I have used the services and professional acumen of Steve Speed for many years. In this time he has offered me sound financial advice and planning and I trust his guidance and understanding of the markets completely. I have recommended him to a number of our own clients who have also been very complementary about People and Business.
John Powell 4th January 2018
It’s been a busy year and an interesting one from a political and market perspective. However, the investment returns have been good and, dependent on your risk profile, you will have seen investment returns ranging from good to excellent over the last year.
Unless we see an unusual finish to the year, investors should be able to contemplate their position over the festive holidays and feel a sense of satisfaction.
You might think that, given the backdrop of political and global events, the markets have been relatively calm. This is the case as the underlying fundamentals, low inflation, low interest rates, low unemployment and corporate earnings growth across a lot of the globe have been favourable.
One of the areas we focus on is the Budget. This appeared to be quite well balanced and we saw no real change impacting on advice. The Lifetime Allowance for pensions increases to £1,030,000.00 in April 2018. A step in the right direction.
My Christmas wish is for the politicians to leave pension legislation alone. We have seen enough legislative change recently for pensions (and most of it has been favourable) but I’d like to see the status quo maintained for stability in this area as we fund pensions for the very long term, 30, 40 or even 50 years and we need to have faith in pension legislation to give us confidence to fund for the long term and to be able to plan our retirement.
The consensus outlook for 2018 (I’ve been doing the rounds in seminars listening to economists, fund managers and strategists), is for growth but with higher volatility. This again is based on strong underlying global fundamentals. Investment returns are not likely to be as good as for 2017 but they should be fair.
We are obviously subject to shocks in the market (as ever) and this could impact your investment returns if we suffer a significant setback.
Let’s hope we have a peaceful 2018 with less war, conflict and terrorism.
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year!
Steve Speed
We have dealt with People and Business IFA for a few years now and have been really pleased with the service provided. Steve’s in-depth knowledge of the financial markets and the products available have been invaluable. We have definitely benefited from his advice and look forward to dealing with him for many years to come.
Debbie & John Penfold 18 December 2017
When we first met 8 or 9 years ago, you guided me on investing an old pension that had been sitting in cash. I am now looking forward to retiring in a far more privileged position; in addition to paying off the mortgage, the fund still exceeds the original amount invested and will shortly be providing me with a very nice income. All of this has been made possible by your help and advice.
Denise Fetches 13 Dec 2017
I am delighted with the service that Steve, and his colleagues at People and Business IFA, provides for me. I find the charges very reasonable and the advice is always tailored to my specific needs.
Furthermore, I am extremely pleased with the performance of my pension investments over the entire period I have been with Steve; many thanks
Tom Steele
Protecting your data – Cyber Essentials Accreditation
Over the last few months you have almost certainly seen and heard about major businesses being hit by large-scale cyber attacks.
We take the security of your data very seriously and, although we have not experienced a data breach, we have been investing to tighten our IT security and internal processes.
I am delighted to announce that we have just been awarded the recently created Cyber Essentials accreditation. This award is externally verified and involves checking that our processes meet best practice standards and attempting to hack our systems.
While we are pleased with this outcome, we are aware that the people who perpetrate cyber-attacks are technically capable and persistent. With this in mind, we will continue to take advice on how we can maintain the highest level of security with the data we hold or process.
If you would like further information on this achievement please feel free to contact us.
Mike O’Byrne
Operations Manager
Pensions and Investments are such complicated areas and it’s daunting when you think that you need to make decisions that will affect the rest of your life. The advice I receive from Steve is clear and simply put. He takes to the time to understand my personal circumstances and gives me options that are easy to take in so that I can make up my mind with confidence.
His pro-active approach to customer service means that I can relax knowing that he and his team are there when I need them, and that my investments are being well managed, letting me get on with enjoying my retirement!
Barbara Hodgson
An article in yesterday’s Sunday Times reported that the online forecast facility for State Pension entitlement was producing incorrect results. Read more
Over the last week, we have seen a series of news articles on pension savings and living in retirement. At first glance the information is confusing and may even appear contradictory. Here is our take on what they really tell us. Read more
Steve and his support team have demonstrated a genuine interest and understanding of my situation. They have provided me with all the information that I have needed to make some key decisions with my future financial planning. Steve always provides an extremely professional service which is backed by his considerable knowledge and expertise.
– Graham Bower
