes which both the Government and the pensions industry are choosing to ignore", she says. She gives the example of a worker earning £20,000 a year putting £50 a month into their NEST under the assumption this guarantees their future security is taken care of. "The amount workers will be required to put into their pensions will not deliver much of an investment return. These people could discover, but not for many years, that their NEST merely replaced the means-tested state benefits they would otherwise have received."

She says "Unless the scheme is abandoned immediately, Britain will end up paying for its failures for generations to come. If we do not abandon this project soon, we will waste even more money on a pension savings scheme not fit for purpose. If the Government is not honest about the risks then future taxpayers may end up funding compensation claims from workers who will explain how the Government misled them about the value and security of their pension savings."

Contact Us for further advice on Personal Accounts/ Nest.

There are no big surprises in this year’s Pre-Budget Report. Considering the fix our economy is in, perhaps the only surprise is that it was a relatively benign report.

Taxation of bankers’ bonuses gained a high profile, but this measure is unlikely to impact most clients. Income tax rates and thresholds will remain unchanged next year. The chancellor suggested that as there is negative inflation this is effectively a decrease in personal tax. A lot depends, of course, on the definition of inflation. The government’s own measure, CPI, was positive in October, although the RPI was slightly negative. A true measure of inflation would anyway be specific to each individual’s circumstances. Those of us who need to drive a lot have suffered quite high inflation this year.

The Small Companies Corporation Tax Rate was expected to rise next year. Business owners will be pleased to hear it will now remain at the current 21%.

The Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band remains unchanged at £325,000.

In 2011 it is proposed that National Insurance rates will increase by 0.5%. At the same time the National Insurance threshold will rise.  This will make salary diversion even more attractive still.

There is yet more tinkering with the already complicated rules relating to the “Special Annual Allowance Charge” on pension contributions. You will find these rules in detail in Schedule 35 of The Finance Act 2009. In summary, these rules mean that any individual with “relevant income” of £150,000 will face a 20% tax penalty on pension contributions over £20,000 in total in the year, whether paid personally or by his or her employer. There is a host of rules defining exactly what is meant by this “excess” of contributions. What is clear, however, is that if clients intend making large one-off pension contributions they will be caught by these rules if they have high “relevant income”.

What has changed in the Pre-Budget Report is the definition of relevant income. This change only impacts on clients whose relevant income would previously have been defined as below £150,000 but was at least £130,000. Any such clients will now have all pension contributions added back to their income to determine whether or not it is above £150,000 and therefore subject to the new rules. Those of us who have suggested clients have their company make a large pension contribution this year should re-visit that advice and make sure it is still appropriate. Before today’s announcement a client’s company could have made a contribution right up to the Annual Allowance of £245,000 and the client would not suffer a tax charge provided his relevant income was under £150,000. The pension contribution would not have been taken into account when working out the relevant income. Now you will need to work out the relevant income the old way, and then add the pension contribution to it if that income is £130,000 or more. Then if the total is £150,000 or more the Special Annual Allowance rules come into play. Another ongoing example of pensions simplification.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the Party in power at that time will implement the announced changes.

Q. Name the four seasons
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar

Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink
A. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists

Q. How is dew formed
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire

Q. What causes the tides in the oceans
A. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight

Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on
A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed

Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections
A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election

Q. What are steroids
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs (Shoot yourself now , there is little hope)

Q. What happens to your body as you age
A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery          (So true) 

Q Name a major disease associated with cigarettes
A. Premature death

Q. What is artificial insemination
A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour
A. Keep it in the cow (Simple, but brilliant)

Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g.. The abdomen)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I, O and U                        (What the *!!*???)

Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie

Q. What does 'varicose' mean?
A. Nearby

Q. What is the most common form of birth control
A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium   (That would work)

Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'
A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome

Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor.        (Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit)

Q. What is a terminal illness

A. When you are sick at the airport.      (Irrefutable)

Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas

Q. Use the word 'judicious' in a sentence to show you understand its meaning
A. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face (OMG)

Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight 

Q. What is a turbine?
A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head

The  average private employer pays sick pay for a month or less- hen nothing. In the public sector it is more likely 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay and then nothing. But what happens then? State benefits are derisory. So we lose our health we lose our income; all we get is some paltry amount from the state. Is this what any of us want?

Permanent health insurance pays out a regular income if someone is unable to work through sickness or accident until recovery, plan expiry or prior death. We have just been able to provide £17,500 per annum cover for a mid 30's smoker, at a cost of just £30 per month payable after he has been sick for just one month! This is incredible value and if you worry about loss of health this might be just the thing for you

Follow Permanent Health Insurance or Contact Us

Savers under the age of 50 can invest up to £7,200 in a single tax year – the over-50s can invest up to £10,200. This was announced in the 2009 Budget and the over-50s will be able to invest their extra allowance from October 6th 2009. This higher limit will apply to all savers from April 6th 2010.

The tax year runs from April 6th to April 5th and it is important to use as much of your annual allowance as you can within that time as it cannot be carried over into the next financial year.

ISAs were introduced in April 1999, so those who have made full use of their annual allowances every year since then, will have sheltered £79,400 from the taxman (£82,400 if you're over 50 and qualify for the new higher limit) – including the new 2009-2010 allowance. And that figure doesn’t include capital growth, so many people will have ISA investments worth far more than that, depending on where their money is invested.

You can open one cash ISA and one stocks and shares ISA each tax year. Up to £3,600 can be invested in a cash ISA. (£5,100 for the over-50s as of October 6th 2009). The remainder of your allowance can be invested in a stocks and shares ISA. Alternatively, you can just open a single stocks and shares ISA and invest the full amount in that.Various non-cash assets can be held within a stocks and shares ISA. These include unit trusts, open ended investment companies (oeics), investment trusts, exchange traded funds, shares or bonds.

Contact Us for independent financial advice on all aspects of savings, investment and wealth management. We are based in Wye and serve Ashford Maidstone Canterbury Kent the South East & indeed nationally.

Why is it then that lenders continue to offer 5-7% mortgage rates and charge huge arrangement fees and restrict their lending to a maximum of 85% loan to value in most cases - effectively keeping 1st time buyers out of the market?

The banks have got themselves into a hell of a mess. They are being slated by everyone, me included, for excessive risk taking. The government has had to sure them up financially and they are all trying to find a way to trade in the future. The government lent them money at 5% to 6% and while the housing market continued to see falling prices; lending on property could realistically be described as higher risk. So to minimise lending risks against failing values they lend a lower percentage of current value. To cover their funding costs they need to lend at 5% plus or they lose money on each loan. To build their reserves up they need to get profit into their current accounts - they do this by charging fees, which generate instant profit.

It does not feel right to us as consumers, but it is right for the long term future of the banks, which is arguably good for all our long term futures.

But now the housing market has started to stabalise property is not so risky. So banks MUST increase their lending...

Payment protection insurance/ mortgage payment protection insurance will provide a monthly amount to cover mortgage or other loan repayments in the event of accident, sickness or unemployment (ASU). It is available at a cost of around £2.77 per month for ASU or unemployment only at around £2.18. per £100 per monmnth of cover.

To cover a mortgage repayment of £500 per month would cost 5 x 2.77 = £13.85 per month. Unlike its now discredited single premium equivalent monthly plans can be stopped at any time without penalty.In these uncertain times ASU now looks like very good value and we would encourage anyone with a loan outstanding to consider it.

Typically you have to be sick or unemployed for at least one month before you receive payment which usually will last for no more than one year for unemployment or up to 2 for sickness. You’re eligible if you: are in permanent full-time continuous employment or self-employment (minimum 16 hours per week) have been in employment for at least six months, are aged 18 - 60 years (in many cases, cover can be continued to the age of 65) are working in an acceptable occupation, are living in the mortgaged house, and living and working in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man, are not aware of impending unemployment, have been in good health for at least 12 months or 6 months (depending which policy you choose) prior to the start of the policy.

Be aware unemployment cover will not pay out for self employed people unless you can prove insolvency and will not pay out for employees on taking voluntary redundancy or resignation.

If you fall ill many employers will only pay you a full salary for a short time, and some only pay the statutory amount (around £68 for up to 28 weeks). State Incapacity Benefit (paid if you can’t get statutory sick pay, or yours has ended) can be less or not much more (around £58 to £77). The average length of accident/sickness claims, and unemployment claims, is more than six months. (Source: CML website May 2005, for the year 2004)

If you become unemployed Job seekers' allowance is only around £34-£56, and you may not be eligible if you have some savings. The state will may well not help you, but insurance probably will.

So talk to Facts & Figures: chartered financial planners today Contact Us

In current market conditions this could lead to financial hardship for a scheme where investment income is falling yet interest on the loan remains at a high level. HMRC have recognised this point and will now accept that such borrowing can be restructured, including a change in the interest rate and/or a change in the term of the loan, without generating an unauthorised charge. This is providing there is no increase in the amount borrowed and that there is no change in the borrower.

At this stage, transferring such loans to a new scheme (which would result in a change in the borrower) would appear to still trigger an unauthorised charge. This is the subject of ongoing discussion with HMRC and we will inform you  here of any changes in this position once clarified.

In current market conditions tenants of SSAS and SIPP properties may be experiencing difficulty in paying their contractual rent. To avoid triggering unauthorised charges the scheme should be enforcing the terms of the lease in a commercial manner.

The practical problem faced by schemes is in assessing what would be regarded as "commercial", particularly if the tenant is connected with the scheme. Recognising that it is better to have a lower rental income than no tenant at all, HMRC has confirmed that the terms of a lease can be reviewed, leading to potentially lower rents, provided that the scheme can demonstrate that the revision is on commercial terms. To demonstrate commerciality where connected tenants are involved the scheme must:

Contact Us for further information.

£10,000 in a building society at say 5% = £500 per annum**

For a basic rate taxpayer £10,000 in a pension becomes £12,500 due to tax relief.

At 65 take an annuity income for life @ 6.6%* (on the £12,500) = £825** - that’s 65% more income.

For a higher rate taxpayer £10,000 becomes £16,667 due to tax relief.

At 65 take an annuity income for life @ 6.6%* (on the £16,667) = £1,100.02** that’s 110% more income!

Now of course if the money is in the building society you can still access your capital - but then you’d lose your income - so a balanced approach is probably wise…

*Single life, level, 10 year guarantee

** Income is potentially taxable in both cases

NB you can get a 6.6% annuity today - more if you are ill or a smoke – you’d be hard pressed to get 5% on deposit rates! Contact Us for fully qualified independent financial advice everyone can follow...in Wye near Ashford and Canterbury in Kent.

Both of her parents, Labour supporters, were standing there, so I asked her,

"If you were Prime Minister what would be the first thing you would do?"

 She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."

 Her parents beamed, and said, "Welcome to the Labour Party!"

"Wow...what a worthy goal!" I told her. I continued, "But you don't have to wait until you're Prime Minister to do that. You can come over to my house, mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you £50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out. You can give him the £50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy just come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the £50?"

I smiled and said, "Welcome to the Conservative Party."

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

The Monetary Policy Committee has held the base rate at 0.5 per cent and has decided to continue with the £175bn quantitative easing programme.

The MPC has decided to keep base rate at its all-time low of 0.5 per cent for the sixth month in a row, and has made no changes to its quantitative easing package, which was increased to £175bn last month.

Low interest rates mean life is easier for those in debt and business can in theory more readily borrow to invest and grow. However high clearing bank fees coupled with a general reluctance to lend continue to put a dampener on economic activity and thus the much needed recovery..

Low interest rates make it hard for savers. Contact Us to disuss your options.

Here is a selection of some of his uneditted musings on all things to do with independent financial advice and more besides. Please click on the links to the left for more.

Someone recently suggested that the government should consider regulating maximum loan to values and or income multiples on new mortgages. Facts & Figures: independent mortgage advisers say a resounding no to this crass stupidity!

It is absolutely NOT for the government to attempt to regulate property pricing, on three grounds:

The traditional argument is that property prices are determined by that most basic law of economics: supply and demand. On our small island there is inadequate supply so prices go up. However the main reason for inadequate supply is our arcane planning law. Relax planning (and no, I am not saying build across green belt - there is plenty of room significant brown field development) increase supply, prices fall and everyone gets want they want. But we now know that the availability of credit also has a profound impact on the market; today the only reason people are not buying property is that they cannot easily get a mortgage. At a time of low prices and low interest rates I would argue diametrically against the proposition:

FORCE the banks to lend against higher income multiples and at higher loan to values and help drive the economy out of recession.

Facts & Figures are independent financial advisers and mortgage advice consultants based in Wye near Ashford and Canterbury in Kent.