Happy New Year!

2014 was another good year for Carbon and our clients. It was a tougher year than 2013 from an investment perspective, with the UK stock market in particular struggling to make any headway. More modest returns were achieved as a result, although our portfolios still out-paced cash and inflation. Investment is about being committed for the long term and we are confident that our strategies will continue to deliver at extremely competitive cost.

The team was delighted again to enjoy awards success at a national level. The start to the year couldn’t have been any better when we won ‘Adviser Firm of the Year (Scotland)’ at the Professional Adviser Awards. For the second year running, Carbon was named as a finalist in the ‘Chartered Financial Planners of the Year (Corporate) Award’ and we won the ‘Gold Standard for Independent Financial Advice’ again.

Our successes serve to underline the strength of the team we have at Carbon which is as good as any team anywhere in the UK, and is further evidence of our position as one of the UK’s market leaders.

Feedback from clients has also been excellent and we have been very encouraged by the increasing number of new clients being introduced by our longstanding existing clients. We are very grateful for all the recommendations we receive and we work hard to make sure that standards are maintained and improved. There have also been a small number of occasions where things haven’t gone quite as well as we hoped. We always actively encourage clients to bring any such disappointments to our attention. This affords us the chance to make amends and introduce improvements for the future.

2014 was a big year for legislative change, the most radical being the changes to the rules governing savings in pensions. We expect to be very busy in 2015, advising existing and new clients on how the new rules can benefit them. Building a plan will be critical as it will be up to individuals how quickly they spend their pension funds and therefore how long they will last. Getting decisions around pensions wrong could lead to people running out of money in retirement.

We look forward to meeting with you during the year, but if we can be of any assistance in the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Everyone at Carbon would like to wish you all the very best for a healthy, happy and prosperous 2015.

Gordon Wilson

Managing Director