The Ruminations of Ruby the Cat

Gosh, the air has been full of comments over the last few days. Many are concentrating on football, but not my owner. She has her mind closely engaged in politics, and how the possible appointment of Andy Burnham as the next Prime Minister may affect taxation.

She seemed quite excited about the possibility of attention being directed to the cost of funding social care. She knows this is a great worry to clients.

I think I will stretch out and have a rest. As I would tell her if she could interpret my purrs, ‘anything might happen’. But I know that, in due course, she will be quick to spread the news to clients, whether good or bad.

I have to say that the last few days have been very stressful for a black and white cat with lots of fur. I have sat in the shade and dozed in the garden while my owner rushes around the country, complaining about the heat and also the constant problems resulting from the anti-money laundering rules. The problems seem to occur when clients attempt to make bank transfers. It appears to make everyone stressed, which is not good in hot weather.

However, the tables now seem to have turned. My owner has been spotted with her nose in a book titled Everyone Loves Our Dollars: An Investigation into Money Laundering by Oliver Bullough. She says the content does not resolve the plight of the innocent investor making a bank transfer, but it does make for incredibly interesting reading. It covers matters such as the need for central banks to print enormous numbers of high denomination dollar bills. It is not an easy read, but it is written with a certain amount of humour and is recommended to those with an enquiring mind.

I am off to the shade of the trees and will speak again soon. If you read the book, let me know what you think.

This week has been far from quiet. Some time ago, my owner purchased an electric car. This has not been to her liking. It appears that she failed to understand that the driving distance between charges was low, and her back-to-back diary leaves very little time to stand around in forecourts waiting for the car to charge.

Now it’s out with the electric and in with the petrol. What, you might say, has this got to do with investment? I purred this question to her, and the response was that there is a similarity to ethical or environmental investment. Sometimes it suits the needs of the client, and sometimes less so.

This has provoked an article on the subject which will appear shortly on the website. Look out for it.

I am not sure whether there are regular readers of my ruminations but, if so, you will notice that I have been very quiet. The reason is that my owner has taken a short holiday. The house has been incredibly quiet, except for the occasional kindly friend coming to check that I am eating well, which I must tell you is never a problem.

Now she is back, brimming with ideas and talking constantly about the importance of investment schemes for children. This has led me to think, while lying in a small ray of sun, ‘Surely I am a sort of child. Might she save for me, to allow me to buy extra cat sweeties?’ I doubt it, but I can see what a good idea it is for children to understand investing, even small amounts of money, from an early age.

I have just found another patch of sun. I think I need a further snooze. Maybe I will wake up rich…

I have spent a happy Easter with the extra excitement of mint chocolate. Oh, how I enjoy mint. However, serious reading and conversations have been going on in the kitchen, and the topic appears to be “stagflation.” Initially, I was quite scared because I have always been led to believe that stags were enormous animals — well, enormous to me — and I had visions of such an animal invading and disrupting the garden. It appears that is not the case; it is merely a disturbance of the economy. I fear this may result in inferior food on my plate and no further mint Easter eggs. In any event, look out for the next newsletter, which will tell you more….

I overheard my owner exclaiming, ‘I have repeatedly told my clients that one of the well-trodden paths to ease the stress of one’s family having to find the money to pay Inheritance Tax is to have a life assurance policy in place.’

She continued, ‘It pays out on the death of the family member to named beneficiaries, usually family members or the executor of the estate.’

She had just spotted an article in the Saturday Financial Times, titled ‘Life insurance sales surge in wake of Reeves’ inheritance tax shake-up’. Hopefully, she said, some clients have read this excellent report and will be motivated to revisit the topic at their next review meeting.

I have to report that I am having terrible trouble with my owner. She constantly paces the floor, despairing of the situation in the Middle East and the increased price of fuel. It seems set to affect every part of life, including the transportation of food. I am also worried. Is it likely that there may be a scarcity of my special cat treats?

The worried frown on her face continues. For months she has been muttering about the increased risk to the retirement savings of approximately 22 million scheme members. Apparently, a number of pension providers have signed up to the Mansion House Accord, which was proposed as a voluntary agreement to invest at least 10% of the capital invested in their workplace pension default funds in unlisted securities. She was concerned that this proposal would increase the risk to individuals’ retirement savings and potentially lead to lower returns. If that was not bad enough, she has now learned that Clause 40 of the Pension Schemes Bill, if passed, would grant the government the mandate to enforce the Accord. The trade bodies, Pensions UK and the ABI, have called for the clause to be cut from the legislation. Let’s hope this happens. Until then, I fear her blood pressure will continue to be high.

Carole’s mood at this time of year can only be described as ‘stressed but focused’. She is so focused on making sure that all her clients have made good tax decisions before 5th April, and have paid into their pension and ISA savings accounts, that I frequently worry she will forget to feed me.

However, out of the blue, it appeared as though the sun was shining in her life. Back came the luggage from London, there was time for a tickle behind the ears, and she remarked on how useful she had found the Premier Miton Conference she had attended. She mused on how important it was to take time out from the hassle of keeping all the business balls spinning, and to listen to the commitment of those who are managing our clients’ money.

This week, I found a unique spot in the hallway where the sun is shining through the glass in the door. I’ve taken up my favourite position (rolled onto my back with paws neatly folded) and I’m dreamily thinking of Carole’s thoughts this week; they really fit my mood.

Her thoughts arose from reading the Financial Times (Saturday 14 February edition), in particular Stuart Kirk’s article under the heading “The lost art of self-validation”. The article led her to ponder upon what happens in business. The Regulator is keen that each financial services company should validate the level of its service through responses from the recipients: the clients.

Overall, clients score the service given by Nicholls Stevens highly. But the thought-provoking article emphasised that what really matters is that each member of the team should focus on excellence without the applause.

This is an excellent message for all of us, and Carole resolves to look for this motivation in those who seek to work for the firm, both now and in the future. Let’s hope this isn’t like some of her New Year’s resolutions, which sometimes don’t last beyond February – but I suspect this one will be long term.

I have to say, Carole has had a cold this week and that does not seem to have improved her mood. Listening to her phone calls with colleagues, it seems that she is responding well to the fact that recent civil service retirees are not getting their pension benefits paid on time.

Your reaction to this statement may be, “What a heartless woman,” but it turns out this is far from the truth. Apparently, for years the “small people” in pension schemes have been suffering a similar situation, receiving poor administration from providers and administrators when the time comes to take the retirement income they have strived for. Unfortunately, to date no one has taken much notice… except the retiree who needs the money to which they are entitled. She thinks that now government employees are suffering the same fate, something may be done. Let’s hope so; then she might cheer up and give me some of those nice crunchy cat treats.

I was interested to learn from my eavesdropping that the reason for the delays is not all down to poor administration: a great deal of it is because of the extreme complexity of pension legislation in the UK. Retiree benefits often have to be tested against numerous allowances and restrictions at the time when the benefits are due to be paid out.

Simplification of pensions legislation is needed. It would help savers understand their benefits and receive them on time. It would also mean that administrators should be able to provide their services at a lower fee level. The costs for pension administration are high because of this complexity; these costs are sometimes met by the employer, but more often by the scheme member, and most probably have a direct or indirect effect on the final value of the pension benefits.

I’m not sure if Carole will pension me off, but if she does, I hope I get my cat food for life on time.