This month I celebrate 38 years since the beginning of my career. In the beginning it was purely a sales job. Armed with a suit and a rate book, I was unleashed on the great British public to spread the gospel according to Abbey Life. I was taught to sell savings plans and life assurance plans. With a little further training and an additional rate book my sales repertoire extended to “personal retirement plans” the fore-runner to personal pensions which arrived in 1988. And so it was for 10 years.
I’m proud to say that some of those initial clients are still with me today. Thank you;
Rory, Ruth, Mo, Stuart, Joan, Ruth, Dek, Janet, Tony, Robert, Belinda, John, Roy, Kim, Brian, Julie, Ken, Geri, John, Chris, Diane, John, Philip, Graeme, Wendy, John & Andy.
I lost my insurance company religion when I realised that Abbey Life was making more money than the policyholders were and became an Independent Financial Adviser in 1997. If you want to read the full career backstory you can read it here.
Privatisations.
When I joined Abbey Life, Margaret Thatcher was our Prime Minister. She was re-elected with a manifesto to sell off state owned monopolies. She dreamed of turning ordinary citizens into an army of private shareholders. Thatcher vowed no industry should remain in private ownership. Do you remember the TV advertisements to, “Tell Sid” that British Gas was to be privatised?
Those privatisations left a lasting impression on me. I managed to invest £100 here and £100 there and made a profit in the short term. I couldn’t hold on to those shares for the long term unfortunately as there were mortgages to be paid, and children to be brought up. I’ve no regrets, but……
A little recent research revealed that if you invested £1000 in British Gas on flotation –” in 2023 you would now have £40,600, of which £24,400 is due to dividends being reinvested to buy more British Gas shares”.
Continue reading “38 Years and Counting”