http://www.richmondway.co.uk John Richmond's musings on insurance, financial planning, and life in general Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:01:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last week one of the biggest financial stories was George Osbourne's effective dismantling of the FSA and returning full supervisory powers to the Bank of England. The problem being, of course,as has been widely pointed out, no regulator across the world appears to have really seen the financial crisis coming, instead ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2010/06/22/financial-reform-must-go-beyond-fsa-and-boe/ The news today that BP is due to set aside $20 billion in compensation payments in a managed fund will come as welcome relief to investors, no doubt. While it can hardly be good news for any company, even one as oil-rich, literally, as BP, at least it will help put ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2010/06/16/bp-needs-to-recover-investor-confidence/ The UK's property market is beginning to see the signs of a downturn finally begin to show, setting the stage for a double dip in property values. While the DCLG reports that property inflation over the past year has reached over 10%, this has been overwhelmingly driven by easy credit rather ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2010/06/16/why-the-property-market-is-about-to-fall/ Concerns about the so-called PIGS - Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain - continue to dominate the financial news as the likelihood of a second wave to the financial crisis, this time a sovereign crisis, with countries likely to default on the huge debt they carry. Today's news is that spreads on Spanish ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2010/06/16/eurozone-spain-the-next-crisis-target/ It has been a while since I last posted due to the length of time required to set up the offices. Finding suitable offices has proven to be a surprisingly difficult endeavour, with quite a number on the market, but few actually properly suitable because of their existing design, not least ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2010/06/16/finally-setting-up-a1s-offices/ It’s that time of year again - when the deadline for last year’s ISA’s allowance comes up and is gone forever. To be part of this year’s allowance, the transaction will need to be completed by 6 April 2010. However, due to the Easter Bank Holiday, savers and investors only ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2010/04/02/isa-deadline-looms-early-dont-get-caught-out/ The way people save has undergone a fundamental shift, but not a lot of people have noticed the change. Traditionally, people would put their savings away into a savings account, generally a higher interest  account, with the highest rate accounts offering higher returns the less you touched your money (ie, notice ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2009/10/28/how-savers-are-unwittingly-becoming-investors/ Well, it looks as though I'm finally moving ISP from Zen back to BT broadband, as I just called Zen for a MAC code. It's a shame, really, as Zen has a far better reputation for service and support than BT, but the problem of wireless interference is a constant and ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2009/10/20/changing-back-to-bt-for-broadband/ The more I read about the impact of the financial crisis in the UK, the more it feels that the UK is doomed economically, and that the best option now while you have cash in Great British Sterling is to cash out and move aborad to somewhere more financially sound ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2009/10/20/does-the-uk-face-economic-collapse-like-japan/ I don't normally write about technical issues. Though I can use computer technology, it all goes over my head and I don't have a clue how it all works. I've come across an interesting problem while setting up my home office, though - wireless interference. I was originally with BT as my ... http://www.richmondway.co.uk/2009/08/22/broadband-vs-phone/