thing about it as she was not a qualified advisor and the financial advisor had moved onto another branch. She simply said that my Mother must have all the paperwork and this would make it clear. This came as something of a surprise to me as my parents had always been adverse to the more complicated financial products and the slightest risk. Also during this meetiMany years ago I advised my parents to place their money in various postal bank/BS accounts which had competitive interest rates at that time. As often happens however these gradually became less attractive and they felt stressed at moving it around chasing after the best interest rates in remote accounts. So they decided it would be easier to manage in a branch account. Whilst this might not be the best financial solution it made sense for them.

This Easter I paid a visit to see my parents for a few days. During this time, my mother who deals with their financial affairs asked me to check on a particular transaction from their bank. After looking, I noticed they had around ?11 000 languishing in a Halifax Liquid gold account. Whilst I was aware that they had this account, the amount concerned me as it is a significant fraction of their savings and of course this is one of the worst paying accounts on the High St. They also have no need for instant savings above a few thousand pounds at most.

I convinced my Mother to take a trip down to the Halifax with me to see what could be done about this. We arranged a meeting with one of the staff on duty. During this meeting it emerged that she has had a previous meeting with a tied financial advisor who convinced her to place some of their savings in some sort of Halifax investment bond for which the advisor gets commission. However, the person who we were speaking to could not tell me anything about it as she was not a qualified advisor and the financial advisor had moved onto another branch. She simply said that my Mother must have all the paperwork and this would make it clear. This came as something of a surprise to me as my parents had always been adverse to the more complicated financial products and the slightest risk. Also during this meetin

ccount. Whilst this might not be the best financial solution it made sense for them.

This Easter I paid a visit to see my parents for a few days. During this time, my mother who deals with their financial affairs asked me to check on a particular transaction from their bank. After looking, I noticed they had around ?11 000 languishing in a Halifax Liquid gold account. Whilst I was aware that they had this account, the amount concerned me as it is a significant fraction of their savings and of course this is one of the worst paying accounts on the High St. They also have no need for instant savings above a few thousand pounds at most.

I convinced my Mother to take a trip down to the Halifax with me to see what could be done about this. We arranged a meeting with one of the staff on duty. During this meeting it emerged that she has had a previous meeting with a tied financial advisor who convinced her to place some of their savings in some sort of Halifax investment bond for which the advisor gets commission. However, the person who we were speaking to could not tell me anything about it as she was not a qualified advisor and the financial advisor had moved onto another branch. She simply said that my Mother must have all the paperwork and this would make it clear. This came as something of a surprise to me as my parents had always been adverse to the more complicated financial products and the slightest risk. Also during this meeti

account. Whilst I was aware that they had this account, the amount concerned me as it is a significant fraction of their savings and of course this is one of the worst paying accounts on the High St. They also have no need for instant savings above a few thousand pounds at most.

I convinced my Mother to take a trip down to the Halifax with me to see what could be done about this. We arranged a meeting with one of the staff on duty. During this meeting it emerged that she has had a previous meeting with a tied financial advisor who convinced her to place some of their savings in some sort of Halifax investment bond for which the advisor gets commission. However, the person who we were speaking to could not tell me anything about it as she was not a qualified advisor and the financial advisor had moved onto another branch. She simply said that my Mother must have all the paperwork and this would make it clear. This came as something of a surprise to me as my parents had always been adverse to the more complicated financial products and the slightest risk. Also during this meeti

uld be done about this. We arranged a meeting with one of the staff on duty. During this meeting it emerged that she has had a previous meeting with a tied financial advisor who convinced her to place some of their savings in some sort of Halifax investment bond for which the advisor gets commission. However, the person who we were speaking to could not tell me anything about it as she was not a qualified advisor and the financial advisor had moved onto another branch. She simply said that my Mother must have all the paperwork and this would make it clear. This came as something of a surprise to me as my parents had always been adverse to the more complicated financial products and the slightest risk. Also during this meetithing about it as she was not a qualified advisor and the financial advisor had moved onto another branch. She simply said that my Mother must have all the paperwork and this would make it clear. This came as something of a surprise to me as my parents had always been adverse to the more complicated financial products and the slightest risk. Also during this meeting we all agreed that some of the ?11000 could be placed in a Halifax cash ISA at 4%, hardly the best interest rate around for their circumstances, but far better than the Liquid Gold account. My Mother seemed to feel comfortable with this account having a cash ISA already, and the money can still be accessed anytime in an emergency, so it seems likely that ?6000 (for 2 people) will be placed in this.

I suggested that some or all of the remaining Liquid Gold account could be changed to a more modern cheque account earning more interest, however the member of staff said that some older people like to see a passbook and the other high interest earning account does not provide this (a weak excuse I thought). I also suggested that some of the remaining money could be placed in a short-term bond (previous calculations suggested they did not pay tax). However, I could also see that my mother was getting stressed at all this and the member of staff said “a little every time”. My Mother also seemed to be concerned about tax and the hassle of signing forms declaring that they paid none. It didn’t seem feasible to re-examine their tax affairs at that time so I left it at that.

This is a difficult situation as it is always a compromise between the interest rate, simplicity, perceived security, tax situation, visibility and convenience, and talking of finances can easily upset them, it also looks as if I am unfairly imposing my views. Personal