H.J.Scott & Co – Plan | Save | Grow | Spend | Gift

20/05/202620/05/2026

Reflections

This morning finds us over 8500 miles from the office, watching the sun rise over the Timor Sea off the Northern Coast of Australia. We are on our travels again, this time in celebration of 40 years of marriage. A ruby wedding anniversary! It is a little unsettling as my memories of ruby wedding celebrations centre around old couples, St. Gregory’s Social Club (famous as the club used for Peter Kaye’s Phoenix Nights) and finger buffets.

It seems apt to reflect on our married life so far, our journey, on a journey. A cruise, especially one like this one which will cover thousands of miles, is the perfect metaphor for our own personal journeys. They say travel broadens the mind. By definition – “It emphasises the idea that seeing and experiencing new places and ways of life enriches one’s perspective, helping intellectual and emotional growth”. Travel on a six star cruise ship certainly broadens the girth.

The only constant ….. is change.

Anyone who has travelled on the oceans and seas can tell you the sea is always there, it is constant, but it never remains the same. At times it looks almost oily and flat, reflecting the dark end of the spectrum, appearing charcoal black. Then again in shallower waters the sand beneath reflects a beautiful turquoise hue. However the real elements of change are the tidal flow and wind direction. At times working with the ship in the direction it is heading, allowing for a smooth passage. At others working against the ship making for a “sporty” period, which can last for hours or even days. Our life’s journeys’ also inevitably pass through calm and stormy periods.

30/03/202630/03/2026

War

But first a gentle reminder about the end of the tax year.

The end of the tax year is almost upon us, so as usual we are busy, busy, busy. If you need us to do anything for you before the year end, remember this is a short year as Easter takes some working days away from us. Once we get past the 6th April we will be topping up everyone’s ISAs who have General Accounts with us. If you don’t want this to happen, speak to Melissa urgently. The Cash in the General Accounts is waiting and we don’t want to miss one minute of the income tax and capital gains tax growth.

Don’t just do something. Sit there!

I mentioned how busy we are because this blog won’t be my usual long prose. Just some bullet points I’m afraid as time is tight.

I’m not a war correspondent. I have no military background. So I’m not qualified to make sense of the last month. I do know that so far I’ve only seen unbalanced and biased coverage based on the narrative the particular media organisation is pushing. The reporting is unhelpful to those of us who want the real story in order to make solid investment decisions. Details are sparse, we knew that the US and Israel had launched an attack at the same time our Prime Minister found out. The Government of the UK can no longer be trusted militarily – so much for the special relationship. Therefore anything the UK Government tells you isn’t new news. They probably read it on X (formerly Twitter).

08/02/202608/02/2026

Jekyll & Hyde

From ChatGPT:

“The premise of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson is a psychological and moral experiment taken to its catastrophic conclusion.

Dr. Henry Jekyll, a respected London physician, becomes obsessed with the idea that human beings are not unified personalities but composites of opposing forces — broadly, civilized virtue vs. primal impulse.

He develops a chemical serum designed to separate these elements, allowing each side to exist independently.

The experiment succeeds — but asymmetrically.

The moral, socially acceptable identity remains Jekyll. The uninhibited, amoral persona emerges as Edward Hyde.

Hyde is not merely less restrained; he is concentrated malevolence, physically smaller and vaguely deformed — a suggestion that evil is both regressive and evolutionarily primitive”.

Markets are Jekyll one day, Hyde the next.

The above introduction brings me neatly to today’s blog subject. The daily rapid gyrations of our investment portfolios that we are all currently experiencing. We manage somewhere between £106 million and £113 million, seemingly dependent on what day of the week it is. These daily extremes are un-typically poles apart – like Jekyll and Hyde. Two sides of the same coin. A battle unfolding not between good investors versus evil investors, but to a great extent those invested for long term steady reward, versus those who see the markets purely in the short term. Investors versus speculators. Those of us who pick and hold long term investment opportunities and themes, against those who gamble daily on a commodity or share price. Any commodity or share price. Rising or falling in the next day, hour, minute and even second. Typically your crypto-currency speculators. In then out quickly.