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A message from John Coleman:

The next meeting of the Family Finances Group (FFG) will be on Thursday, 21 October, at Weybourne House (GU2 4DR).
As usual, we gather from 9.45am for tea, coffee and biscuits, prior to starting the meeting at 10.00am, which normally ends by noon.
The Guest Speaker on this occasion will be Danny Smith of Tilney Financial Planning in Guildford and the theme of his presentation will be “Inter-generational Wealth Management, IHT planning and the impact of the global pandemic on family wealth”.

With the Government desperately needing to strengthen its finances, it seems very unlikely that there will be any significant relaxation of the Inheritance Tax burden in the foreseeable future. Consequently, any family with a reasonably sized house in the Guildford area could potentially be liable to future Inheritance Tax – or, perhaps more accurately, the next generations and any non-charity beneficiaries outside the marriage. Just consider that 40% IHT on only two successive generations could reduce any family wealth above the “Nil Rate Band” to around 36% of what it would be without inheritance tax. (ie you could lose 64% above the NRB to IHT within 2 generations!) Hence, the theme of our next FFG meeting should be of interest to many Probus members.

Probus and FFG members are welcome to bring visitors to our FFG meetings  and any guests will be among friendly like minded people; many of whom are facing the same issues in later life.
Finally, we’re pleased to announce that there will be no charge for attending FFG meetings for the remainder of this year – so why not give it a try?

On behalf of the FFG Steering Group, we hope to see you soon,
John.

The club has just been informed that tomorrow’s lunch meeting (7th October) has had to be cancelled because the Weybourne House chef has been obliged to self isolate and, despite strenuous efforts, no substitute could be found.

Will Probus 83 members who were planning to come, or in contact with others planning to attend, please spread the word to help avoid unnecessary disappointment.

This is disappointing news, but we currently live in unusual times.

From John Coleman:

• Retirement options & strategy
• Powers of Attorney
• Wills & Trusts
• Inheritance Tax mitigation
• Property market
• Insurance – whether for holidays, life, private health or property
• Investment market & strategy
• Financial Advisers & Investment Platforms
• Implications of Budget changes
• Personal Care / Care Homes 
• Using Internet resources to help manage family finances. 

This month we welcome as our guest speaker  Pete Yeomans, his talk this month is entitled

MODEL T FORD ACROSS AMERICA

The model T was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1908 to May 1927. It was generally regarded as the first affordable motor car,  at a relatively low price.  It is estimated some 15 million were produced.

Today Pete will talk about the coast to coast trip across America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean some 3000 miles.  He has owned 2 model T’s.    In 2008 to celebrate its centenary Pete took part in this historic rally, and I am sure this will prove to be an interesting morning.

Fred

AUGUST 5th Meeting

For our speaker this month we welcome Nick Brazil.

Nick is an author, documentary Film Maker and photographer. His illustrated talks cover a variety of different subjects which reflect his varied life experiences

His talk this month is entitled  THE BALKAN RAILWAY ADVENTURE  it covers a rail journey from Pangbourne in Berkshire to Split in Croatia and back, which includes many fascinating cities including-

Dubrovnik –  Pearl of the Adriatic . An introduction to this ancient Adriatic  city, which has survived earthquakes, invasions and seige.

Slovenia – The Balkans Beautiful  Northern Secret.

I am sure this will prove to be an interesting  morning and bring back memories for many of us.

Fred

After a very difficult period due to Covid,  where we had many months of no meetings and then finally the arrival of Zoom,  which enabled us to keep in contact and enjoy many interesting and varied talks by Zoom, which were reasonably attended.

This month we go live and welcome our speaker Bob Sinfield with his talk entitled COMEDY HOUR   the GREAT UNWATCHED.      Bob is an Actor, Author, Radio Presenter and describes himself as free lance time waster. He is a radio buff of the 50’s 60’s and as you can imagine full of entertaining stories to tell. He has written scripts for  comedy performers for over 4 decades.  

I am sure it will be an interesting morning, catching up with many members we may not had contact with for over 12 months.

Fred

John Coleman writes:

Dear All,

It has been said that we’re all on a journey through life with different routes but with the same ultimate destination. Like any journey, it pays to make appropriate preparations if you want things to go smoothly. Consequently, David Bott has invited the local firm of solicitors Moore Barlow to talk to the FFG next Thursday, 17 June, on the preparations one should make to minimise the problems (and potential loss) for one’s family and beneficiaries in the event of your death.

The Zoom presentation will be given by Dan Milano and Libby Wardle, who will be pleased to take questions after their talk. Whilst it’s a grim subject, it is something that shouldn’t be ignored if you wish things to run smoothly after your passing. So please take this opportunity to listen to experts, who have sadly all too often seen the consequences of poor planning.

The precise content of the talk will be at the discretion of Moore Barlow but the following issues are likely to be covered:

• What are the appropriate preparations for making a “smooth” exit from this life.
• What if one is responsible as an Executor of a Will and for arranging Probate?
• Just how complicated is it?
• What are the common pitfalls to be aware of?

Please join the meeting next Thursday morning by clicking on the link provided by John’s email.

Following a very interesting talk last month from the USA, this month we return closer to home in fact Guildford.

Local speaker David Rose returns, he is well known to many of us from his previous visits and  his talk this month is entitled  A DROP OF THE HARD AND SOFT STUFF, the history of our local brewing and soft drinks industry.  Guildford had  a ready supply of local grown hops  and barley and quality water making it an ideal centre for the production of  beer and fizzy drinks.  Guildford at one time had 6 breweries, mainly centred around the Bury Street and the Portsmouth Road.   Should prove to be an interesting morning, especially those with an interest in local history.          Hopefully meetings will return to normal in July.

Fred

Probus golf is set to resume. Here’s a message from John Cole (with minor amendments from his original email):

John Coleman writes:
Dear All,
Our next meeting of the Family Finances Group is on Thursday, 20 May, when John Devine, a Senior Investment Manager at Charles Stanley in Guildford will talk to us once more. After more than a year of turmoil, which has included Brexit, Trump’s demise and a global pandemic that is still causing great suffering in many parts of the World, it will be interesting to hear John’s comments on the investment scene and his views on the future outlook. This will be the penultimate FFG meeting before we have our usual Summer Break, so it may possibly be the last opportunity you will have for some time to hear in person the views of an investment expert and to ask any questions relating to investment matters that you may have. All Probus ’83 and Family Finances Group members are welcome.

Mike Sinclair is again kindly hosting the meeting using his personal Zoom account and the details for joining the meeting are as follows:

Topic: The investment market and future outlook.
Time: May 20, 2021 10:00 AM London.

Joining details are as per John and Mike’s emails to members.

It will help if you could log on to the meeting a few minutes before 10.00am to minimise the potential risk of disruption at the start.

On behalf of the FFG Steering Group, we hope that you can join us next Thursday,
John.