Big hearted family man to do his bit to help combat homelessness at 2022 CEO Sleepout
A BIG-HEARTED family man who has spent his professional career nurturing clients and their families on their financial journeys through life is preparing to do his bit to help combat homelessness by taking part in the 2022 CEO Sleepout. Peter Meeson, an independent financial adviser, at Worldwide Financial Planning in Truro, Cornwall, is no stranger […]
Pensions, mortgages and The Muppet Show. What’s going on?
PENSION funds are supposed to be safe, boring and forgettable. As are government bonds. So, when news broke that some defined-benefit (company pensions) pension funds had inadvertently created an unstable, self-devouring feedback loop that made a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo sound like the Deerhunter theme, the government bond market shuddered. What happened? Why did it […]
“It’s about being a human being and helping others” – CEO prepares for sleepout to help fight homelessness
THE chief executive of Worldwide Financial Planning is preparing to brave the elements with other CEOs from around the UK who are uniting to fight homelessness and poverty by taking part in the 2022 CEO Sleepout. Peter McGahan, who has been writing a personal finance column in the UK media for over 23 years, will […]
Assessing your money’s potential for loss
LAST week we covered concentration risk with your investments. To summarise, it’s when you spread your investments too far and find yourself buying the same shares in different funds. That’s not diversification. I’ve had a couple of questions around that which can be covered in one sentence. No, pension providers and investment funds do not automatically […]
De-worsification – and swimming in the nip
YOU will have heard the investment terms: ‘not having all your eggs in one basket’, or ‘spreading your risk’. There is sense in that of course, and if your pension or investment valuations are currently coming through, you will know what that means. Over the last 34 years, I’ve been through many cycles. ‘History doesn’t […]
You’ll be just fine…
AS fancy as financial advice can be, some of the very basic requirements can often be overlooked. One of those is insuring yourself against death to ensure bills can be paid, your family is protected, and they can live with dignity in the face of the pain of an extraordinary emotional impact. This was hit […]
The mortgage nightmare scenario – get advice!
FOR the record, I’m still looking for a decent wall to bop my head off when I think of the UK’s financial policy now. On the one hand, it’s repeated carefully everywhere that ‘Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing the crisis’ (when it isn’t and didn’t), yet they want to: increase your mortgage rates to […]
What are the different types of mortgages and what do they mean?
ALL types of mortgages work in the same basic way – you borrow money to buy a property over a set term and pay interest on what you owe. How much you pay back each month is determined not only by how much you’ve borrowed, and the rate of interest you’re paying, but also how […]
Mortgage rates and the economy
MORTGAGE rates are rising for sure, and with the Bank of England’s announcement that the base rate will now rise by 0.5 percentage points to 2.25 per cent, the highest level since 2008, homeowners and investors alike will really be counting the pennies. Last week I was interestingly asked about an onward index swap (OIS) […]
Should I downsize to save energy costs?
WITH house prices at reasonably good levels, inflation and the cost of living at bad, but ludicrous levels, it’s easy to see why some are considering downsizing or selling and renting. Undoubtedly, with inflation continuing to surprise on the upside, more upward pressure is being placed on interest rates which will, in turn, put house […]
What will Liz Truss do for us?
WHAT might this mean to your pockets? Before I start, please don’t read what you think my politics are, you’ll be wrong. I focus on the values of fairness, kindness, fierce independence and honesty. If a government or financial institution is on the wrong side of that, I exercise my total Independence to comment and guide, […]
Mortgage costs 185% higher than last year
SO what did the Romans ever do for us? Banning lending rates over 12 per cent was one not mentioned by Monty Python, but they did do it. Much has been said about what the current rates for mortgages are compared to the past. When mortgage rates hit 14.9 per cent, house prices in South […]