trust you had a great Christmas break and best of all (up here anyway) super New Year. I wish you all the best for the year ahead. One of my own resolutions is to make sure I enjoy a lot more new music this year and in particular live music. One of the best things to happen over the festive break was seeing over 1200 folk pack out the Alhambra to see (among others) the band I manage the Skinflints. It was awesome!

If you like your music modern, but with crunching authentic rock n’ roll guitars then you won’t go far wrong with the Skinflints I can tell you. They just keep getting better and better. And it’s not just me saying that either – none other than the esteemed Vic Galloway of the BBC said this about them in December…

“A sound that could fill stadiums, I’ve gotta get along to see these guys live, if they are as good as their recordings they will be well worth investigating.”

Here’s a shot of the Alhambra gig in Dunfermline – the place was jumping. It starts with ‘Saints in the City’… just hover your mouse over the link below and you’ll see the video. Then click to play it.

Saints In The City

So let’s be having you – why not join me this year and make it musical?

Who knows we might meet at a gig sometime in 2009!

All the best until next time.

William

with the stream of once plentiful credit drying up to a near standstill many people are finding that obtaining credit for very necessary items like Weddings, School Fees or a  new car is very difficult. Now despite the fact that the politicians say they are working behind the scenes to force Banks to start lending again it doesn’t really look like there will be a thaw in the banks reluctance to let people borrow any time soon.

So what to do if you are stuck and in need for a loan and your credit rating is reasonable?

Well my advice would be to consider being more social… that’s right, having friends always pays dividends and in this case in more ways than one.

Let me explain…

Social Lending (just like Facebook it seems) is all the rage, and even more so since the shutters came down on the UK finance industry (and slammed shut it’s coffers) – and one of the forerunners of this growth industry is Zopa.

Zopa was established in 2005 and has over 200,000 registered members who are able to enjoy loans of up to £15,000.00 for a variety of purposes … at pretty reasonable rates too (average about 10% just now as I write this), but here’s the kicker – this is what’s known as a Social “Peer to Peer lending institution, which means in other words that you are simply borrowing your money ‘direct’ from the lender who is an individual at whatever rate you have decided between you.

With nearly £30,000,000 lent thus far and a miniscule default record (0.16%) Zopa’s Social Lending is here to stay and I predict they will do very well in the future and rightly so… they are responsible people driven organisation, providing a valuable, low cost service to people who are vetted and able to afford what they agree to in repayment terms. Their approach is pretty refreshing in this day of corporate institutional greed and rampant banking profiteering.

You will need a reasoanble credit record to be considered for a loan, but other than that it’s v.simple to apply.

So if you don’t like the way the Banks have been treating you when being considered for a legimate loan then you now have an option to cut them out completely and deal with a new friend instead.

It’s something worth pondering… and then here is of course the flip side – should you be in the position of being able to help others out during this difficult time by being one of the Social source lenders at Zopa you may be pleasantly surprised at the returns your investment brings.

Here’s their URL…

Here’s a BBC Video about them too… (even though it was recorded in Nov 2006 it’s still v.good at explaining how it works=, just bear in mind that if you wish to lend money to others with them, the rate of return they mention may be different.)

So is this the beginning of a revolution of the people against the banks?

Like I said… it pays to be Social.

Until next time,

William George IFA

been a while since I posted over here but things have got pretty serious over the past few months or so, and I’ve been pretty much all hands to the pump looking after clients especially those who had shares in Banks like the RBS for example.

Anyhow, before I finish up tonight I thought you may like a laugh (if you have a quirky sense of humour that is) by trying to work out who’s telling the truth more convincingly and who (if any) you trust more than the other when it comes to protecting your financial assets in the current doom and gloom market climate.

So who do you reckon is most trustworthy out of these folks below… and by the way, before any accusations begin to fly as to which side of politics I’m favouring, I’m not – I simply ask you to view each of the following from a personal perspective, sort of like “Should I lend this chap £500, cos he’s asked nice?”

Here goes then, let me know your vote at the bottom please!

First up, Henry Paulson (rabbit in headlights anyone!)…

David Cameron (look closely at the body language behind him – George Osborne & William Hague in particular)

Finally Gordon Brown – as cheery as ever?

It’s only a laugh, but sometimes 99% of what we say doesn’t come from words alone – sometimes we’re screaming via body language. And if fear is a primary mover as to why markets panic is it any wonder if our politicians give out signals when we look and listen to them and we can see that they’re terrified too?

So who do do trust most from these three?

Please – do tell, it’s only a laugh whatever political camp you’re in!

Bye for now…

financially, if you’ve ever felt like a hamster trapped in perpetual motion on it’s wheel, ever so desperately trying to make some headway, but somehow you don’t feel you’ve even got half of what the average hamster has in terms of resilience then perhaps this finance and economy video will help make sense of it all for you… oh yeh, and it has loads to do with money.

Afterwards, you’re pretty much guaranteed one of those “Ah hah! So that’s what’s going on!” moment’s and a semi-feeling of peace in that at least you know why things are like they are.

V.helpful for uber-stressed professional couples with kids who feel battered by every wind of change on the financial ocean of late.

Hats off to Harvard Law School scholar Elizabeth Warren for making this all so crystal clear about…

• Why even with two partners working most families make less than ONE 1970′s single income
• Why despite clothing, cars, white goods, luxury items, food and virtually every else dropping in cost ONE single item has jumped up and now swallows a massive 76% of the average families income.
• The giant tax hikes which have taken over 20% of what’s left
• Exactly why the middle class is rapidly following the Dodo
• A new ‘two tier ‘Super rich v Dirt Poor’ society is flooding in behind them like a rip tide the Middle Class can’t see until it’s too late – because they’re trying to keep the hamster wheel turning.
• Why more children are suffering with parents going through bankruptcy than divorce

… and a whole lot more besides.

It’ll probably be one of the most insighful 50 minutes or so you’ll spend this year, so go ahead – pour yourself a coffee and settle down to hear from someone whose razor sharp research skills give you the facts as they really are.

And don’t worry that she’s discussing the imminent demise of the American middle class. You can be pretty certain what she’s talking about is headed right at us this side of the pond.

Cheery aren’t I? ; o )

Here’s the video…

All the best,

William

PS: You can disagree with Elizabeth if you wish of course. What do you reckon – will the UK middle class suffer in the way she predicts America’s are destined too?

at the risk of becoming a true doom and gloom merchant I’m just giving you the heads up that I’ll be shortly following up my recent article on Personal Accounts – (the new Government proposed auto-enrolled Pensions currently under some increasingly heated discussions inside and outside of Parliament), in a new article where I’ll be adding grist to the mill in the ongoing conversation over means testing (can anyone say “is that mean?” with me?) and how it works within the context of these new pensions – and how some experts think it could even have the potential to totally derail them altogether.

Watch this space, because for those with broken work histories, or low income this stuff could have profound implications as to whether their retirement is spent in relative adequacy or desperate financial ruin. It’s shaping up to be that serious for a large chunk of late baby boomer Brits. Until then take care, and after my next article I promise to be a bit more cheery – after all spring is on the way!

nothing about the joy of music today I’m afraid – maybe it’s a chill January wind that’s changed the atmosphere in my neck of the woods, but in a day when the IMA (Investment Management Association) say that the continued credit crunch is damaging investor trust causing folks to withdraw more money than was invested last November and December – what should you do if you’re worried by the current nervous cries regarding bear markets and credit crunch scares?

Well rather than repeat the article I’ve already written at www.williamgeorgeifa.co.uk earlier today I’ll just give you a small taster here and then you can read the whole article on my main IFA Advisor site.

Here’s the start for you…

“Hi everyone,

With current stock market volatility very much on the front pages it is inevitable that many people will be nervous about their investments at the moment. At times like this the phone in my office tends to be little busier than normal, but I like to think that if I’ve done my job properly in setting up the investment at the outset then my clients should be aware that periods like this have happened in the past and will happen again (in the last 100 years there have been 23 bear markets).”

Click here to continue…

Don’t worry there’s some pretty solid advice there that should bolster confidence despite current rocky markets.

Until next time…

at the risk of being a little biased, I’d like to blow my own trumpet here for a minute or two today. Of course it takes genius to be a real genius – Mozart, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Elvis etc all had the talent that really cut the mustard. Today though I’d like to argue a small case on behalf of us poor, hardworking and oft-maligned Band Managers and I say “It takes talent to see talent, then cherish, nurture, challenge and inspire it to become all it can in the lives of those it’s been entrusted to.”

That’s a pretty tough brief if you don’t mind me saying and when it comes to managing a band of 4 or 5 young folk that’s multiplied by a factor o’ at least… well a lot of huff and puff. Young egos are delicate you know…

So when it all comes together and better still others at the real grass roots of todays cutting edge music recognise and tell others about it too then all the blood, sweat and sometimes tears that come from managing a band is really worth it all.

Now without further ado look what I stumbled across on the Internet the other night handcrafted by those good guys over at Dead Earnest in their Dundee Bands Live section ( http://www.btinternet.com/~deadearnest/Dundee.htm ) I was overjoyed because Andy G (Kudos to you btw!) could see what I’ve known all along was within this rocking Fife fivesome the Skinflints … but don’t take my word for it – Andy G take it away!

Review By Andy G – Dundee Live Bands to Watch featuring the SKINFLINTS!
There was a first band on but I missed them.So, along come The Skinflints. Who? What? Where?

They set up on stage and we had a guitarist to the left as you look at it, guitarist and vocalist centre stage in front of the drummer, bassist to the right and guy on synthesizers to the right. As the first track began, your attention is immediately caught by the sight of the synthesizer player hammering the shit out of some kind of drum that’s set up to his left.

The band themselves are launching into this mighty hurricane of industrial strength rhythms, red hot guitar work and driving bass. That they then scorch into a song that reveals that the lead singer has a great voice, that the harmonies are strong are in tune and that you’re witnessing a band that’s got the furnace heat of a forest fire.

It’s riveting stuff and this is just the first song.

From there on, you’re hooked, for this was one stunning performance from a band who really cook. Throughout the set there’s this huge whirlwind of guitar rock with massive rhythms and industrial electronic undercurrents that fill the place with sound and provide a storm force of sound to transport you to places way beyond the average rock or indie band.

I was absolutely jaw-dropped by what I was hearing, so much so that there’s no way I can give you any sort of song breakdown or description other than the whole effect was a sort of fiery “Hanney-meets-Hawkwind in an inferno” type of thing and even this doesn’t comne that close!! You got searing guitar leads, the skull-crunching double drum attack, rivers of sizzling space synths undercurrents and electronic textural attack, all topped off by vocals that you feel this sort of a band rarely have.

The songs themselves are arranged to provide a truly dynamic approach so that the song is not merely a vehicle for the instrumental work – the two work in complete harmony and you are taken from solid songwriting to space-age inferno in a heartbeat. One absolute gem of a band and I can’t wait to see them again! (oh yeh, they’re from Glasgow!)

——————————————————

Andy – “you da man!” You made one old rocker very happy and thanks for seeing what I see! And well done lads you’ve got everything you need within, now go let it out!

All the best,

Bill George

PS: Happy New Year everyone btw!

thought I’d kick off the Christmas cheer by playing the fool a little and just go to prove that we Independent Financial Advisers are not as boring and fuddy duddy as some would like to make out. Hope this does it for you! Happy Christmas!

See you all in the New Year!

Figured you’re only really going to get to know me if you know my football.

Hence the potted history of a Fife boy to man and his football which follows below…

I went to my first Dunfermline Athletic match with my dad in 1972. It was against Dundee and we won 3-2. It was the beginning of a tortuous and rarely rewarding relationship that continues to this day.

At the time of writing we have just been beaten 1-0 by the same opposition and now sit second bottom of the First Division having spent the last 7 years in the top league. It has been a dire season for everyone associated with my club and no-one is suffering more than the poor fans who trudge along more in hope than expectation these days.

Recent seasons have bought us 4 national cup finals and although in time honoured fashion we lost the lot of them, we tasted the big time and the limelight and how we loved it. I suppose then that it is with an air of inevitability that we have been brought crashing back to earth with such a bump.

Still supporting the Pars was never going to be about glory hunting.

For me it’s about community, local identity and above all loyalty. Dunfermline are my team and always will be. Oh and I’m lucky enough to still have my dad sitting beside me like he was all those years ago!

I raised a wry smile when the Telegraph revealed today that Adam Applegarth didn’t have even a crumb of a banking qualification to his name. Still, he never let that hold him back as he became the second-youngest CEO of a FTSE 100 company and started to wheel and deal his way to a fortune that included his 2007 family aquisition of a Northumberland mansion after he’d made £2.6 million to help him aquire it with, by… your guessed it, selling his own shares in Northern Rock.

Talk about insider trading – within a few short months those same shares were worthless and I heard this morning on the BBC Today program that shareholders may get offered 25 pence per share from a kindly Mr. Branson and Virgin money poised (almost vulture like) if they get the go ahead to take over.

Some people know no shame do they! How can Applegarth sleep at night? Seems like the Barons of Northern England still rule over serfdom in much the same way they’ve always done.