Opinion

I read the other day that there had been a 50% increase in the number of financial services firms going into administration, with independent financial advisers being the worst hit.

Pensions A-Day seems such a long time ago and after the subsequent changes of benefits, did not do exactly what it said on the tin.

IFAonline's Business Doctor is Phil Billingham, director of consultancy Perception Support. He will answer your questions each month to help you understand how to tackle the latest industry changes and in the process improve your business.

Flying down to London this morning I was in need of something to read and grabbed a complimentary copy of the Daily Express. In its pages was the ongoing campaign against the so-called "death tax".

Financial hari-kiri or just plain daft? Whatever you want to call it, single charge commission-paying group personal pensions and stakeholder are defying financial gravity, thanks to the generosity of some providers - or more precisely, their shareholders'...

This might sound like a bit of a rant - but after losing any opportunity I thought I had to become a future shareholder at Liverpool Football Club now's as good a time as any.

It could be my age, it could be the start of a new year or perhaps simply the fact that I have got nothing better to do...but I can't help reflecting on the last 20 years.

Having finally woken up to the fact I live in a single-income household with one adult, one junior dependent and a third on the way it has become necessary to cast around for some income protection.

Not sure if it's just me that has a good laugh about this, but I've managed to spend an amusing late morning musing on the latest results announcements from Aviva and Standard Life.

An eminent expert conducting a review of the UK mortgage market in 2004 declared customers should be buying products with long-term fixed rates and that brokers should be pushing these.