Sunday, August 4, 2024

National equity tracker funds: a community wealth building idea

 Have you ever had a pot of money and thought I'd like to put that aside for the future?

Let's imagine you do have, have a think about what you would do with it.

You could hide it under the pillow but perhaps burglars would find it. Even if they don't putting it somewhere that matches inflation would allow your money to keep its real value.

If you put aside £1000 in the year 2000 it would need to have grown to £2,109.46 to have the same purchasing power today. (Source).

Clearly putting it under the pillow isn't a good strategy.

So people invest through various mechanisms. Savings accounts, government bonds, stocks and shares, gold, property, even art.

Over recent years one of the most popular modes of saving has been an equity tracker fund. This is a bunch of stocks and shares, diverse enough that your investment can survive any particular company crashing and burning but unmanned. You might own small equally sized pieces of the FTSE 100 (the top 100 publicly listed British companies) and as the market goes up so does your investment.

Such funds are usually sold to the public by asset managers like Vanguard and Blackrock, who in turn have become very rich.

Returning to your investment. In this model you put, say, £10,000 in to a tracker fund, you are charged 0.45% which is £45 a year. At the end of the first year you will have £10,000 increased by the percentage the market went up minus the fee. If it goes up 10% that year you will have £11,000 - the fee of £49.50 so £10,950.50.

Imagine though that in that year there was 4% inflation so your money is actually worth a bit less in terms of what it can buy.

Let's adjust for inflation to get the real value, ie the value adjusted for how much it will now cost to buy stuff. It comes to £10,529.33. So with the fee and inflation your money has still increased by £529.33. Not bad!

Your neighbour keeps her £10,000 under her pillow. Adjusted for inflation it's now worth £9,615.38.

(**Please note I am not a financial adviser and anyone actually investing their own money needs to do their own research or get professional advice).

So to sum up, an equity tracker fund offers:

- very low fees.

- good return on interest

- good security (it's hard for your money to disappear because some company failed).

- undemanding on you, the customer.

If I've persuaded you then that equity tracker funds are a product that should be available to Scottish customers I'd now like to try to persuade you that the Scottish Government should offer a nationalised alternative to the current commercial offerings.

1) It's money for old rope. Once set up as customers come in the service buys their options in response to their instructions and forgets about it. The system handles it once set up, it's simply electronic transactions of the kind many people do on their phones using apps. The 0.45% fees do add up as they are taxed on what is often the majority of someone's wealth. It's 0.45% of a very large total sum. I'd rather be paying my fee to my country, not to some American mega company.

2) There are considerable controversies around these companies. They also do substantial political lobbying in their own interest. Want to see the rich taxed? Well maybe stop sending our money to these guys to lobby for the exact opposite.

3) We can pick the companies. I'm thinking that the base product should be the Top 100 Scottish companies but that there could be ethical variants too like a No Oil No Guns Top 100.

4) It's safer. 40 years ago Blackrock didn't exist. Will they still exist in 40 years' time? I'm pretty sure Scotland will still exist.

5) Our data, instead of disappearing into the bowels of corporate America to be monetised then weaponised against us would be given to our own government. 

6) It suits honest taxpayers. This could mean that it helps separate out people who don't mind their government knowing about their assets from the many who try to hide their wealth to avoid or evade taxes.

7) It's trivial to do. This wouldn't be a big change, simply some IT set up and an advertising campaign. Once up it's just a website where customers can give instructions.

8) It paves the way for better financial management for Scottish people. For example a friend of mine keeps his money in the bank at zero interest. He doesn't really understand that each year little gremlins sneak in and eat about 4% of his savings. If we normalise a National ETF Savings Fund then he still won't understand how his money works but he will be getting gradually richer not gradually poorer.

9) It could support community wealth being. I'd like to see a Dumfries 100 tracker, a Dumfries and Galloway top 100 tracker and a Scotland top 100 tracker. As my town, my region and my country prospers so do I and I'm encouraged to help them do so.

10) Citizens would get shareholder voting power by means of our wealth. At the moment it's taken from us by the asset managers who may vote on companies' policies on the basis of our money without even telling us.

11) It opens the door to progressive programmes like giving school leavers £100, giving care and prison leavers a sum, giving new parents a sum for the baby. Sure, the £100 could be taken out immediately and it would by some recipients but those who leave it or add to it would see the money grow.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

DWP: New disability payment to be piloted by five Scottish councils

 News in the National today of a new Scottish government benefit coming down the pipeline.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24259944.dwp-new-disability-payment-piloted-five-scottish-councils/

It's for people of pension age who need help with care. (For younger people there already is Adult Disability Payment).

The move of responsibility from the UK's DWP to Scotland's Social Security Department has made such benefits enormously less daunting to claim.

The new benefit won't be across Scotland until April 2025 after piloting in selected areas first. 

For affected people, including people who thought about claiming but then gave up, discouraged, do try this when it is introduced to your area.

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Claimable benefits and other anti-poverty measures, Dumfries version

 This is a work in progress and is probably not complete.

Use this in conjunction with other sources of information.

The main working age benefit for people with no or low incomes:

Universal Credit

Also useful is the Social Welfare Fund

 

Elderly

In addition to your State Pension elderly people on low incomes may get 

Pension Credit

 

 Got kids?

Best start grant and best start foods

Child benefit

 

Caring for someone?

Benefits for carers

 

Housing costs, rent

Housing benefit

Warm Home Discount 

 

Social tariffs

Social tariffs are discounts that you can get if you're in receipt of certain means-tested benefits like Universal Credit or Pension Credit.

 Cheap broadband/phone line

 

Useful references:

Benefits calculator

Dumgal Cost of Living web page

Policy in Practice paper on unclaimed benefits

Sunday, March 19, 2023

They want to pave paradise, put up a parking lot at Greensands Park, Dumfries


 

DG Council want to pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

 

Thoughts on the council proposal to build a car park over Greensands Park, Dumfries


 

 

-         DGC plan to bulldoze this park.

-         To build a carpark for the Whitesands Flood Defence Project.

-         However that has recently been made uncertain by the change in control of the Council.

-         It may not happen.

-         Meaning they will bulldoze this beautiful park for nothing.

Objections for social reasons:

The  quiet route through the park is a much used active travel route. In particular children from the more deprived areas of North West Dumfries use it to travel to school, principally to The Academy and Loreburn Primary School. Siting a busy car park here means those children will be at risk from all the motor traffic as well as being exposed to the motor fumes.


Indeed there will be heightened conflict for this space because the car park is likely to generally be used by working people as it's not obvious enough for tourists to easily find so if completed this project will see workers arriving 8-9am and leaving 4-5.30pm at around the time this route is being used by the children.

 

There’s a kid’s playground here.


 

 

-         People walk their dogs here.

-         People cycle and walk here – it's an important active travel route

-         It’s a safe place for kids.

-         It has a boathouse.

-         It has a memorial to a young man, lovingly remembered.

 


Objections for biodiversity reasons:

-         Sand Martins nest by the bridge and love to fly and roll on the grass.

This is where the Sand Martins nest and play

 

 

-         Small Tortoiseshell and Orange Tip butterflies live and breed in the verge by the river.

-         Ducks, swans, herons and moorhen swim here and local people love to feed them.


 

 

-         A large colony of crows and jackdaws live and nest here.

That's a lot of nests!
...for a lot of crows!


 

 

-         Toads can be found here.

 

Objections because of flaws in the scheme:

-         The proposed car park has totally inadequate road access.

Access from George Street


Access from Buccleuch Street

 Nor will the proposed new access road adequately solve the traffic needs of a site that will get very busy in the rush hours and which is inadequately served by the adjacent quiet suburban roads including George St and Castle St.

It's entirely possible that people won't want to park here. Car drivers like to park in the very central car parks such as Loreburn car park and Whitesands car park but parking use dramatically falls off even a small distance from the town centre. Brooms Road car park for instance, which is about as close as this proposed new car park, is never full.

-         Indeed there’s already a small car park here – and it’s nearly empty most of the time.

 

Does this place really need expanded car parking?




 

-         Procedural reasons for objection:

The money for these works failed to get passed in the Council budget.

-         So no one knows what services may get cancelled if they squander money on this daft project.

In Mott McDonald's Supporting Statement they (the contractors for this work) state that the "Greensands improvements (sic) should be treated as a standalone operation." Source: page 4 of 12 of this document.

If it's standalone it's wrong to use flood resilience money from Scotgov to pay for it. As it's not part of the Whitesands flood defence project, it's standalone.

Also in that document I don't think the point made at 2.1 a. on page 2 of 12 is reasonable. This car park will not be a suitable alternative to the Whitesands when that car park is flooded as it's only a little higher so no sensible person would see the Whitesands car park under water and think "Oh I'll put my car in a nearby, almost equally floodable, car park."

 

Flood impact:

-         This is an important flood plain – concreting it over means higher floods in the town.

 

Climate objection:

 

The building works are a huge cost of energy and materials adding to global climate change.

-    

 

Value objection:

-            The contractors are based out of this region sucking wealth out of our community. (Contrary to community wealth building best practice).

 

Object to the planning application here.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Iceland supermarket directing customers to a dodgy cashback service

 I just ordered groceries from Iceland. (It's an excellent service, I'd recommend it).

However after finishing my order an offer popped up seeming to give me £16.87 off my next shop. That sounds good, right?

It's always worth checking things out. This is what I found when I googled them.

The cashback club that could cost a packet.

If you're unfortunate enough to follow the breadcrumbs it will cost you £180 a year.

So this is what I wrote in a complaint to the supermarket:

I just placed an order with you for a grocery delivery and after I placed my order a form popped up for me to enter my details for Complete Savings. This service has been criticised in the press. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-10061167/Shoppers-fury-180-year-cashback-club-Complete-Savings.html


The form follows placement of my order and feels like part of Iceland's service rather than an offer from a completely different (and very overpriced) company.


This feels like a scam and I am asking you to review your relationship with this company.


I would not expect to order on Iceland.co.uk then get a request pop up from a Nigerian prince who just needs a few hundred quid to get him millions out of the country.

Kind regards

Simon Jones 

It's very sad that even a reputable company like Iceland can succumb to the bullshit of financialised greed. I imagine many of their customers feel scammed.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Pride. A poem


 

 

Pride

A young woman dances, round and round she twirls
Hand in hand with one of her favourite girls
The streets are chaotic with excitement and sound
The Gay Pride parade has turned up in town
A young man passes dressed in colourful clothes
His eyes heavily shadowed he's powdered his nose
There's so much to look at a feast for the eyes
Men walking tall on the arms of their guys
They've stared deep within at the forest of doubt
Then bravely they've chosen that they would come out.
And in celebrating love with the person they chose
They simply affirm what everyone knows
That it is right and it's good to be true to your heart
And that living in love is the finest of art.

We live in a world that can be mean and so cruel
Where people wave flags as they vote in a fool
In the States we mourn the loss of Roe versus Wade
The bigots delighted in a freedom unmade
But all causes are lifted when people gather in joy
When a girl loves a girl and a boy loves a boy
For the determined assertion of people's gay rights
Feeds and inspires all equality fights
And all humanity is lifted when people are bold
To show that they're more than what they've been told
Our communities are strong for their diversity
And strongest of all with all of us free

An old man watches a strange to him sight
Of his son with a man, eyes locked in delight
And he ponders how love has set his son free
After the boy chose who he really should be
And he feels a warm glow spreading inside
That he could not possibly feel greater pride
So thank you my darlings for your smiles and your glee
The happiness you feel sets all of us free.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

How to do progressive politics


 

 

 Ask for the moon. 

Accept the small grubby wooden step they give you as their compromise solution with warm thanks. 

Step up onto it. 

Ask for the moon again. (But this time you're slightly closer).


National equity tracker funds: a community wealth building idea

 Have you ever had a pot of money and thought I'd like to put that aside for the future? Let's imagine you do have, have a think abo...