These are, of course, extraordinary times and people’s highest priority must be their health and the health of loved ones.

Like many of you I was outside the house at 8 pm last night with my family cheering on our brave and valiant health workers.

The Coronavirus outbreak has brought many changes with many of us working from home, in all its glorious awkwardness, and adjusting to new and strange work patterns.

I would like to share some good news this week but realistically the Coronavirus outbreak will test many Financial Planning models to the limit and not all firms will survive.

So here we go again, another saga getting under way about unsuspecting ‘mini-bond’ investors being ripped off.

And how are you doing Kevin? Well thanks for asking, I’m not too bad in the circumstances.

One of the more encouraging Financial Planning stories this week came from wealth manager Brewin Dolphin which reported its Financial Planning income up by over 30% for the past half year.

The case for reform of the Pension Freedoms is growing with news this week that hundreds of thousands of consumers are taking money out of pensions and most likely shovelling it into low interest bank accounts.

The news this week that the FCA will commission an independent report into its handling of the LC&F mini-bond scandal is not an admission of guilt but it is perhaps the first sign that regulation failed investors who had the misfortune to use this company.

Our story this week about the Treasury’s record IHT tax grab in the past year is a worrying portent of things to come, I fear.