Last year I read an article offering some advice to millennials from a millionaire, “if you want to buy a house, stop buying avocado toast.” Thank you Tim Gurner. I don’t think I’ve ever had avocado toast and I am yet to be a homeowner. 

Here we are again looking at the annual review from the Financial Ombudsman Service of complaints they have received and dealt with in 2017-18.

When I was growing up, my parents often told me: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”.

Although still in the early stages of my career, the people I have worked with, or met in the industry have been central to my development.

We are coming up to 12 years since the introduction of pension simplification and although it seemed at the time not to solve or simplify much I would go back to that day in a heartbeat.

There isn’t anything wrong with a defined benefit transfer for the right person at the right time for the right reasons, but it is a complex decision. So rightly, I believe, there is the advice requirement but this can cause issues for those that can’t afford to pay for advice.

In the final report of its inquiry into pension freedom and choice, the Work and Pensions Committee calls for a simple package of measures to create better informed, more engaged pensions savers – and offer a default decumulation pathway to protect the less engaged.

I make no apologies for the fact that ‘phoenixing’ seems to be a regular topic in the industry press – a quick search of the internet brought up no end of articles on the subject, going back over a number of years.

Cast your mind back to 2035 - the year of the great blip. We had made great progress. All individuals, companies and legal entities held their accounts open to each other through the DigiChain.

It’s so lovely to see the sun finally return, which must mean that it’s nearly summer!

As part of our marketing mix, we occasionally like to enter and win awards. There’s a certain prestige associated with being an ‘award-winning’ firm of Financial Planners. Our website analytics tell us that prospective clients are actively searching for this term, so serving up a handpicked list of award wins helps boost their confidence that they are contacting the right firm.