London: Tel: +44 (0) 20 8368 6111 Email: infolondon@osfg.co.uk | Hemel Hempstead: Tel: +44 (0) 1442 23 22 72 Email: infohemel@osfg.co.uk | Copyright 2011
"Relationship and trust
is the foundation of our
company. Founded by a
dedicated group of financial
consultants, OSFG help
busy people improve their
financial health with a broad
range of solutions"
Len Taub FCA MCMI
NE Chairman
Relationship Managers:
Relationship Manager:
Relationship Managers:
This service is all about saving you money as well as making you money and is a principle of good financial advice. With our unique review service we will assess all your bills and associated household costs and help save you money on your monthly bills in a number of ways.
Our association with the Utility Warehouse Discount Club has many benefits:
So let us show you how to save 25% of your household bills now and every month.
Utilities are not regulated by the FSA and are a separate business to our relationship with Intrinsic.
The obvious question is whom should you turn to for sensible and well informed mortgage advice. At One Stop we have over 200 years of combined mortgage experience to help you make an informed choice and to guide you through the maze of the mortgage process.
We believe that our role is to help you and so humanise the process of sourcing the whole of the market, rather than only offering a single option or restricted panel, and helping demystify the mortgage application process. There are thousands of mortgage solutions, from owner occupied to investment, and choosing which one is best for you, and smoothing through this difficult process, is what our expert advice is here to deliver.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Protecting income, protecting family, and protecting against unforeseen circumstances. Whatever the protection need, of which there are many, there are a variety of solutions. Some scenarios our clients have wanted to consider include:
We often avoid asking these questions until it is too late.
We buy car insurance because it is compulsory, we buy buildings insurance because the mortgage will not be granted without it but statistics show that we often leave un-protected the most important people in the equation - YOU & YOUR FAMILY!
Many of our clients share the key objective of building the value of their savings, but their approach to savings will vary considerably.
When we meet, as part of our regular revue service, we believe that your responses to a range of intuitive questions will let us establish your attitude to risk, verses reward, and we can then use this to create a savings strategy that matches your outlook.
Currently one of the most tax efficient ways to save and invest is by using your annual Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowance and we can offer you a range of investment solutions depending on your attitude to risk profiling.
With all the publicity in recent years, it's easy to think that finding enough to live on when you retire will be a struggle. The quality of your future life can be greatly improved by your actions now, and you can take complete control of the outcome. A properly structured financial plan, with the right pension provision, can set you on the road to a fruitful and happy retirement.
Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
OSF Ltd will charge a fee for mortgage advice. You can choose how we are paid: pay a fee, usually in a range from 0.5% to 2% of the loan amount with commission rebated to you, or we can accept commission from the lender.
One Stop Finance Limited is an appointed representative of Intrinsic Financial Planning Limited and Intrinsic Mortgage Planning Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Intrinsic Financial Planning Limited is entered on the FSA register (http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/) under reference 440703. Intrinsic Mortgage Planning Limited is entered on the FSA register under the reference 440718.
Registered office: Aston House, Cornwall Avenue, London, N3 1LF. Registered in England and Wales: 6876390
Investing in the stock market has generally been perceived as a productive way of increasing wealth in the medium to longer term.
OSWM has access to the whole of the market of managed funds through our independent financial arm. In addition, we are able, through our association with the "Intrinsic" network to place funds with "Cirilium" funds which are currently amongst the market leaders in unit trusts.
Naturally we all want to avoid Capital Gains tax and as part of our advice we would of course seek to invest on your behalf in the most tax efficient way including ISAs, OIECs, etc., and where suitable, off-shore funds.
Tax Planning is an essential constituent of wealth management. "One Stop Wealth Management" has the skills and expertise you need to plan your estate. Inheritance tax is no longer the preserve of the rich. With careful planning any potential inheritance tax liability can be minimised or mitigated altogether.
In addition to in house tax advice provided through our IFA arm, for both commercial and personal situations, we are able to provide highly specialised tax solutions via the use of trusts, both on shore and off-shore, through specialist channels.
Tax Planning is not regulated by the FSA.
An extension to continuous tax planning, preserving personal wealth for the benefit of your inheritors and ensuring that your wealth passes on to whom you intend it should be is an essential part of managing wealth.
We are able to offer guidance in this area and put in place specific measures designed to achieve your objectives.
Everybody should have a Will and regularly review it. This would help ensure that we avoid the problems caused by intestacy. Our Will writing service can create a tailor-made Will which we can undertake to review on a regular basis to ensure it keeps pace with your changing circumstances.
Market research reveals that 70% of the UK population has made no will and will therefore die intestate.
Please go to our link to see the implications of dying intestate.
Wills are not regulated by the FSA.
One Stop Wealth Management is an appointed representative of Mint Financial Services Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Mint Financial Services Limited is entered on the FSA register (www.fsa.gov.uk/register) under reference 217742.
Registered office: Aston House, Cornwall Avenue, London, N3 1LF. Registered in England and Wales: 6878749
The Asset Protection business referred to on this page, and within the separate linked web-site of www.onestopassetprotection.co.uk are not connected to our relationship with Intrinsic and Mint.
Statistics suggest that 70% of the population do not have a Will.
Editor: Marcus Rolle
This page is all about keeping you abreast of our thoughts of the market and its effect on you, what we believe should be important in your lifestyle planning and how One Stop can work with you to achieve those goals. There will be one or two sections on specific topics and our views on what is happening in the market and what might be important for you to consider. At One Stop we are aiming to develop more regular contact with you but we would also be delighted to hear from you, via email or phone, with your thoughts on this page, your concerns and how we can work together and help you in the future.
So we will kick off with a couple of topics and then finish with some thoughts from me on where we are today.
Research by Swiss Re., one of the continent’s largest reinsurance groups, for its European Insurance Report 2010 suggests that the UK has the third largest life insurance ‘gap’ in Europe, behind Germany and Sweden. In fact, the research suggests that only just over one in every ten Europeans claim to be “well positioned financially” should they die or suffer long-term illness. A high percentage of the 11,000 people surveyed said that savings were the best way to cover death or illness, while more than one in four expected to rely on the state for financial support, should the worst happen.
The firm says that this represents a protection shortfall of some €10 trillion (£8.74 trillion).
Most of us are now aware that the need to reduce state borrowing has resulted in a review of sickness benefits that could see many people being forced off incapacity benefit and onto the less generous jobseeker’s allowance; but even those who do qualify for sickness benefits may receive as little as £79.15 a week as statutory sick pay. The maximum bereavement payment for a husband, wife or civil partner is £2,000 – and even this is dependent on a complete national insurance contribution history and the person not having retired on a state pension.
So the effective answer to this question is: little or none.
Fortunately, life insurance need not be very expensive. There are various forms of level term assurance – where the amount payable remains the same for a fixed term and then dies out if the individual survives the period – to various covers that reduce each year, either in line with mortgage debt, or because the amount payable is an annual benefit and therefore naturally reduces in overall value as you near the end of the term.
But in any event, this sort of cover is not costly because people are living longer than a few generations back, so insurance companies can afford to charge less to cover expected claim patterns.
Of course, as you get older – or gather an adverse medical history – prices will rise, but most people can probably still get cover for less than they might have paid a few years ago, so it is certainly worth reviewing your cover every so often.
This is sometimes also called permanent health insurance or income protection, but there is also accident and sickness insurance – as well as critical illness cover and even private medical insurance.
As the previous sentence suggests, this can be a complex area and seeking professional advice before entering into any arrangement is very important; not least because the cost can depend not just on medical history and age, but also on occupation – which is seldom the case for ordinary life insurance.
What is clear is that failure to make personal provision could leave you and/or your family in severe financial straits should you become ill or die; relying on the state is not an option and relying on savings means that they are no longer available for their intended purpose.
You should take individual professional advice before making any decision relating to your personal finances.
Most people, when they get married, start a family, or take on a mortgage, tend to think about life insurance (or life assurance for historically minded purists). After all, if you die, you do not want to leave your loved ones destitute, or even worse, in debt and likely to lose their home.
But death is not the only event that can challenge a family; severe or long-term illness can have a devastating financial impact on anyone. It is therefore important to consider not just how to protect your family should you die, but also to ensure that they – and you for that matter – are provided for should you become too ill to work.
Effectively, what you are doing is insuring your income against not being able to earn one!
Cover can be arranged on a number of bases; initially the decision will be whether you wish to protect just mortgage repayments or these plus living expenses. To some extent this simply helps you to assess the level of cover you will require. For mortgage protection, it can simply be a matter of ensuring that your income is adequate to cover the cost of capital and interest repayments. But many people may consider that there is no point in having sufficient money to pay your mortgage if you cannot afford to live otherwise, so a higher level of cover is probably advisable, based on earnings (after tax).
This cover need not be inordinately expensive and a man of 35 (in a fairly normal occupation) could have cover of as much as £35,000 a year for as little as £55.13 a month, if you are prepared to wait three months after the onset of incapacity, before payment under a claim starts. The longer the ‘waiting period’, the lower the premium and those in higher risk occupations will pay more.
However, the second decision will be whether cover should be simply for incapacity as the result of accident and sickness, or should also include unemployment. It is important to note that not everyone can have this cover. The self employed and employees of businesses owned by their own families are generally unable to have the insurance because they can, to some extent, determine whether or not they will be employed; this makes insurance impossible.
Unlike accident and sickness cover, which normally for up to 25 or 30 years, unemployment insurance only provides cover for up to a year (or perhaps three years in aggregate over the entire length of the policy, which is normally to a pre-set age). Because the risk of redundancy is greater than for suffering a severe accident or sickness, the premiums are higher and the 35-year-old indicated above could expect to pay £92.60 a month; still good value when compared with the total claim that could be made – and the peace of mind that having such insurance offers.
The other risk families run is that the principal breadwinner could be struck down with a critical illness (also sometimes referred to as a dread disease). This includes conditions such as cancer, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s and a list of other conditions that may not actually induce death in the short term, but could create a significant condition of incapacity that makes earning a living difficult.
This is generally seen as an adjunct to life insurance and our 35-year-old non-smoker might expect to pay £115.13 a month for a lump sum on diagnosis of the appropriate condition of £350,000. The policy, of course, can only pay out once!
Income protection insurance can be more expensive, but there are various forms and individual advice is essential. You should take individual professional advice before making any decision relating to your personal finances.
The world finds itself still struggling with Financial, Political and Natural crisis ranging from the continued weakness of many of the major economies; the political unrest that is sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa, with its knock on effect on oil prices and the implications to world inflation, and the natural disasters that have been occurring in the Pacific which will have additional financial consequences for the world economy. So we still live in troubled times but life must go on and each of us must do our bit to look after our families and protect our income and wealth.
One Stop has been busy establishing a team of specialist advisors to help provide our clients with a broad range of services to ensure that every aspect of your lives, and the lives of your family, have been looked after. When we help you for the first time we aim to create a firm foundation to build upon so that we might meet all of your needs now, and in the future, to leave you with the pleasure of enjoying life with your family.
One of our main initiatives is within the Asset Protection market to ensure that the wealth you create is retained by you, your family and future generations with the least possible ‘attack’ from taxation and other dangers that you will suffer from if you do not put the relevant safety nets in place. We have revamped the web site and included a new section on Asset protection and this links into another web site at www.onestopassetprotection.co.uk to highlight the full range of this service in addressing many of the dangers that, in day to day life, we forget to consider. So if you do not have a will, or if it is just a very basic one with simple provisions to leave your wealth directly to your loved ones, then a simple review by one of our team of Asset Protection Specialists will quickly identify the dangers you face and offer you the solutions to these dangers within our Trust Will arrangements.
If you can honestly say that you have provided for yourself, and your family, in all these areas then congratulations but for many people I think the answer is that it is something we intend to do tomorrow when we are less busy. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we all lead busy lives and so we all need help in achieving some of our goals in life. So please let One Stop help you achieve those goals and let’s make tomorrow happen today!
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS NEWSLETTER SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE.
1 Bellevue Mews, Bellevue Road
London, N11 3HF
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8368 6111
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8368 6909
Email: infolondon@osfg.co.uk
Charleston House, 13 High Street,
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 3AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1442 23 22 72
Fax: +44 (0) 1442 23 22 75
Email: infohemel@osfg.co.uk
The London Team:
Len Taub
Marcus Rolle - marcusr@osfg.co.uk
Steve Burkin - steveb@osfg.co.uk
Steve Down - steved@osfg.co.uk
Stanley Holmes - stanleyh@osfg.co.uk
Lisa Balcombe - lisab@osfg.co.uk
The Hemel Team:
Mike Dimonaco - miked@osfg.co.uk
Tony Balzan - tonyb@osfg.co.uk
Terry Donovan - terryd@osfg.co.uk
Neil Harris - neilh@osfg.co.uk
Kevin Bushby - kevinb@osfg.co.uk
Iain Summers - iains@osfg.co.uk
Gabriella Ladyman - gabriellal@osfg.co.uk
The Asset Protection Team:
Marcus Rolle - marcusr@osfg.co.uk
Steve Down - steved@osfg.co.uk
Kevin Bushby - kevinb@osfg.co.uk
Peter Wilmot - peterw@osfg.co.uk
Susan Boone - susanb@osfg.co.uk
The guidance and/or advice contained within this website is subject to the UK regulatory regime, and is therefore targeted at consumers based in the UK.
Len qualified as a Charted Accountant in 1977 whilst working in the City of London. More recently he was a senior partner in a firm voted Medium Size Firm of the Year. He has a wealth of experience gained from his years in practice. During this time he has dealt with a very varied spread of businesses both in terms of size and type. He has considerable experience in many different types of business, particularly property matters as well as the fashion, music and entertainment industries working with and for some well known names. Len lives in Stanmore, he enjoys playing tennis, trying to get a Golf handicap and a tune from his electric guitar!
Mortgage and Protection Advisor, with 27 years of experience in the finance industry where he cut his teeth with Legal and General before developing into a Mortgage Specialist while working with Chase De Vere for 24 years until March 2009. Working in the West End has let him establish an extensive network of business and banking contacts to help service the varied needs of his clients. Creating One Stop Finance Group, with other like-minded colleagues, will let his many varied clients have access to a completely new portfolio of products and services and, in the coming years, let him take their relationships to a new level. One benefit of working in our North London office means a shorter commute and more family time with his wife, Mandy, and two teenage daughters. A keen tennis player, skier and motor sport fan his other great love, as many of you know, is his penchant for films.
Steve has been associated with the Financial Services industry for 12 years. Prior to this, on leaving school, he studied at Leeds School of Architecture before pursuing a career in design and contracting with a number of national and international construction companies. This part of his life culminated in being a key member of the management buy-out team of the first MBO of a Local Authority direct labour organisation becoming Commercial Director. Subsequently, he moved and headed up a 250 strong direct labour force for LB of Barnet. In 1998 he decided to make a career change and moved into financial services. After periods with some of the leading providers in the industry, and a spell based off-shore working with investments for ex patriots, he returned to the UK after 9/11 setting up his own financial services practice. He has been a prime mover in setting up "One Stop Finance Group" and promoting the concept of being a provider of all areas of financial advice.
He has been involved in the financial services industry for over 25 years, from having an agency with Legal and General to working for Liberty Life helping them launch their estate agency chain in the 1980's. He started his own estate agency and financial services business in 1993 and was one of MGM Assurance's top advisers. A keen sportsman, Steve plays competitive football, badminton and tennis. He lives in North London with his wife and two teenage sons.
Kevin has been in the financial services industry since March 1993. For the last 17 years he has worked for Aviva where his role developed from a Personal Financial Planner to a High Net Worth specialist. As a Corporate Consultant/Manager he specialises in Business Protection, Group Risk and Group Pensions including Defined Benefits Schemes.
More recently he has been on secondment to the Financial Services Authority as the Regional Manager giving advice directly to some of the largest companies in the UK including several FTSE 100 companies.
He joined the "One Stop Group" in September 2010 as an Independent Financial Consultant. His primary reason for joining the company was his accord with the company philosophy of approaching financial solution in a comprehensive holistic way. This is borne out by his statement that "Any company you deal with needs to be able to look after all your financial requirements and have specialists looking after each area rather than one individual dabbling in all of them. The Company needs to be truly independent to be able to ensure best advice".
Kevin is married and has four children ageing from 22 to 4 years old. He spends his spare time doing DIY whenever time permits.
Following a career as a Royal Navy Officer, an Economics Degree and as a Director in the Advertising and Marketing Industry in the UK & USA he returned to the UK, taking up Directorships in three PLCs.
He entered the Financial Services Industry in the mid 90s and is a fully qualified and authorised whole of Market-Independent Financial Advisor and advises Business and Individual Clients alike, including Tax Planning and in particular Inheritance Tax. He advises clients throughout the UK on Protection, Retirement Planning, Savings & Investments.
Stanley who has been a business and personal friend of Steve Burkin for many years and shared his strategy to develop a "One Stop" Financial solution for clients joined One Stop Wealth Management Limited in December 2009 and brings to the group and clients all the benefits of true fully independent advice, in Financial Planning.
He is a keen sports fan following Cricket, Football and Rugby (has just stood down from Chairman of the National Clubs Association at Twickenham). Also a keen music fan, he says his tastes are very catholic but with a leaning to jazz and classical, also a collector of fine wines (he says they are a good investment but better to enjoy).
Lisa has been working with One Stop on a part-time consultancy basis and is working on the marketing of One Stop in conjunction with the sales support team. She also acts as a consultant on general insurance matters. Her particular area of expertise is in Claims Management, also known as Loss Assessment, having gained experience from her time in the long-established family Claims Consultancy Business.
A Mortgage and Protection Adviser, with 30 years of experience in the finance industry. Mike worked for two large life offices at a senior level before switching to run Magic Mortgages in November 2004, in his home town of Hemel Hempstead, when Mike was keen to get involved with his local community and helps make a difference on a business, as well as personal, level. Late in 2009 Magic Mortgages came together with Oyster Mortgages and along with other like-minded colleagues they formed the One Stop Finance Group of which Mike is the now the General Manager. Mike is a keen sportsman and although not 21 anymore he still turns out for the occasional game of Rugby.
Senior Consultant and fully regulated adviser, Tony is authorised to talk about all aspects of Mortgage and Financial Planning Advice, which covers Investments, Pensions, Savings Plans as well as all Protection needs. Tony brings 17 years of experience to the business and his strong background in full financial planning brings great benefits to all our clients who will need more than just mortgage and protection advice. All financial advisors will need to have achieved "Diploma" status by 2012, and Tony has already achieved this. Tony is a keen Luton Town supporter but please don't hold that against him! Tony has two young daughters who keep him busy when he is not at work, and allow him to practice what he preaches in terms of financial planning.
Has over 10 years experience in the Financial Services market including FSA regulation and Compliance. Terry joined us over five years ago to assist with and help implement the companies compliance structure. Fully CeMap qualified Terry has now become a key part of our experienced and successful team of OSF consultants working in the mortgage and protection market. Terry has lived in Hemel for the past 18 years and his pastimes include the martial arts and generally keeping fit.
Prior to the evolution of One Stop, Neil joined Magic Mortgages in January 2005 and prior to this Neil had worked the previous 4 years for Countrywide and The Mortgage Market in Hemel Hempstead. Neil has been in the Mortgage and Protection business for the past 15 years of which the last 9 have been spent in Hemel and the surrounding areas. Neil has been responsible for servicing some of our corporate introducer contacts, specialising with Estate Agencies, where he has helped grow both businesses by adding an extra dimension to their service by offering our service as an independent mortgage broker. Neil's home town is Maidenhead but he was originally from London and so he is a mad Arsenal supporter.
A local lad, who just happens to have a very strong South African accent, he lived in SA from birth before moving to the UK in 1995. Kevin is another very experienced member of the adviser team who works remotely servicing some of the Introducer Contacts that One Stop Finance have developed in the local area. Kevin is a dedicated and loyal person who works hard and plays hard and will go the extra mile when it comes to seeing his clients. Kevin is very much a family man who finds his escape in work, cricket and fast cars.
Peter became a member of the Asset Protection team late in 2010 and comes to us with a wealth of experience given his 28 years in the Financial Services industry. He started in the industry with Liverpool Victoria before moving on to Provident Mutual specializing in offering support to a large range of IFAs mainly in the pension and mortgage fields. He then left and started up his own business offering a range of services over a 16 year span with all of his business coming by way of referral. Peter is a fully qualified advisor having achieved a distinction while passing his Cemap exam and has also, many years ago, passed his FPC123 exams.
Outside of work Peter is a family man you enjoys playing various sports and is particularly fond of rock music, he is also fluent in Spanish.
Susan moved to "One Stop" following a long career with Aviva in General Insurance as an Account Manager for a portfolio of medium sized brokers in the London area. In her final year with Aviva she won a National Award for being a top performer in managing broker accounts.
Iain has recently joined One Stop Finance Group having worked in the industry since 2008. His role at One Stop is to supply support to the advisers in order to build and maintain relationships with clients and providers. Iain is also responsible for processing and tracking applications. Outside of work, Iain enjoys spending time with his friends and family and has a keen interest in football, squash and cricket.
Has been with the company since March 2007 and is a Trainee Consultant working predominantly on sales support. Gabriella is fully qualified with CeMap 1, 2 and 3 and she has excellent experience having worked for a mortgage packaging company before joining us. Gabi currently works part time helping advisers to achieve their goals and obtain offers from the lenders promptly and hassle free. Gabi is originally from Hungary but has been living in the UK for a number of years having married and settled in Hemel Hempstead with her husband David and son Luke.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.
The actual rate available will depend on your circumstances. Ask for a personalised illustration.
