It's something that's been on my 'to do' list for some time now.

I've had a few scares along the way as well. Like the couple of times my laptop 'blue screened'. Not a pleasant experience! I thought there was a problem, but fortunately I was able to reboot.

Backing up all your important files and documents is something we're all aware that we need to do, but how many of us are actually doing it?

So a few weeks ago I set about researching the best way to back up my data. I wanted an online solution so that I could access the data from anywhere in the world, as well as avoid storing my files on a CD/DVD.

From all the services available, I've found what I believe to be an excellent solution. Please note, none of the links are affiliate links.

Here are the steps I took:

1. Sign up for a free account at Amazon S3 (Simple Storage   Service). This is where your data will be uploaded to. In fact, your data will be held on the servers that run the Amazon empire. The way the pricing works is that you will be charged   to upload the data, as well as storing the data. Choose to store the data in the United States (rather than Europe) as it's cheaper. To upload your data, it's $0.10 per GB ($0.03 during June). So, if you have 40GB of data, it'll cost $4 to upload it   at most! All the data is encrypted during uploading. To store your data, you'll pay $0.15 per GB. So, for 40GB that's £6 per month!
2. The only downside with S3 is that it's not very user friendly to get your data onto their servers. This is where Jungle Disk comes in. Sign up for a Desktop account. This costs $20, plus a $1-2 fee each month. Jungle allows you to easily select the data from your hard drive for uploading. The beauty of this product though, is that once all your data is uploaded you can schedule regular back ups (I've chosen weekly). Only new/changed files will be uploaded. 

Also, it's worth mentioning that it does take a long time to upload your data the first time. 1GB will take approximately 24 hours. All I did was leave it running overnight/at weekends and it wasn't long until all my data was uploaded. 

I hope this helps and let me know how you get on! 

Q. I'm looking to purchase life cover and critical illness cover. How often do insurers wrongly turn genuine claims down?

A. This is a great question as some people's perception is that insurance companies set out to try and turn down claims whenever possible.

Let's look at some numbers…

In 2007 and 2008 (combined) there were 56,000 claims for life and critical illness cover. Out of these, the number of claims referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) that found in favour of the    consumer was just 90, according to the Reinsurance Group of America.

This suggests insurers get claims decisions 'wrong' in just 0.16% of cases. In total, insurers paid out nearly £2bn in 2007 and 2008.

Insurers that took part in the survey included Axa, BUPA, Friends Provident, Norwich Union (now Aviva) and Zurich Life.

The FOS found in favour of the insurer in 66% of cases in 2007 and 63% of cases last year. The FOS has also said that a number of cases are outstanding.

On the positive side, acceptance rates for life claims stood at 99.1% in 2008. The critical illness claims acceptance rates stood at 88.6%.

So yes, whilst insurers do turn claims down, our experience is that they will treat genuine claims in a profession manner. And if you are turned down, you can always turn to the FOS for help.   

This post is a biggie, but I guarantee it'll be worth a few minutes of your time. 

If you're looking for help with your financial planning decisions, there are a number of resources you can turn to: 

• the internet / media
• friends and family
• your own knowledge

Ideally, it's likely that you'll want impartial information upon which you can make objective decisions. Whilst these three resources can be utilised, they may not 'do the job' as you'll be hard pressed to get an objective view with no emotion (which often runs high when making financial decisions) attached.

The alternative is to seek advice from a financial professional. The advantage with this route is that, ideally, they will be able to take an objective stance. The problem with this route is that there are so many different types of financial adviser/planner to choose from.

How will you know if you are dealing with someone that is 100% impartial, or a slick salesperson who's focus is to sell you what they have? 

Let's look at the options available to you and also the steps you can take to find the right type of adviser/planner (from the 45,000 or so registered individuals authorised to provide advice) for your circumstances.

The first step is to determine what type of service you require. Do you simply need someone to help you choose the right income protection plan, or do you need someone to help you create a 'financial roadmap' for the rest of your life, so that you'll be able to see how your future will look until age 90/100?

The Financial Product Retailer

If you have an idea of the type of product you need, then this may be for you. The 'service proposition' from an adviser that offers this service will probably be to uncover exactly what you need and then to match the need with a financial product.

It's possible that the advice provided will focus only on the areas that you wish to discuss. For example, if you want some form of life assurance to cover a mortgage/debt, your retirement income requirements may not be discussed at all.

Whether you end up with the best product available on the market  will probably depend upon the type of adviser that you are dealing with.

A Tied Adviser is one that only offers the products from one financial institution. They represent the institution, not you (this point is crucial).

A Multi-Tied Adviser offers the products from a few providers. Obviously, as they have more choice to offer you this is a better option that dealing with a Tied Adviser. The downside is that you can never be certain that the product being recommended is the most suitable as they don't have access to all the providers in the marketplace. Like the Tied Adviser, they represent the institution, not you.

An Independent Adviser (also referred to as whole of market) is able to choose from the majority of providers in the marketplace. So if all you require is income protection, they'll be able to select the plan that is most suitable for you.

You'll notice that I say, 'majority of providers'. This is because certain providers, such as banks, will not usually offer their products through whole of market advisers. Crucially, an Independent Adviser is the agent of the client, not any institution.

Paying for Advice    

It's important to understand that the majority of the financial services industry operates on commission. So, when you purchase a product the institution will make a payment to the advising firm (not normally to the individual adviser).

I believe there's nothing inherently wrong with the commission system as such, especially when it can be used to help individuals purchase certain financial products. However, commission has been blamed for some of the past mis-selling scandals so one cannot ignore the scepticism.

After all, how can you guarantee that the product being recommended is the most suitable for you, and has not been selected based on how much commission is being paid to the adviser?

If you want to increase your chances of being recommended the right product, I believe you should only deal with an Independent, Whole of Market Adviser. Why would you take any chances by dealing with a tied or Multi-Tied Adviser? It has nothing to do with how competent the adviser may be. It's really about the range of products that they can choose from to help you purchase the most suitable one.   

A good Independent Adviser should be open enough with you to show you the actual research that they've done so you can see why they are recommending certain providers.

Regarding commission, the majority of providers pay a similar amount of commission within each product category. Doubts have sometimes arisen where an adviser recommends one product category over another. For example, an investment bond may pay up to 8%commission on the original investment, whereas a unit trust would usually pay a maximum of 3% initial commission.

I believe the solution is very straightforward (and fair). When a client invests new money, the same commission should be charged regardless of product category. This should remove any question of bias.

Whichever type of adviser you deal with, don't allow them to fool you that they are paid a salary and don't earn their money via commission. If they do earn a salary, they will have sales targets to meet. In fact, I recently met with a friend that works for a bank and he told me that he had to sell enough products to validate his salary 7 fold! Not an environment I'd like to work in… 

You should also ask the adviser whether you can pay for the arrangement of the financial product by paying them a fee.

If they agree to this, and subsequently don't take a commission from the provider, you should benefit by:

• for investments, more of your money should be invested
• for protection, the monthly cost of the plan may reduce

Of course, it will make sense to calculate which route is the most cost effective.  

Now let's look at the other type of service.

The Comprehensive Financial Planner

An adviser that offers this service will normally (but not always, so beware!) operate a financial planning process that is aimed at helping the client achieve their most important goals in life.

The process may include:

• what goals are important to you that you want to achieve?
• what action are you taking to achieve these?
• are you on track?
• if yes, can you reduce the amount of risk you are taking?
• if yes, can you spend more money without affecting your current or future lifestyle?
• if no, can you invest more money/increase the amount of risk that you're willing to take?

Their service proposition is not about retailing financial products, although they will usually help clients buy the right ones if required. Often, additional financial products are not needed.

I would suggest that you choose to work with someone who is willing to work with you to create your own Financial Plan. You will have a great deal of involvement in creating your plan, so be prepared to engage in the process throughout. 

So, how should you pay for such a service?

I am of the opinion that you should pay a fee. By doing so, the financial planner will be remunerated regardless of the outcome. As a consequence, they should have no vested interest in the solutions they devise for you. Of course, there's no way of guaranteeing this, but I'm sure it will increase the chances of receiving a 100% impartial service.

And remember, impartiality is the key.

How much you'll pay will depend upon the adviser and their firm. I've come across a whole range of figures and ways of charging.

Personally, I prefer fixed fees. That way, all parties know where they stand right at the start of the process.

Qualifications

There really is an 'alphabet soup' of qualifications that any type of adviser could possess. Let me cover the ones that I feel are the most important:

• the Certificate in Financial Planning, the basic qualification required to work as a regulated financial adviser, accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute. There's also the Certificate  for Financial Advisers (CeFA). These are the absolute minimum  qualifications required and advisers qualified to this level may use the designation CertPFS or CeFA after their name
• the Diploma in Financial Planning develops advanced technical  knowledge and understanding across a broad range of key   advisory areas (the regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has proposed that all advisers must achieve this qualification,  or its equivalent, by the end of 2012). Advisers qualified to   this level may use the designation DipPFS after their name
• the Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning enables professional  advisers to develop their specialist planning capabilities,   providing clear differentiation from the main body of advisers. Once achieved, individuals may use the title 'Chartered Financial Planner'
• the Certified Financial Planner licence, an advanced qualification, being an internationally recognised certification awarded to individuals who have already proven their technical competency by passing appropriate examinations to the level of DipPFS (see point 2 above) or equivalent, but who then are tested specifically on their Financial Planning skills to become CFP professionals. 

In the UK, the Institute of Financial Planning is responsible for the assessing and the certification of CFP professionals, It's important to be aware that the type of qualification the adviser has is separate to their service proposition and whether they are tied, multi-tied or whole of market. For example, it's perfectly possible for a tied adviser to be qualified to Chartered level.

Key Considerations:

So there you have it.

The full 'low down' on the different types of adviser available. Just make sure you do your homework before you sign on the dotted line!

Action Point

To find an adviser here are some resources:

• ask a colleague/friend for a personal recommendation
• search online
• visit IFA Promotion's 'Find an Adviser' online search tool
• search for a Certified Financial Planner

Of course, you can always contact us for an initial discussion free of charge.

It seems to go on and on doesn’t it? The M.P.'s expenses thing I mean. Detail after detail comes out, and then some more, and then some more after that.

I then noticed that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) who oversee financial planners like ourselves, have awarded themselves £33m in pay rises and bonuses.

They explain that their "talent management initiative" means that they need to pay this to keep good staff. This is the same organisation who massively failed to check on the banks properly etc etc.

Now, with the European Elections, we see that M.E.P.'s are also knee deep in corruption. Some of the figures here are truly astounding. Here are a few examples:

• they can claim up to £363,000 a year in expenses, with no  receipts required
• pension rights up to £30k pa over 5 years
• over £40k in "transition payments" when they leave office
• apparently, from this month, they will be getting an increase of almost 50% in their pay of £61,820 pa

To cap it all, it seems that their expenses have not been audited for a decade or more! You could not make it up!

So, weary to the back teeth with all this, I then noticed an article about complaints regarding financial advisers and banks etc. I know, I know, I should have gone to the pub, and ignored it! But I didn’t and so here is a brief summary.

The Financial Ombudsman Service received 127,471 new complaints last year. Of these, only 5,100 complaints were against Independent Financial Advisers, and of these, only 30% were upheld.

Banks accounted for 59% of complaints, with a huge 69% of cases being upheld against their salespeople. The next significant percentage was Insurance & Investment providers at 11% of complaints.

So, in numbers, Banks had 51,893 complaints upheld against them. Whereas Independent Financial Advisers had 1,530 complaints upheld against them.

Now in our opinion that is 1,530 too many, but the difference is huge. By the way, you would think that knowing these figures the FSA would concentrate their efforts on Banks. Unfortunately, that has not happened so far.

Now I know I should not be surprised at these figures. I have been around long enough to see some horrendous examples of how the banks work, but when you see these stories all coming out together, it really makes you want to scream.

The common denominators are all there of course:

• short termism and greed
• a sales (me me) culture
• lack of integrity and respect (for themselves and us)
• no pride in a job well done
• judging us by their own standards (we would be corrupt as well if we had the chance)

Looking back now to 2002, I am so glad that I made a stand and took the plunge to leave the Medical Sickness Society's salesforce. This enabled me to be fee based and impartial, truly working for the client to help them achieve their goals in life.

I'll stop there. My daughter is pushing me out the back door for a go on the trampoline, Then I’m off to the pub!

Q. I have taken financial advice from various sources over the years. At present, having now paid off my mortgage, I have £50,000 to invest over the next 5 years until I retire at age 60.

The Bank have advised that I take out a Guaranteed Growth Bond, and even Saga have one of these products and have sent me their own leaflets. From what I can gather, I will benefit from any stock market growth in the next 5 years, but if the stock market falls, then my money is safe.

I am not sure which one to choose, or even if this is a sensible route. What would you advise?

A. Yes, we have noticed that many new 'Guaranteed Bonds' have been launched recently. Let's face it, they appeal to our very human feelings of greed for growth, but fear of loss.

They all vary slightly as to what you will get if the market does this or that, and in our view they are excellent - for the product provider.

Without going into too much detail here, we believe that if you are scared of loss to that extent, you should not invest in the stock market. That is what true asset allocation is all about, having the right amount of money in the right place to suit your risk profile.

Please see the link below, and although from 2007, the points are made well. One of the things the salespeople don’t tell you and is covered in this article, is that you do not benefit from the dividends on your investment, only the growth. This can mean you could miss out on around 30% of overall returns in the example here. Who benefits from them? Yes, the product provider.

So our advice is to keep things simple, and find a trusted adviser who will help you define a proper investment strategy for life.

Article - Why You Should Avoid Guaranteed Equity Bonds

Large rises in income tax are due to take effect from next April for people earning over £100,000.

New rates of tax were announced by the Government in the recent budget and they are going to hit many of our clients hard!  This is because our clients tend to be higher earners, with many in the £150,000 to £350,000 pa bracket.

So, how are you going to be affected?

Well, let’s look at different incomes and how they are taxed now, and compare the same incomes and how they will be taxed next year #.  National Insurance contributions (more tax) are also included.

                        2009/10   Tax Paid    2010/11

£100k                 £34,700                  £34,700 

£113k                 £40,000                  £42,600

£125k                 £45,000                  £47,520

£150k                 £55,200                  £57,780

£200k                 £75,700                  £83,270

£300k                 £116,700                 £134,280

£400k                 £157,700                 £185,280

What we can see here is that those earning more than £100k are hit by the gradual removal of their personal allowance up to £112,950 pa when it completely disappears.

In fact, for those who earn £112,950 pa next year, the equivalent rate of tax they will be paying on income between £100,000 and £112,950 will be 60%!

Those then earning more than £150k are not only affected by this, but also by the 50% tax rate that then comes into play. So for someone who is earning say £300k pa, they will find that their take home pay is down by nearly £1,500 per month!

These are truly hard hitting figures, which will no doubt affect many. Let’s face it; this will affect many aspects of planning, since it will mean either spending or saving less, or paying off less debt.

So is there anything that can be done about it?

Well, we can just picture the scene whereby you will start to see advertisements of lots of weird and wonderful schemes to 'save you tax'. There has never been a shortage of these in the past, and we often ignore them for three simple reasons - they are usually overly complicated, quite often simply don’t work and are open to attack by HMRC.

However, what about putting more into your pension? After all, if you are paying 50% tax, wouldn’t it be fantastic to get this rate of tax relief as well as boosting your retirement income?

Well, possibly. It could mean that you get 50% now, and are able to grab a quarter of the fund at retirement in tax free cash. This sounds good, but of course it is probable that you will pay 40% or even 50% on your pension income.

(One thing you should definitely cover if you are a dentist or have private earnings as a doctor is whether Incorporation is a good idea for you.)

Also, with the Lifetime Allowance rules, there are strict limits on how big your pension pot is allowed to get. Fall foul of these rules and you will be hit hard with tax penalties.

So how much do you really require in retirement, and how will these tax rises affect your financial plan? Do you have a financial plan? What we find with the majority of clients is that they find they will need around £3,500-£5,500 per month after tax in retirement. Then other savings augment this for extra spending, say, on a special holiday.

Quite simply, many of our clients find that their NHS Pension and lump sum will give these amounts or close to it.

Now, more than ever, it makes sense to look at your planning for the future. If you do not have a detailed expenditure overview to see what you spend now and need in retirement - get one!

If you adviser does not build you your own financial forecast to see if you are on track or not - ask why! What is more important than ensuring you are not going to run out of money before you die? If you do not have an NHS Pension forecast - why not?

Quite simply, will these tax hikes cause you problems - or not?

Get organised, and then plan ahead. Our clients tell us it's the best thing they have done with their finances, as they can see where they are and where they are going. Living the life you want now and having peace of mind for the future.

Not a bad plan!

# approximate figures.

Key Considerations

Don’t be persuaded to take action on tax reduction measures unless you have really done your homework. If in doubt, take a second opinion.

Action Point

Write down what you spend now and what you will need when you retire. What total amount will you need? How do the tax rises affect your ability to create the wealth you require?

Unless you've been under a rock or sunning yourself abroad (lucky you), you'll have seen all the media frenzy concerning MPs' expenses.

As we saw with Swine flu, this story is likely to run until the media feel they've milked it for all they can, or until another major news story comes along.

Back to the MPs.

I heard today on the news that the abuse of the expenses system goes back many years. It's only now that many of the details are coming to light. What beggars belief to a lot of people is that for the rest of us the rules appear very different.

Take expenses below £25. Apparently receipts are not required for MPs.

Excuse me?

Can you imagine what HMRC would say to you or I if we argued this point? No receipt? No problem, we'll simply disallow that as an expense claim.

So why should MPs get away with it? One MP on the radio said that it was too complicated and unreasonable to expect MPs to keep lots of small value receipts.

What!?

The way I see it is that they should be subject to the same system as the rest of us. And there should be an independent body that oversees the expenses rules. Not the cushy protocols that apply now.

I'm not holding my breath…

Today is Wednesday and I'm on my way to London to be part of and to speak at an event Arun Mehra of specialist dental accountants Samera is hosting - Work Less, Make More.

I'm sure we can all resonate with that in some way!

I'm really looking forward to it and will let you know the top tips that I've picked up on the way back up to Newcastle tomorrow.   

Back on the train now, what a day!

Arun ran a fantastic event, with approximately 20 in attendance. Some had travelled from Scotland and Northern Ireland, and there was great interaction during the day.

Here's Arun and the Samera team: 

And one of me presenting:

Even though the event was 'Work Less, Make More', to me it was really about Working Less and Being More. In my opinion the whole working culture has conditioned many of us to strive to achieve certain 'things' and status in our lives. Whilst many of us do earn a very good income, we don't always have the time available to enjoy non-work activities.

Only you can decide what is important to you, so I encourage you to take some time to sit down with your significant other and discuss what you both want out of the rest of your lives and then take action, if necessary.

I challenge you to write down 4 goals that you want to achieve during the next 12 months. And, crucially, attach a reason why those goals are important to you.

Having a reason why makes all the difference and will help you stay on track towards achieving what's important to you.

Q. I am aged 64 and my wife is 57. We've been thinking about our retirement plans and, in particular, how much we're entitled to from the state pension. As far as we're aware, we have both accrued full service histories for the state pension. Can you help?

A. You will be entitled to your state pension on your 65th birthday. As your wife is not 60 (when she becomes entitled) for 3 years or so, you will receive the Married Persons Allowance. This is approximately £154 per week. When your wife is 60 she will receive her state pension. This will be the Single Persons Allowance and is approximately £90 per week today. 

At this point your entitlement will alter to the Single Persons Allowance. Therefore, once you both reach state pension age you will both receive £90 per week, in today's money. This amount is taxable as pension income and will increase in line with the Retail Prices Index annually (although the link to National Average Earnings has been proposed to be restored in 2012).   

I hope this helps!

Ray Prince CFP

A post by Ray Prince, Certified Financial Planner Ray Prince has worked as a Financial Planner since 1994 and specialises advising medics and dentists throughout the UK. His passion is working with and helping clients who want an unbiased view as to how they can achieve their lifestyle and financial goals and objectives. To find out how Ray can help you, contact him for an initial no obligation discussion.

Dentists' Provident Society's latest statistics for their income protection claims statistics are available and make interesting reading.

If you are a dentist, it's likely that you've taken out income protection insurance (also referred to as permanent health insurance). In fact, you may have even claimed on your policy.

During the last few years many of the leading insurers have been releasing their claim statistics for critical illness cover and income protection. This information is very useful to know as it gives you an insight to what policyholders are claiming for, and also peace of mind in knowing that the insurance actually pays out!

Established in 1908, Dentists' Provident Society is the leading provider of income protection insurance to dentists in the UK and Ireland.

They serve over 13,000 members and as they specialise in dealing with members of the dental profession they have been able to compile detailed information to demonstrate the value of income protection insurance.

Let's look at the statistics from DPS for 2007.

Highlights:

• DPS paid claims totaling £2.7m (same as 2006)
• On average, they paid 126 claims each month (5 more than 2006)
• The largest claim in 2007 amounted to £35,355 (average £1,792)
• On average, 13% (1,690) of their insured members claimed  benefits in 2007 (2% more than 2006)
• The average age of claimants was 44 (43 in 2006)
• The average duration of short term claims in 2007 was just   under 3 weeks (was 4 weeks in 2006)

Let's look at some examples of claims in 2007:

• Female - age 39 at start of claim - Hand Tremor - 22 years  claim duration - £160,000 paid (to end 2007)
• Male - 48 - Wrist Strain - 12 years - £111,000
• Female - 54 - Depression - 35 weeks - £9,150
• Male - 32 - Meningitis - 25 weeks - £18,000
• Male - 54 - Prolapsed Disc - 2 weeks - £420
• Female - 32 - Road Traffic Accident - 18 weeks - £12,960

As you can see, the reasons for claims are varied, and many of them would not have been eligible for a claim under a critical illness policy.

The good news is that as DPS are a mutual organisation, they do not have any shareholders and are run solely for the benefit of their members. Their claims philosophy is based on the principles of fairness, honesty and sympathy. In fact, out of the 1,507 claims in 2007, only an additional 1 resulted in being a claims-related complaint.

Key Considerations:

The majority of dentists that we meet do have income protection in place. It's a crucial form of personal protection that you should consider if you don't have it yet.

If you don't have cover, the key question to ask yourself is: "what would happen if your income ceased for a lengthy period from tomorrow?"

It happens, so don't leave it to chance.

Action Point

If you want to find out how to get the right type of income protection cover (there's a few alternatives available), contact us

All conversations are in strict confidence and without obligation.

It seems that not a day goes by without hearing of another complaint in the press about appalling financial advice from the Banks.

You know the type of article. A couple in their 70s went to the Bank they have used for 40 years to invest their life’s savings. They asked for advice on a safe place to put their hard earned money, and the nice smiling salesperson showed them just the place for them.

Of course with the downturn in the market, it turns out that the £200,000 they invested is worth half that and the elderly couple are quoted as saying 'We put our trust in our bank, and they have betrayed us'. This is accompanied by a picture of the couple looking into the camera looking bemused and sad.

It makes my blood boil…

Here's a link to another piece on this subject.

It is very simple really; Banks do not deserve our trust. In fact, the whole culture of these corporate monsters is one of greed and a who cares attitude.

Of course they have been found out big time recently as to the obscene bonuses they pay themselves, but somehow I get the feeling that if we looked at them in 10 years time, we would still have these stories.

At the core of the problem is that Bankers (like MPs?) judge us by their own standards. I don’t think words like integrity enters their heads. One of the best quotes I have seen on the definition of class (meaning decency) is:

'Being able to, but choosing not to'.

But they can and they do!

When we take on a new client that we agree to work with, this word 'trust' is at the forefront of their thoughts. No matter how much we impress them at our first meeting, we know that we need to deliver.

I am proud to say that (the odd error aside!) we do deliver, and therefore earn the trust that has been shown in us and how we operate. We have many endorsements from clients on our website, and we are very proud of them.

Climbing down now from my hobby horse, I saw an article in a newspaper headed 'Keep calm and carry on'. This was a poster from the Second World War, but it's probably very apt for these times.

And so finally, I reached the end of my 50th birthday celebrations.

This was a visit to the Lake District last Saturday with two friends John & Paul. I had bought tickets for a very popular beer festival in Loweswater at the Kirkstile Inn.

Wow it was good!

The beer was excellent, and us blokes did bloke things like walking, eating and drinking and taking the you know what out of each other.

As we walked I was asked how my book was coming along about Robert The Bruce. I replied fine etc etc, and we got back to the B&B. Putting a kitty together for the evening, John, being Scots, put his Scottish £20 note in. On the back - a picture of The Bruce.

Then, on arriving at the marquee where the festival was, we sat ourselves down next to 3 people on the rough benches and looked at the selection of beers on the list. Getting talking to the these people, by the 4th half I think, the subject got around to hobbies and what we love doing. My book came up and of I went telling this stranger all about The Bruce and his life story.

He listened very patiently, and I got to a point where for the life of me I could not remember the name of a particular place where the Scots and English had a major skirmish.

'O that was Glen Trool' he said! I looked at him in amazement wondering how on earth he knew that. 'Well' he said, 'I happen to teach this subject to my pupils as this period of history is my specialty'.

You could have knocked me down with a feather!

Coincidences, they seem to be all around.