Dear <<First Name>>

Two words which tend to dominate the beginning of every New Year and 2018 has been no different so far. Most of us will smile at the idea of a gypsy reading our own fortune from a crystal ball, but will hang onto every word as “experts“ confidently pass on their predictions for our wider future. Resolutions we make with such determination seem designed to simply remind us of how difficult it is to change our habits.

However using the start of a New Year to take stock of our lives and the way in which we view the world can be therapeutic and hopefully, will help us to achieve the best we can from the year ahead. 

In Argyle’s world we like to look back at the previous twelve months to see the events which actually happened, rather than those which were predicted to happen. This is an important process as we collect our thoughts and plan an investment philosophy for the coming months.

Since the EU referendum, whilst the media and the politicians of Europe appear to have done nothing other than debate the potential downsides of Brexit, they also seem to have missed altogether the very welcome improvements that are actually taking place all over Europe. Employment and productivity figures are getting better and the various measures of Quantitive Easing do at last seem to be having some desired effects. In fact, it is intriguing to wonder what our political class actually did with their time before they had a Brexit bone to chew on?

As world media continues to examine the suitability of Donald Trump as a non-politician to be the President of the USA and to focus on previously unseen and untried methods of communication, it might be appropriate as we come to the end of his first year in office to look at what has actually happened. Trump’s tweeting on the superiority of US military appears to have brought about a welcome and positive change in attitude in both Pyongyang and Beijing. 

Guardians of the Free World

Expressing himself in his rather unique way is bringing the US back into focus as the ‘Guardians of the Free World’ where recent diplomatic initiatives had previously failed. His failure to repeal Obamacare is probably one of party politics, but it is compensated for by the largest range of tax cuts for decades, which have been universally welcomed by US business leaders. 

It may be hard to accept, but there are some signs that the very different style of Trump Twitter Diplomacy might actually be working!

Sadly none of us could have predicted the terror which has plagued our cities or the growing unrest with the status quo which is being expressed by many citizens in countries around the World. Hopefully politicians everywhere will soon realize how out of touch they are… and how inept they appear… and begin to act on behalf of the people they purport to represent.

We also reflect on the irony of the way in which our health is being brilliantly served by new technology with the ever greater pressure this puts on the resources of our health service.

New Year - New look!

Finally, we hope you like our new bulletin style. This year we intend to begin addressing some of the many personal financial matters which are common to us all and to help with this we have completely revised our website: www.argylefinancialgroup.co.uk

This will give us space to deal more fully with topics such as the Bank of Mum and Dad, investment risk, making a will and the spiraling cost of social care… and over time we will use it to build up a library of articles dealing with topical issues which we hope you will find both interesting and useful.

Please have a look at the new website and if you have any subjects you would like us to address in a similar way, please let us know.

We hope that 2018 will be a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year, for you and your loved ones.