Welcome to the winter edition of the Bluesky Bulletin.

In this edition, we look back on 2025, welcome a new member of staff to Bluesky and reflect on other events of the last quarter. We also let you know about our Christmas and New Year opening times.

2025 – A year in review

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… and as we approach the festive period, it’s natural to reflect upon the year that was. Christmas is a busy and exciting time for many, but also provides an opportunity to look back, reset, and plan ahead.

2025 has been a year of consolidation for Bluesky. In July 2024, we moved to our new premises in Sindlesham, having been in our Lower Earley office for over 20 years.

The office move was a culmination of 18 months’ hard work in planning and preparation. We’ve now been in our new office for over a year, and it definitely feels like home. We all look forward to this being our home for the next 20 years.

2025 seems to have flown by, though I’m sure that I will be saying the same thing again next year! Here, we reflect on some of the key events from the past 12 months.

Last Christmas, inflation rates were still relatively high (3.4%), and the Bank of England (BoE) had cut interest rates twice in the previous two quarters from 5.25% to 4.75%. We have seen inflation remain high (currently 3.8%), but the BoE has continued to reduce interest rates throughout 2025 to the current rate of 4%.

2025 saw a turbulent start as Donald Trump’s tariffs shook markets and the global equity index fell around 17% in April. The market has recovered since this low point, with most equity markets seeing double-digit growth again this year.

This is an indication that the old adage “it’s time in the market, not timing the market” is as relevant as ever. The markets will continue to see regular temporary declines, but should always recover given time to do so.

The UK budget was delivered at the end of November, and again, we saw the UK media publish numerous scare stories around what the chancellor was going to do. Very few (if any) of these more extreme stories came to pass, and our advice to not panic proved to be correct. Planning based on media speculation is never a good long-term strategy in our view.

This editor is reminded of a book he read to his son called “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman and a quote from it which particularly apt for this year:

“We feel cold, but we don’t mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn’t feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It’s worth being cold for that.”

To protect ourselves from inflation, we need to take measured risks with our investments. At times, this can feel scary when we see our hard-earned assets reduce in value. However, over many decades, we have seen that short-term decreases (the cold of winter) have always been outweighed by the subsequent market recoveries (we endure the market falls to enjoy the inflation-busting market recoveries).

Please remember that, as Chartered Financial Planners, helping you manage changing economic and personal circumstances is key to what we do. Legislation changes, market fluctuations and changing personal circumstances mean that the pieces of the financial planning puzzle are always in flux.

We take great satisfaction from our role as a trusted partner to many, helping you navigate a way through these changes. Helping you make the most of the opportunities that exist today, while keeping one eye on the challenges that will no doubt present themselves tomorrow.

What will happen in 2026? Who knows!

From all of us at Bluesky, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

P.S.

At Bluesky, we pride ourselves on the service we provide to each of you. We recognise, as a proudly local firm, that offering excellent service is one of the highest priorities for any potential new client.

In 2025, the number of new clients has grown by 12% (many via referrals), and we continue to be grateful for every new client who trusts us with their hard-earned pensions and investments.

We are constantly striving to do better, so please let us know if you see something in your experience with Bluesky that you think could be improved. Better still, tell your friends if you think that we could help them too!

A warm welcome to Rachel

A very hearty welcome to Rachel, who joined us in September.

She will be part of our Business Services team and will be taking over several of the duties that Neil was responsible for (booking client meetings and the smooth running of the office). Neil will be focused on business improvement projects, but will still be helping you all if Rachel is not available or on holiday.

Rachel has over 10 years of admin experience working in a variety of different professions over the years, including working as a nanny.

Now she has her own daughter, and outside of work she likes to spend time with her young family, and they love to travel and go on lots of adventures together. She loves to socialise with friends and family but also enjoys a good comedy film – although this doesn’t happen as much these days with my spare time being diverted to organising her wedding next year and looking after her two-year-old daughter.

Rachel has slotted into the team extremely well over the last three months, and we know she will be a fantastic addition to the team.

Staff company day

Every quarter, we close the office and have an off-site training day involving all staff. We use the day for training, to reflect on the highs and lows of the previous quarter and to discuss ways in which we can improve our service to you.

These days typically start with an “icebreaker” activity, and in our October meeting, we were split into teams and asked to build “balloon towers”.

You can see a photo below of the activity, and Rob’s team (with Isaac and Nick) were declared the winners after a careful measurement of each tower.

The idea of the exercise is team building, planning and design – all core skills in helping Bluesky to grow and develop.

Village Eye

We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Village Eye magazine again this year.

They distribute an excellent monthly magazine in Burghfield and Mortimer. Delivering 26,000 copies to the local area, we have written articles for Village Eye for many years. Written by Jeremy, these articles are designed to be informative and allow the readers to learn a few things about personal finances.

This year, Jeremy has written articles such as:

• ‘Protecting the wellbeing of loved ones as they get older’
• ‘The death of the cash ISA’
• ‘AI and financial planning’
• ‘Do you have an Inheritance Tax problem?’

We have received very positive feedback from existing and future clients. Indeed, a large proportion of our new clients are first exposed to Bluesky by reading Jeremy’s articles.

Thanks to Hellen and her team for all their support again this year.

Webinar series Autumn 2025

Every year, we put on a series of webinars aimed at solicitors and mediators who assist with divorcing clients. This year, we held two webinars:

• Pension Basics
• How to write a good Letter of Instruction (how solicitors formally engage with their clients and partners).

Helping solicitors and their clients in the complicated and often contentious area of pensions is extremely rewarding work and one where we have over 20 years of expertise.

Professional success

As part of our graduate trainee program, Jack is studying towards the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.

We’re pleased to announce that after only five months of starting at Bluesky, Jack has passed his first exam (RO5 – Financial Protection) and will now study for the RO1 exam – Regulation and Ethics.

Congratulations to Jack, and we wish him all the best for the next exam.

Christmas hours

The office will be closed from 2:00 pm on Wednesday, 24 December, and we will return at 09:00 am on Monday, 5 January 2026.

Rob, Jeremy, and the rest of Bluesky would like to wish all our clients and professional partners a restful and peaceful break over Christmas and the New Year.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about what the Bluesky staff have been up to during this quarter, and look out for our next update in March 2026.

Get in touch

Email info@blueskyifas.co.uk or call us on 01189 876655.