January news
We wish you a joy filled 2020 and I look forward to our first meeting of the year.
Amongst other things, I want to share with you my recent article on the Climate Emergency.
The climate is undoubtedly the biggest threat to our lifestyle, requiring change from every one of us.
At the same time, fear of a lack of future must not be allowed to stop us from taking steps to protect our current incomes or stop us saving for the future.
Climate anxiety is very real for many but so was the nuclear threat in the 60s.
Protecting yours or your family’s income is still an essential first step to good planning.
It’s worth encouraging your wider family and friends to put this essential insurance in place, so that during sickness or accident the bills still get paid. The threat of homelessness can become reality all too quickly.
Savings and Pensions
The tax rules still favour pension funding.
With life expectancy around 90, your pension will need to support you for a long time, particularly if you plan to retire in your sixties.
For those older members of your family, who may want to pass money down through the generations, a pension fund can be started from birth, no need to wait until they start their first job.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
– a collective effort is needed
“The solutions exist but the political will and the need for funding are elusive”. When I became a founding member of Bristol Green Capital in 2007 that was the message from the Engineering and Scientific community.
The world has shifted; every UK political party has been forced to say the right words on climate change, forced by public opinion, David Attenborough and Greta Thornburg.
By flooding in Yorkshire to Australian bush fires.
We know we must stop mining oil and gas; we must develop better battery storage and stop landfill dumping.
So, what are investors doing?
I have been advising on Alternative Energy investments since 2008.
The City Launched its Green Initiative in 2019, having woken up to the threat of large and increasing insurance claims.
On the 3rd December MSCI hosted an international conference on Environmental Finance as a positive response to the Climate Emergency.
Who are the MSCI? They provide data for the financial sector and they say:
“We strive to bring greater transparency to financial markets, enabling the investment community to make better decisions for a better world.
At MSCI – Investing today requires informed decisions that contribute to a better world we seek to bring clarity to dynamic and increasingly complex financial markets. Relentless innovation is in our DNA. Seeing the impact of those innovations on global economies drives us to continue building forward. We are powered by the belief that ROI also means return on community, sustainability and the future that we all share. Healthy economies stimulate job creation, encourage infrastructure development and generate the returns necessary to improve living standards for everyone, everywhere.”
The big players in the investment universe are making big commitments so, unless politicians continue to hold things back, we could start the fight for a better outcome. Money for research and development and more money for alternative energy. It requires political will, public and private finance. In short you can take part in this energy revolution and make better returns.
Alternative Energy
Investments have outperformed the FTSE over the past five years and the markets expect a further boost as the world targets Zero carbon.
Your pension pot, savings and investments
The major pension funds and large sovereign investment funds have mostly removed carbon or are in the process of doing so.
You can do the same and by doing so you are removing assets that will devalue and damage your own and your family’s future.
Jan
Jan Oliff Financial Planning is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
Nothing in this newsletter should be taken as advice.
If anything prompts you to need to act or enquire further please let Jan Oliff know.