Client texts me and asks what tax rate applies to trusts? Tax partner of West End accounting firm is at same meeting so we talk in coffee break. Answer: 40 per cent now but going up to 50 per cent in April 2010. Trusts still work for Inheritance Tax planning where the assets concerned are out of one’s estate after 7 years but as far as holding assets is concerned in your own lifetime (their orginal purpose) the new 50 per cent Income Tax rate is a killer. If you pay 40 per cent Income Tax, why pay 50 per cent if those assets are held inside a trust? Only seems to make sense where income is given away which will carry a 50 per cent tax credit – so if money is paid to a child for example, they can claim the tax back. A few MPs might be unhappy here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/4981114/Lord-Mandelson-facing-questions-over-blind-trust-investments.html

Property investment is also on the agenda and yields of commercial property coming up for auction are 5 – 8 per cent p.a. However, the banks are greedy wanting 3 per cent Arrangement Fees and margins of 3 per cent or more over Bank Rate which is not going to stay in the trough at one half per cent for ever. Borrowing looks silly on these terms and the only people who can afford to risk this sort of purchase are those with their own money – quite an achievement for a Labour government. These deals are only going to work when property prices fall further &/or the banks relax a bit.

Simpler way of raising money and without involving the banks, might be to have a bullion party where fellow www.brxbondstreet.co.uk member Lewis Malka of http://www.joseph-sterling.com is looking for new hosts. Previous party had people walking away with between £200 & £8,500 where the latter case was lady who must have been popular but decided to get rid of the cr** jewellery she had been given over the years, and get something she wanted. Best hosts tend to be ladies with big houses who like entertaining – and don’t forget old dental crowns either – it’s all gold even if it doesn’t glitter anymore. All driven of course by the high gold price (US$ 965.70 an ounce as I write) reminding me of one of our Prime Minister’s less prudent decisions (as Chancellor) when gold was US$ 275 an ounce http://www.georgeemsden.co.uk/2008/03/one-for-sorrow-two-for-joy/

It’s that time of year again and Richard Houldsworth http://splattprint.com/ another BRX member, has been talking to a large hotel group about their Christmas brochure.

As there plainly will not be any official 70th D-Day Anniversary celebrations, a BBC 4 programme commemorating the 65th Anniversary seems worth watching. Besides the pictures of amphibious tanks, landing craft and concrete bunkers, an old film shows troop-carrying gliders landing next to King George V & Queen Elizabeth while the credits include the Museum of Army Flying http://www.flying-museum.org.uk/the_collection.htm a place that has been on my must visit list for some time. Admission is £7 for Adults but it is impressive to be asked to fill in a Gift Aid form on entry so that the museum a registered charity, can claim the Basic Rate Income Tax on the entry cost resulting in an income of £8.75 per ticket. The two main parts of the museum are devoted to the above-mentioned gliders used by the Allies initially in 1942, and the Air Observation/Liaison part which goes back to the nineteenth century with balloons and man-carrying kites. Plenty there to keep little boys (and of course their Dads) amused for many hours including three simulators – a multi-function helicopter/training plane one, a bi-plane one and an anti-tank one – all £1 a go.

But a story springs to mind from my early glider training. Having seen troop-carrying gliders used effectively by the Germans, Sir Winston Churchill decides we should have them too and a demonstration is organised for him along the lines of the one when the King & Queen visited. Gliders are launched in advance and they release from the planes towing them at the agreed height, but thermals are popping and the pilots decide to do a little local soaring. Meanwhile the Great Man has arrived and sits down waiting for the planned demo. Conditions are really good and the soaring goes on. Eventually, the gliders spot-land as intended in front of Sir Winston, but by now he is furious. Apart from the disciplinary action that followed, rumour has it that later military gliders had two feet lopped each wing, rendering them still glideable – but no longer capable of soaring. (Usual bottle of plonk for the reader who can clarify this). Empty, these troop-carrying gliders could be looped as well, as a picture at the museum shows. And if you like this sort of flying story see: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Like-Bird-Pilots-Story/dp/1904744052

Staying with WW2, a contact at a recent networking meeting mentioned that his home in Balham was near Du Cane Court which would have been Adolf Hitler’s private residence had Operation Sealion (invasion of the UK) succeeded.  Then on Saturday BBC Radio 4 broadcasts Punt P I with a special on this intriguing story http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00krgd4/Punt_PI_Series_2_Episode_1/ Scheduled invasion date had been 21st September 1940 but the Battle of Britain stopped it. Sadly this story appears to be urban myth with no documentary evidence, but with lost musical pieces turning up after 200 years, who knows???

To conclude and perhaps show that pensions are not always boring, Pensions Minister Rosie Winterton claimed for soundproofing her bedroom in a new twist to the on-going MPs expenses saga http://www.professionalpensions.com/859637 YCMIU. Thanks again to Mike Jones at http://www.mycompanypension.co.uk/ for highlighting this item – a rare amusing one among other pension stories which tend to be much more serious. The lady concerned is still in the Cabinet but now with the portfolio of Minister of State (Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.