Orchard Financial Associates

Imagine having a superpower to breeze through your daily tasks. Would it be super speed, endless energy, or something else? #Superpower #Productivity #WorkdayFun

Meet Phil Bunton; our new Adviser straight from the SJP Academy. But don't be deceived, he's far from a newcomer! With a solid 16 years under his belt in the Investment Division at SJP Head Office, Phil adds even more experience and expertise to our formidable team. Like most of our team, family is really important to Phil and is his biggest motivator. When he isn't spending time with his family, Phil loves nothing more than a round of golf and watching football - though he wouldn't reveal his team for fear of judgement! Welcome to the team, Phil!

Jake has worked within SJP for his entire career. From Head Office to Field Management and everywhere in between, Jake has spent the last 15 years gaining as much experience and knowledge as possible - and testing out his Dad jokes on anyone that will listen! Jake has just become a Dad for the first time but when he's not drowning in nappies and catching up on sleep, you can find him on the golf course!

After over 12 years at HSBC, Claire took some time to raise her family before coming in to support David as his Practice Manager. We couldn't do what we do without Claire. When she isn't keeping the Practice ticking over or ferrying her kids to their various sports clubs, Claire is a keen netball player, often being voted player of the match!

With the US election just two weeks away, and the UK budget due next week, investors are facing greater uncertainty at the moment. However, this didn’t stop equity markets in either country from rising last week. Starting with the UK, the FTSE 100 rose 1.27% on news that inflation continued to fall in September. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), headline CPI was just 1.7% last month, compared to 2.2% in August, and is notably below the Bank of England’s 2.0% target. This marked the first time CPI was below 2.0% since 2021. According to the ONS, transport, including motor fuel and air fares, was the largest contributor to the falling inflation figure. Core inflation, which doesn’t include energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was 3.2% for the same period – down from 3.6%. These figures support the view that the Bank of England will reduce rates when its Monetary Policy Committee meets on 7 November. But with the Budget taking place next week, one should be careful making too many assumptions on another rate cut. Read more: https://lnkd.in/enqSNxKU #USElection #Markets #Budget

Good luck to everyone running the Stroud Half Marathon tomorrow. Many will be running to raise money for brilliant local charities and many just to challenge themselves. We are rooting for you all. You can do it!

Let's start with David. Without David, there would be no Orchard! David has been in financial services in some form or another for over 20 years. He started his advising career over 8 years ago but before that he specialised in helping businesses improve their finances. Hailing from Northumberland, David has lived in Dubai, Essex and everywhere in between but has now settled in Stroud with his family. When he's not working, David loves spending time in his native Northumberland as well as regularly playing tennis and cricket and being an active member of his local Sports and Social Club.

Both the S&P500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record highs, and posted 1.1% and 1.2% increases over the five days. This came despite US inflation coming in above expectations at 2.4%, narrowly beating the forecasts of 2.3% for September. That said, it still represented a slight drop on the 2.5% figure recorded in August. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eetKeUtD #SP500 #USInflation

You may have noticed we've been a bit more active across LinkedIn recently. And for good reason! We hinted a few weeks ago that there had been changes afoot within the Practice so it's probably time we started sharing the team with you. Every fortnight we'll be putting one of our team members in the spotlight so you can get to know us all a little better. We are really excited about how Orchard is evolving and we're really looking forward to sharing our wonderful team.

You may have noticed we've been a bit more active across LinkedIn recently. And for good reason! We hinted a few weeks ago that there had been changes afoot within the Practice so it's probably time we started sharing the team with you. Every fortnight we'll be putting one of our team members in the spotlight so you can get to know us all a little better. We are really excited about how Orchard is evolving and we're really looking forward to sharing our wonderful team.