Welcome to the winter edition of the Bluesky bulletin.
In this instalment, we look back on 2024, congratulate Natasha on her wedding, and reflect on other events of the last quarter. We also let you know about our Christmas and new year opening times.
2024 – 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 reflect, reset, and plan ahead.
2024 has been a year of change for Bluesky. In July, we moved to our new premises in Sindlesham, having been in our Lower Earley office for more than 20 years. The office move was a culmination of over a year’s hard work in planning and preparation.
Four months after making the move, our new place really does feel like home. Hopefully, “The Barn” will be Bluesky’s home for the next 20 years.
2024, more than any other year, seems to have flown by (although, 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.
The key financial events of 2024
Last Christmas, inflation rates were high (over 5%) and the Bank of England was still some way off cutting interest rates. Investment markets had experienced a choppy 18 months but were starting to turn the corner.
We were getting to grips with new tax legislation that had been implemented by the previous government, not least understanding the implications of the Lifetime Allowance being abolished.
In 2024, we have seen investment markets continue to rebound with inflation and interest rates starting to fall. It’s been a good year for investments across the board and serves as another reminder that staying invested when markets fall (like they did in 2022/23) is almost always the prudent action to take.
We have also had a change of government, which perhaps came sooner than many people anticipated. The recent Budget will alter the financial landscape in several ways, not least in bringing pension pots into scope for Inheritance Tax (IHT) from 2027.
Consultation on the practical impacts of this announcement and finalised legislation will likely be confirmed next year but it will have a significant impact for many.
As Chartered financial planners, helping you to manage change is key to what we do. Legislative changes, market fluctuations, and shifting 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 2025? Who knows!
Introducing the new Mrs Pownall
Congratulations to our very own Natasha and her new husband, Brad, on their marriage. The wedding was held at the Old Mill in Aldermaston and Natasha and Brad honeymooned in Japan (with a stop off in Dubai on the way out).
I’m sure you’ll agree, Natasha looked absolutely stunning, and Brad doesn’t scrub up too badly either!
Here are some pictures of the happy couple:
Reflections on our new home
As mentioned above, Bluesky has grown significantly since our beginnings back in the late 1990s from just three members of staff to the 15 that we have today.
Our former office in Chalfont Court had become too small and Rob and Jeremy decided we needed to move to drive the business forward. Having now been in The Barn for five months, we thought we’d share some of our thoughts so far:
- The extra space The Barn offers is fantastic. It’s much quieter for the staff and, with four meeting rooms, we can now be more flexible when arranging meetings with our clients.
- While the M4 is close by, we have found the traffic noise to be minimal and the office provides a tranquil place to work from.
- It does get dark on these winter nights, but we’ve recently upgraded the security and safety lighting outside to ensure both staff and clients are kept as safe as possible.
- We have also increased the security in the building, and installed an extensive array of security cameras and locks on external doors.
- We recently experienced our first closure of Mill Lane. While this restricts access from the Lower Earley side, access from Mole Road remains unaffected for businesses and homes situated down Mill Lane.
Many of you have already visited us and for those who haven’t, we look forward to welcoming you soon.
Quick Budget thoughts
You may have already received and read our articles on the technical aspects of the last Budget, but in case you didn’t, we have highlighted some of the main points.
In the lead up to the Budget, there were headlines along the lines of, “Britons urged to brace themselves for hasty tax grab”, and, “Britain is headed for oblivion, ruined by Labour’s greed, malice and stupidity”.
This helped to create a sense of panic among some circles where, perhaps, calmer analysis should instead have been offered.
As with the run on Northern Rock in 2007, behavioural finance could have predicted what was to come next.
The creation of fear led to dozens of stories of pension savers hastily removing their tax-free lump sums from their pensions. This was not the case at Bluesky where wisened financial planners had seen these stories several times before!
The Budget announcement to include pensions in an individual’s estate for IHT purposes from 2027 will alter some people’s financial plans. However, this proposal is still to go through a consultation phase and, as always, understanding the technical detail is what will be required for us to truly understand the implications.
In other areas of the Budget, Capital Gains Tax rates were raised for some (but less than feared). The brunt of the Budget was aimed mainly at employers who will have to pay more National Insurance contributions.
In summary, we would always strongly suggest our clients seek Bluesky’s guidance before taking action.
Staff company day
Every quarter, we close the office and have an off-site training day involving all staff. We use the day to train, reflect on the “highs and lows” of the previous quarter, and discuss ways 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 “stomp” rockets.
For those who don’t know, these are built from plastic bottles and a combination of inner tubes, Sellotape, and “engineering ingenuity.” You then build a paper “rocket”, attach it to your system, jump on the bottle, and see how far the rocket flies.
Having not done this before, this editor wasn’t sure how far the rockets would go. I can happily report that they go a very long way, perhaps as far as 100 metres!
As an aside, you want to be on Rob’s team for this activity – this is the second time he’s been the winner, and he takes his stomp rocket building very seriously…
The idea of the exercise is team building, planning, and design – all core skills in helping Bluesky to grow and develop.
Building stomp rockets with the family could be an excellent post-Christmas activity so let us know if you want the instructions.
Village Eye
We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Village Eye magazine, which distributes its 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 readers to learn a few things about personal finances.
Jeremy has written articles such as ‘The risks of finding financial advice online’, ‘Getting the balance right’, and ‘What to consider when your current adviser retires’.
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 Helen and her team at Village Eye for all their support this year.
Webinar series autumn 2024
Every year, we try to put on a series of webinars aimed at solicitors and mediators who assist with divorcing clients.
This year, we have held a series of three webinars. The first webinar was ‘Pension Basics’, and the following two were based on the updated report published by the Pension Advisory Group (who are tasked with helping devise the guidelines around divorcing couples and how to share pensions).
Across the three webinars, we have had almost 600 legal professionals sign up, and feedback so far has been extremely positive. Helping solicitors and their clients in the complicated and often contentious area of pensions is extremely rewarding work.
Professional success
After a long delay caused by Covid and its aftermath, Mike has successfully graduated from the Personal Finance Society (PFS) as a Chartered financial planner.
He’s now among a small number of double Chartered planners in the UK since he has also recently become a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI).
Well done, Mike!
Christmas closing hours
The office will be closed from 12.30 pm on Tuesday 24 December and we will return at 9 am on Thursday 2 January 2025.
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.
See you in the new year!
At Bluesky, we pride ourselves on the service we provide to each of you.
We recognise that as a proudly local firm, offering excellent service is one of the highest priorities for any potential new client. In 2024, our number of new clients has grown by 11% (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 anything in your experience with Bluesky could be improved. Better still, tell your friends if you think we could help them too!
From all of us at Bluesky, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy 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 2025.