Philip James Independent Financial Advice

17/10/2026

Should we be rethinking ‘low risk’ investment portfolios?

When we talk about risk, more generally means more shares, less more bonds. The rationale being that, when shares are sold, the money generally goes to lower risk investments.

Bonds are loans to governments and companies which, unless they’re dodgy third world or likely to go bust, will be repaid at some time. They, and in particular those of biggest beast, the US government, can be equally volatile.
So many are thinking differently and leaving bonds out of the reckoning altogether. Some, if you’re a ‘balanced’, medium risk investor, rather than recommending what in our jargon is a ’60/40’ portfolio, 60% shares/40% bonds, will go half cash/half world stockmarket index.

Others, including us, are more nuanced, not recommending more than half in bonds, and similarly, for those who want less risk, leaving more on deposit or in Premium Bonds.

If you’re in for the long-term, it will, I would say, come out in the wash. And more often than not, it does not pay to go against the wisdom of ages. Looking at you, DT.

16/10/2026

Why do we care so much about Inheritance Tax?

It seems strange that pledges to abolish Inheritance Tax and its predecessors have been consistent vote-winners. As is often cited, 95% won’t pay it. It’s forecast that this will reduce to around 88% when pensions are dragged in to the net, but that’s still not, you’d think, significant for most.

Estate Duty was originally intended to break up/plunder the landed estates and ensure the noble rich paid their proper share. The reality, over many decades, is that the very wealthy can and have generally planned accordingly, so that most of that 5% fall into the ’squeezed middle’, in political parlance just a rung or two above those famous Hard Working Families.

When Thatcher in the ‘80s fulfilled her pledge to abolish Capital Transfer Tax, it was a change in name only, to, yes, Inheritance Tax. Any future ‘abolition’ would likely be along similar lines, as taxing the dead will continue to be too easy and tempting for any Chancellor. And canning it altogether too radical for most.

15/10/2026

HSBC’s AI Gamble: Are Human Advisers Disappearing Again?

The big banks were big in financial advice and bancassurance was to be the future. Then came The Crash of 2008.
Many disappeared altogether, those remaining decided that they no longer needed either to own life assurers nor investment managers and with them went their armies of advisers.

Full circle, Crash forgotten, most are back in the game one way or another; but HSBC, it seems, are leading the next exodus, apparently replacing 70% of those you can find in their few, remaining branches with, of course, AI.
The extent to which this is the tip of another iceberg or a cost-cutting excuse remains to be seen; so, too, how long the wheel will take to go round again.

Some won’t mind talking to a robot, others, those who like the look of or stick with us, will still want an actual person of some kind. As I’m sure HSBC will discover when the next restructure comes around.

04/10/2026

https://lnkd.in/p/ea8kw2Au

02/10/2026

Budget Rumours and Possibilities

The Budget Rumour Machine is not the shambles it was last year. Before Rachel’s Swansong all sorts of stuff was leaked to see what sort of puddle it would create.

Most damaging was ‘tax-free cash will go’ which, no surprises, is back. Most supposed to know don’t think it will happen, that pensions won’t be touched - surely certainty is needed to keep us bothering to save.

CGT, which they can frame as a fat-cats tax, is another favourite. Aligning it with income tax or simply adding gains to income would be a major shake-up but hardly an encouragement to investment in Brit Companies for Growth.

Ditching savings and dividend allowances would not affect Working People or be classed as an increase in income tax. Easy to get away with if you b**g in an increase in the personal allowance for low-earners.

Inheritance Tax? Surely no more tiddling here, but, back to CGT, an end to ‘rebasing’ or wiping out gains on death is another possible.

All the above is speculation so don’t, I’d say, do anything ‘just in case’ that you might regret. As many did last time around.

30/09/2026

Banks are opening branches again!

There’s a branch of Santander in Oxford which has a cafe, ‘co-working spaces and bookable meeting rooms as well as standard banking facilities’. And this, it seems is going to be a thing, as Barclays, too, has decided to reopen branches which will also include trendy cafes (well, a Costa) and chill-out work areas.

Ironic, of course, as most of the buildings in which the sweepingly closed local banks were once housed are now cafes, restaurants and ‘Spoons. If you’ve seen the ad, Nationwide made a point of keeping its branches open when all around were axing, understanding that, whatever the internet can offer, there is still a huge call for human contact, especially where money is concerned.

If you’re of an age, you may remember that there used to be chaps (always) called ‘Bank Managers’ who knew their customers and were liked and trusted. I know, different times. We financial advisers know that what we do is all about people and relationships; something which, as we’re all discovering, AI and onlining cannot replace.

29/09/2026

Why do 70% not get advice when taking pension benefits?

In the age of the internet, you can DIY pretty much anything. It will tell you how to fix your electrics or plumbing. You can book a holiday, service a car old enough not to require the attachment of a laptop – and, of course, invest and advise yourself financially.

Deciding how to take benefits from a pension is a tad more complicated than changing a headlight bulb or even using an ISA allowance. Yet only around 30% accessing their pensions use a financial adviser, and that includes those taking an annuity, which, once done, cannot be undone.

If your pots are small, you might argue that it’s not worth paying for advice but it’s not just those with not much who are going it alone. Many are taking drawdown at levels which mean their funds will run out well before they do or cashing-in altogether and paying big chunks of tax.

Some will know what they’re doing but many will not. It has to be worth a ‘phone call rather than just a visit to Dr. Google.

27/09/2026

Book Review: Molly and the Captain by Anthony Quinn

Having returned to ‘Freya’, still a favourite, I decided on a further dip into Anthony Quinn’s work. ‘Molly and the Captain’ is a painting by fictional but Gainsborough-esqe 18th century painter William Merrymount. The three stories within this story are linked by the painting and its ownership over the centuries.

Its proper name is ‘The Merrymount Sisters at Night’, and the elder, Laura, is ‘Captain’ to younger sister Molly. The first part is her journal from 1785. Laura is taught to paint by her father, loses her love to her sister and discovers her father’s infidelities. The painting it seems, is lost in a fire.

We then move to Victorian times, where painter Paul and his sister Maggie live in a similar part of London to the Merrymounts. They discover a painting at auction which may be a Merrymount and which features ‘Molly and the Captain’ in its backdrop. Their friends are similarly artists, some of means, some not, and Maggie loves one with none, in an age when a woman needs a man with money.

Then to the early ’80s, with lonely ‘60s artist Nell living alone and about to be featured on ‘Nationwide’ (google it, kids). Her actress daughter Billie falls for a younger pop star with complex consequences and, yes, that painting within a painting pops up again for its denouement.

In all his books, Anthony Quinn marvellously captures the language and style of time and place. Laura’s journal reads like a Jane Austen and Victorian Paul and Maggie are similarly contemporary. He seems at home with the artistic set in any age and in the later setting, characters recur from previous books for those who’ve been there.

The linking of the three episodes by the painting does not, however, bring them together in any meaningful way and felt to me a conceit to bring some varied short stories together. Each, however, is engaging, he is a great writer, it’s no ‘Freya’ but still an enjoyable read and recommended.

27/09/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/buying-v-renting-busy-week-dont-listen-billionaires-philip-hanley-nmcce

Two family members are in the process of becoming first-time buyers, another of renting in London (where first-time buying is not an option). The eye-opener is that becoming a tenant is the more complex option.

25/09/2026

Are global stock markets heading for a crash?

It’s a Brit thing, that when all’s going well, we expect the worst. Stock markets are at all-time highs, AI could potentially make life easier but we worry that the Big Crash is coming and that robots will kill us all.

It is true that what goes up will come down at some point and to some extent. And there’s speculation everywhere about when and how that will happen. So why not cash in your chips while the going’s still good?

Over the years, I’ve seen countless ‘£billions wiped off the value of your pensions’ -type headlines’. When it happens it can happen very quickly but the reverse is true, and recovery takes just one or two days. Missing the best is as, if not more harmful than missing the worst.

Unless you need the money to spend now, all the evidence of many a correction/crash/bear market is that hanging on in there and riding it out beats trying to be clever and time the market. As long as you don’t invest everything and keep enough in cash savings to cover emergencies, fun and other unexpected stuff.

So try to believe the lessons of history; which may not always repeat, but generally does, at least, rhyme.