The winners of the Financial Planner of the Year awards 2008 were announced at a special gala dinner, held at The Dorchester on Park Lane and hosted by Gyles Brandreth.
Adding to his collection of industry awards, we are delighted to be able to say “congratulations” to our very own Dennis Hall, winner of the Investment Company Planner category. The award was presented by Annabel Brodie-Smith Communications Director of the Association of Investment Companies.
Organised by Money Management magazine (a Financial Times publication) in association with the Institute of Financial Planning, the awards aim to “showcase excellence within the industry and reward those excelling in their field.”
To get as far as the shortlist is an achievement in itself, as competitors have to submit a case study for review by a panel of judges, followed by an interview to determine the winner in each category.
You can read more about the Financial Planner of the Year awards and Dennis’s case study on the Money Management awards website.
Samantha Potter, 31, a geophysicist from Warrington, divides her time between her job on board a ship, her partner in China, and her friends and family in the UK. She has no rent or utilities bills to pay, but is concerned about her long term savings. “I don’t know whether I will have enough money to retire on,” Samantha says. “I don’t know what my options are apart from my pension, I also don’t own a property in the UK, and don’t know if I should invest in a buy to let.”
Three independent financial advisers offer Samantha their help this week including Dennis Hall of Yellowtail Financial Planning.
You can read the complete article on the Independent website.
Dennis gives advice to a student trying to cope with debt that must be repaid later.
Helen Stevens, 20, is keen to enjoy her remaining two years of student life before tackling the £30,000 debt she faces on graduation. She estimates she will owe this sum, made up of tuition fees and maintenance loans, on completion of her four-year degree in French and German at University College London (UCL).
“We’re always hearing about how awful debt issues are, yet in doing a degree you can’t avoid it,” says Helen.
You can read the complete article on the Independent website.
“Really, if you’re hanging on to your policy you want a degree of predictability… [t]hose who do not feel they have this may want to move on.”
Dennis is quoted in an article in the FT on with-profit policies.
While the Aviva payouts announced this week are good news for some with-profits investors, those with money in other life offices may be feeling less fortunate.
Stock markets remain volatile and the Financial Services Authority is paying closer attention to the financial strength of life assurers and banks, in the wake of the Equitable Life and Northern Rock scandals.
Financial advisers say policyholders would be wise to do the same.
You can read more of the article, which explains some of the related jargon on the FT website.
Dennis Hall gives financial advice to a twenty something buy-to-let investor in The Times.
Sara Turner owns “a two bedroom house…has a devoted boyfriend and recently landed her dream job in travel journalism after an ‘amazing’ year touring India.”
Unfortunately it doesn’t look as if Sara’s finances could cope with any stress, such as periods where her property was not generating any rental income.
You can read the complete article including Dennis’ advice on the money section of The Times website.
Dennis Hall comments on asset allocation and the correlation between asset classes, noting the recent convergence in returns between property and equity.
Asset allocation becomes even trickier when the issue of which asset classes are non-correlated is considered. Over the past year, as the credit crunch has taken hold, some asset classes that are usually thought to be non-correlated - property and equities, for example - have in fact fallen at the same time.
Dennis Hall, a financial adviser at Yellowtail, suggests that the recent convergence may be because property has been treated more as an equity, with people investing in it for capital growth rather than for its long-term rising rental yield.
You can read the entire article on the FT website.
Dennis Hall comments in an article for the Financial Times in their Weekend Money Supplement.
Discussing multi-asset funds - basically funds that invest in all the main asset classes including equities, bonds, property and cash - Dennis states that financial advisers are likely to recommend these funds to clients because it “takes the burden of asset allocation off their shoulders.”
You can read the rest of the article on the Financial Times website.
Our blog and Dennis Hall’s Random thoughts from a financial planner are mentioned in a Citywire article as 2 blogs that are “well worth reading.”
Just for your peace of mind that quote wasn’t taken out of context as so many theatre reviews are - the article’s author Richard Lander seems to actually mean it!
Dennis Hall is mentioned in the Independent on Saturday in the Invest & Save section providing a wealth check to Lucy Minshall from London.
[She] may have left university far behind her, but the debts she racked up there still haunt her. “I’ve been working for two years, but I’m still trying to get over my student loan and overdraft,” she says “I just about survive on my salary but have nothing left to save for a rainy day. I can’t even begin to think about getting on the property ladder, and I had hoped to stop working when I have children.”
You can read the full article on The Independent website.
There’s nothing like a spot on national radio to help focus on the issues of the day.
Yesterday the inflation figures were announced alongside Mervyn King’s open letter to the Chancellor about why inflation has moved to 3.3% year on year in May, and what he proposed to do about it. My job was to put all this into words that the regular listener to any of the GCAP Media radio stations (Capital 95.8, Classic FM etc) would understand.
That’s not an easy task when talking in sound bite sized chunks. Added to which this isn’t inflation driven by exuberant consumerism, so the traditional cure of raising interest rates isn’t going to work that well. Looking through the numbers, the largest contributors to the increased inflation figure comes from rising prices for food and energy, which includes motoring costs. The prices of these are outside the control of the Bank of England, and raising interest rates is merely going to add to the worries of ordinary consumers who are beginning to buckle in larger numbers - I read also that the number of repossessions has risen significantly this year compared to last.
