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Welcome to our new Website!

May 10, 2019

I’m delighted to introduce the latest version of our website – our 4th or 5th iteration if I remember correctly.

We’ve had great help from Rachael at Clooti and Bill at Wing Design in bringing this to life. They’ve be instrumental in helping us get the correct message about what we do across and how this has evolved over the last 12+ years. The journey has quite fascinating.

The aim of the business was always to provide the best financial guidance and planning that we could, but in the early days we were in a product-sales led rather than advice led environment.

We had a strong belief and conviction that there was a better way to provide a better experience and outcomes for our clients and that has led us to the approach we take today.

The tools, support, processes and systems were admittedly there, but you had to go digging to find them and work hard to implement them in the business process, but the feedback we were getting about what we doing for clients, convinced us it was the right thing to do.

It’s reassuring to see how many other financial planning firms now adopt a similar approach to us and have a client service ethos at the heart of their businesses.

Our new website reflects the distillation of what we’ve tried to do since the business started, and we aim to provide as much information and education on financial matters, regulations and taxation along with the latest thinking on smart investing as we can.

We hope that you find the new website a true reflection of what we are about as a business. We’d be delighted to hear any comments that you have and any ideas of items or ideas you’d like to see more of.

Roland Oliver
May 2019

Golf, Psychology & Andy Murray

July 9, 2013

OK, I’ve not blogged in a while and to ease myself back into the fray, a little light piece for openers.

We recently had a networking golf day at my own club Craigielaw and as part of the fun we had a sports psychologist talk to the group before playing our round.

He talked about the winning mind set displayed by top sports people and to help us perform better during our game of golf, he asked us to use the acronym WIN (What’s Important Now) as a way of focusing not on what had gone before or was to come, but the now.

The chat after the game was how much better people had played and that they attributed this in part to the WIN idea.

Our overall winner from the day was an ex-Liverpool and Scotland footballer who, despite advancing years, still has that mental edge and desire to win.

He scored over 50 Stableford points (yes over 50!) and had we been able to randomly drug test him, would probably tested positive for several banned horse steroids and supplements.

He knows who he is and the handicap committee has him firmly in their sights…

Anyway, the link to top performance and mental attitude is clear.

As so to our Andy.

I wonder how many times Andy Murray’s name has been mentioned around the collective water coolers of the UK?

An incredible result (only spoiled for me by Alex Salmond’s shameless posturing with the Saltire…) and an amazing display on mental control and desire to win which he’s carried with him all through his career.

He also showed patience beyond his years in dealing with quite simply some of the most fatuous interview questions ever posed.

During one sledgehammer attempt to subtly link a visiting Sir Alex Ferguson to his difficult semi-final encounter with Verdasco, the interviewer suggested he may be due the hairdryer treatment from Ivan Lendl after his performance.

“…But I pulled back a two sets deficit to win the game and wouldn’t deserve the hairdryer” was his succinct putdown.

It does seem the BBC still hankers after the golden era when Fred Perry was in his pomp and gentlemen quite rightly wore long trousers on court.

If you’ve tuned in to find some clever link between my ramblings and the current machinations in Financial Services, prepare for disappointment.

Roland Oliver

8^th July 2013

The Great Golf Ball Debacle

May 3, 2013

I would bet my life that most people reading this have experienced poor customer service of late.

I find myself in the all too common position recently of being on the receiving end of some spectacularly bad customer service from a well known magazine subscription provider.

They have happily taken my annual subscription for four years now so when the renewal came round this January I thought I would stick my neck out and ask if they would throw in the snazzy and expensive golf club which was being offered to “new” subscribers only as a free gift.

To be honest I expected a flat out no, but when they came back with a yes of course Mrs Armstrong I was delighted. Victory for the little man (or woman in this case), you don’t ask you don’t get and all that.

18 emails, 12 weeks and a strongly worded letter later do I have said free gift? That would be a no. Ben, or Becky or was it Matt or Verity, I’ve lost track now, have all provided their sincerest apologies and they do understand why I would be very frustrated with this outcome. Do they really, seriously, are they kidding?

They have assured me they want to retain my custom so whilst they can no longer provide the free golf club now it’s out Angry Golf Ball of stock they would like to know if I would settle for 12 SRIXON AD333 golf balls. At the end of my tether I said yes, it suddenly didn’t feel like such a victory, I think I might have even gained the odd grey hair through the whole dire process.

So the golf balls have arrived, they are indeed the SRIXON AD333s, just one small problem, I may pay for the renewal but the magazine goes to my father, he plays, I don’t and yes you’ve guess it, they sent the blooming balls to me!!

I don’t feel remotely rewarded for my loyalty and most certainly will not be renewing the subscription next year. I don’t appreciate being asked to “settle” for a back up gift because someone forgot to do their job properly and process the correct free gift in the first place as promised.

Nothing grates more on a customer than promises not delivered, loyalty being taken for granted and fake sincerity from a faceless person who you know could not care less about your predicament.

It’s not hard to reward loyalty, to provide a good service, to make the consumer feel good about the decisions they have made to buy into your brand, product or service.

We continually strive to improve the customer experience at OAM – and in order to do so actively encourage feedback on our services.

Personally nothing gives me greater pleasure than developing client relationships built on confidence and trust. Over the years I’ve learned that customer loyalty is of great value and not to be taken for granted.

Recent press covered the immediate response by the high street pharmacy Boots in relation to their error of judgement in introducing gender signage for children’s toys. Their customers took to Twitter and Facebook to make heard their views on this seemingly sexist stereotyping – http://bit.ly/14PAT80.

Boots listened to their customers, heard what they had to say and took action, immediately removing the in store signage which had been considered offensive.

How refreshing that a market leader listened to what their customers had to say and their decisive action to rectify the situation will no doubt have resulted in continued customer loyalty.

Happy customers are good ambassadors and all of us in business would do well to remember this.

Dr Claire Armstrong

Budget 2013

March 22, 2013

George Osborne revealed his mid-term budget on Wednesday 20^th. Here is our summary of the most relevant points for your future financial planning:

Inheritance tax – As mentioned in our blog recently, the amount of an estate that can be passed to the next generation tax free will remain at £325,000 until April 2018 (anything above being taxed at 40%). Another 5,000 estates are expected to become taxpaying estates by this time. If this is you, careful use of allowances today can reduce your bill.

State pension – this will rise by 2.5% to £110.15 per week. The Basic State pension and State Second Pension will be combined in April 2016 to a flat £144 per week (in today’s money). This should make it easier to plan for the future.

Pension drawdown – From Tuesday 26^th March capped income drawdown rates will rise from 100% to 120% of GAD. While this could be useful for those of you that need more income, please be aware there is no guarantee your pension fund can sustain this. GAD is also set to be overhauled which should lead to good news in the future.

Capital gains tax allowance – the amount of gains that you can make on disposal of assets before having to pay tax increases to £10,900 for 2013/14. The rate remains at 18% for non and basic rate taxpayers, 28% for higher rate taxpayers.

ISA (tax free savings vehicle) – The stocks and shares ISA allowance will be £11,520 and the cash ISA allowance will be £5,760 in 2013/14. Please contact us for details of how you could use these depending on your circumstances. If you are yet to use your £11,280 allowance for 2012/13 contact us ASAP!

Income Tax – The personal allowance, currently £8,105, will increase to £9,440 in April this year and then £10,000 in April 2014.

Pension allowances will be cut next year – Personal annual contribution allowance down from £50,000 to £40,000 and lifetime allowance down to £1.25m.

Abusive tax avoidance – The Government will publish a report on how it will tackle tax avoidance and evasion this week. Needless to say, any tax mitigation strategies recommended by OAM are not abusive and are a key part of good financial planning.

That concludes our non-exhaustive list of points to be taken from Wednesday’s budget. The above points are based solely on our understanding of intended HMRC rules and should not be used to influence planning decisions on their own.

If you are a current client and require any clarification on how the above might affect you then please get in touch.

If you are not, then we would be happy to give you a second opinion on any aspect of your planning. There’s never been a better time to contact us.

Malcolm Stewart

Wealth Management Seminars

March 15, 2013

Anyone who follows us with regularity will know that we are passionate about what we do here at Oliver Asset Management and committed to providing a superior wealth management experience.

We decided early on this year that it was crucial for the business to spread the word about what we do and help educate people in how they can manage their finances better with our help.

If you follow us online or receive our newsletter you will have known we had our first seminar last night at the prestigious Greywalls hotel.

I am delighted to note that the inaugural event was a great success and provided us with the opportunity to meet some new and very interesting people.

I am also pleased to note this will be the first of many seminars for 2013 and if you missed last night and would be interested in hearing more about our next seminar do get in touch or keep checking in on the website.

We’ll be confirming the next date and location soon!

Dr Claire Armstrong

EU Gender Directive – 49 days to final deadline – will your pension be affected?

November 2, 2012

Well once again it’s time to note the fast approaching EU Gender Directive deadline – 21^st December 2012.

Since we last covered this we’ve had a good response from clients in terms of reviewing their existing cover and in some cases getting cover in place which was always part of the overall financial plan but hadn’t been properly addressed.

There is certainly no time like the present to review your current cover or get cover in place if you have been thinking of doing so but just haven’t found the time. If you take out a policy now guaranteed gender specific rates will be available provided the policy is accepted before the 21^st December 2012.

Our focus up to now has been on the life and critical illness considerations but this new ruling also has implications for pensions.

On retirement, most people will use all or some of their accumulated pension fund to purchase an annuity. This provides them with a guaranteed pension for life. The amount they receive depends on several factors, including how long they are likely to live.

From the EU Gender Deadline date of 21^st December 2012, annuity providers will no longer be able to offer different pension rates for men and women. Traditionally, men have received a higher annual annuity income than women, due to their lower life expectancy. This will not be the case in future. The new Directive is likely to reduce the pension income of men retiring after 20 December this year.

It is estimated that male annuities will be reduced on average by 2% to 4%¹ so if you’re male and are close to retirement, it is important you act now to secure your pension. Once the Directive comes into force, you could receive less income in retirement –a case of ‘use it or lose it’.

At a time of historically low annuity rates, it is essential that anyone close to retirement receives the maximum pension available – but annuities can vary widely, and many people find their current pension company may not offer the best deal.

If you are in this position then we can help you review your existing arrangements, search the entire market and recommend the most suitable annuity for you.

We’re pretty sure most pension companies will experience higher than usual levels of activity towards the end of the year as clients rush to get annuity funds released before the deadline, so by acting now, we can ensure you get the best available annuity rate in plenty of time.

If you would like more information on this or would appreciate a face to face discussion with an Adviser on how you may be affected by the deadline then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

You might also find it useful to visit the “Your Retirement Options” section on our home page as this also provides an extensive guide to retirement choices so even if you’re not likely to be affected by the Gender Directive but need to make some retirement decisions soon we can help.

Dr Claire Armstrong

Source:¹ Partnership: Figures are based on the general situation for male retirees at age 65. For enhancements due to lifestyle or ill health, the difference will depend on individual circumstances and could be higher or lower than these amounts.

The FSA/FCA & Post RDR Advice

May 4, 2012

A few thoughts following conversations with two other advisers about RDR now coming into sharp focus and how already businesses are thinking about what the post-RDR world might be like.

The FSA continues it’s death throes and appears to lash-out in a number of directions, none of which are particularly helpful and endearing.

Let’s face it, any regulator is going to be a pretty easy target. I hear from friends and clients in other industries about there respective oversight bodies and the names are interchangeable but the problems remain common.

I will return to this in a moment.

One of the very positive outcome of RDR thus far for me, is the genuine co-operation amongst forward thinking businesses and the willingness and desire to help each other.

Certainly a big change from the clashing ego-fests of Network and other bun-fights of the past. (that doesn’t mean that there aren’t IFA’s out there that I’d rather saw my leg off than spend 2 seconds in their Bond-addled company – But I digress…)

During our conversation, one noted that the FSA had stated that they were concerned that IFA’s were “shoe-horning” clients into an advice process…

Once I’d placed the tablet under my tongue and my vision had returned to normal, I was able to think about this statement.

I thought that the whole (or some) of the point of RDR was to focus on the advice process, have a defined and streamlined investment strategy and a clearly laid out structure for delivery along with transparent details on costs.

Naturally, in the course of considering how this might work in individual businesses you might also define exactly what type of clients you can work with and how you can best provide value to them.

If that means some prospects are headed off at the pass in favour of clients who “fit” and will be best served, is that wrong?

As regulators (in any industry) create rules and regs, then it’s natural for the participants to assimilate and adapt. This doesn’t mean that you can throw the head up when you get a result you don’t like.

Next week; “common sense – a forgotten art.”

Roland Oliver
May 2012

Keeping You Informed

February 27, 2012

I am very pleased to announce two brand new features of our service that have been launched today:

Our first Monthly E-mail Bulletin rolled out today at 1pm.

Our first Quarterly Newsletter which you can find a link to at the top of the page.

This marks our commitment to bring things to our clients that we feel will be of interest and of use, be it information on current legislation, tax changes that may affect them or something personal to their individual circumstances.

We feel it is right that we try and improve the service, information and general all-round experience that our clients have when dealing with us.

I was talking to a number of advisers yesterday and a surprisingly common topic was the agreement that far too many IFA’s were using the Retail Distribution Review as an excuse to move existing clients on to a platform and charge 1% pa fund based commission going forward and forget about them.

The key point is that there was no change in administration service, no added value services and no change in advice offered but typically a big increase in cost.

I don’t think people are that stupid and many are very wary (& weary) of having the same service dressed up in a bow and played back to them as an enhanced and more expensive version of the same thing.

There is nothing better than having a client tell you that they value what you do and that they think your service is great value for money.

I hope to develop the Monthly E-mail, the Quarterly Newsletter and this blog to enforce our position as experts and provide the reader with something that they can turn to for information on all aspects of their plan on an ongoing basis.

If you haven’t already, please enjoy the Newsletter and don’t forget to check back on this blog for more on Wednesday.

Roland Oliver

27th February 2012

Do You Have A Large Pension?

February 10, 2012

Urgent Action Needed by the Deadline – 5^th April 2012

Who does this concern?

Anyone who expects their overall pension value to be above £1.5m by the time it is crystallised.

Individuals in final salary pensions schemes who are expecting pensions of £65,000-£75,000p.a.

What is happening?

From April 6 2012, the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) – the overall maximum that can be drawn from a pension fund before tax penalties are imposed – will fall from £1.8m to £1.5m. Any pension benefits over and above the LTA will incur a tax charge of 55% for a lump sum and 25% plus income tax for regular payments.

However, the government has softened the blow for those currently expecting their benefits to be worth more than £1.5m by allowing individuals to lock into the current £1.8m limit.

How?

They must apply for fixed protection with HMRC.

Downside

You cannot start a new arrangement other than to accept a transfer of existing pension rights
You cannot have benefit accrual
You will be subject to restrictions on where and how you can transfer benefits

What are the consequences of not having fixed protection?

If you take a lump sum having exceeded the LTA, the tax charge is 55%. If you take the benefits as income, the charge is 25% plus income tax at the member’s marginal rate.

For more details please contact us forthwith!

5th August 2011 – response to market conditions

August 5, 2011

In the uncertainty surrounding North America and Europe lately, and the sharp fall in the markets that has come with it, it is easy to both feel panicked and miss out on the good news in the global markets.

It is fitting to refer you to pages 8 and 9 of our Informed Investor brochure (see the link above) to understand the emotional ride you must take with investment, and why panicking now is the very worst thing you can do.

It is also fitting to mention these lesser headlines that you may well not have been exposed to, but your well diversified portfolio will have: –

Robust Growth in Germany Pushes Prices—Analysts see a strong chance that German inflation will head towards 3 per cent by the end of the year against a backdrop of robust growth in Europe’s biggest economy. (Reuters, July, 27, 2011)
Brazil Domestic Demand Still Strong—The Economist Intelligence Unit says economic growth in Brazil surprisingly picked up speed in the first quarter, challenging the government’s efforts to cool the expansion. (EIU, July 6, 2011)
Japan Retail Sales Top Estimates—Japan’s retail sales rose 1.1 per cent in June, exceeding all economists’ forecasts and adding to signs the economy is bouncing back from an initial post-disaster plunge. (Bloomberg, July 28, 2011)
No Fear in China—Traders betting on gains in China’s biggest companies are pushing options prices to the most bullish level in two years. The Chinese economy is projected to grow by 9.4 per cent in 2011. (Bloomberg, July 28, 2011)
Southeast Asia Booms—Southeast Asian markets are the world’s top performers in 2011 thanks to strong economic and corporate fundamentals. Thailand’s index hit a 15-year high in July and Indonesia’s a record high. (Reuters, July 22, 2011)
Australian Boom Keeps Rate Rise on the Agenda—The Australian dollar hit its highest level in 30 years in late July as traders looked to the prospect of another rise in interest rates on the back of a resource investment boom. (WSJ, July 27, 2011)
NZ Bounces Back—The New Zealand economy has grown more strongly than expected after the Christchurch earthquake, helped by improving terms of trade. The Reserve Bank signals it may raise interest rates soon. (Bloomberg, July 28, 2011)

Roland Oliver