Investment insights-things to consider

Back to your future…

25/7/2017

As reported in The Times by Harry Wilson 24th July 2017.

Ratesetter revealed to clients of its peer- to- peer lending platform last week that it had taken over vehicle trading group, a sub-prime auto industry business, which had defaulted on £38m it owed its customer, the report goes on to say Liberum, a city stockbroker, have calculated that customers of Moneybarn motor lending unit are on average using close to a quarter of their monthly income to make car repayments and then once adding in rent and credit card debt this takes the figure to c66% of the borrowers monthly wage, before they have even put food on the table.

For my readers, there are two points here, as a lender (saver) be careful who you lend your money too as you may not get it back if the borrower has no assets and the second is that the borrower described above has a low probability of retiring even modestly if they do not change their spending habits.

The power of advice.....

13/7/2017

As reported by FTAdviser; Those who receive financial advice are on average £40,000 better off than those who don’t, a new report has found. Research, published by the International Longevity Centre and Royal London, found those who received financial advice between 2001 and 2007 accumulated significantly more liquid financial assets and pension wealth than those who didn’t by 2012 to 2014.
The report, called The Value of Financial Advice, examined the impact of advice on two groups: the 'affluent', who are wealthier and more likely to have degrees and be homeowners, and the 'just getting by', who are less wealthy and more likely to be single, rent and have lower education levels.
It found that the 'affluent but advised' accumulated on average £12,363 (or 17 per cent) more in liquid financial assets than the affluent and non-advised group, and £30,882 (or 16 per cent) more in pension wealth, making a total of £43,245.
Meanwhile the 'just getting by but advised' accumulated on average £14,036 (or 39 per cent) more in liquid financial assets than the just getting by but non-advised group, and £25,859 (or 21 per cent) more in pension wealth, bringing a total of £39,895. full article follow the link https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2017/07/13/financial-advice-leaves-people-40k-better-off/

‘Every time you borrow, you are borrowing from your future’

10/7/2017

Debt is evil, borrowed money entraps you and enslaves you to the system, once hooked, as anyone who has borrowed would agree, you are not free anymore.

Debt, I would break debt down into two components good debt and bad debt, now let me explain, using debt to finance an investment such as the purchase of your own home, which in time should save you rent and become an asset, that’s good use of debt, bad debt for example is going for a meal, putting it on your credit card and paying a high interest rate on an instant gratification, that once digested will be long forgotten but the debt will hang around your neck and maybe with you for years. So, the moral here is do not to borrow, 'unless its good debt', so when planning your future, seriously consider how discharging this yoke can improve your future.

Planning...invest in yourself

3/7/2017

The first investment you should do is invest in yourself, what do you mean? It does not really matter how much you can save when a little time and money could return 100’s % or even 1000’s % on the money invested, if you invest in yourself.
Time and time again I meet very interesting people who could earn more by changing jobs, start their own business or negotiate a higher salary with their current employer.
Just think if you could increase your ‘salary’ by a few thousand (even hundreds) of pounds and saved this money as opposed to spending it, multiple this by the number of years to retirement and voila you have a nice cash pile in addition to other savings you are going to adopt!
This is the power of investing in yourself, don’t under estimate your value. You are the managing Director of YOU.

So, stop, think, what is my USP (unique selling point/strengths) how can I enhance these, if I did X, would my employer, prospective employer or my own business value the proposed new skills and what premium could I demand over my peers (competitors), look at courses and training opportunities, maybe a 'Life coach' social media campaigns and contacts (for business owners) employ a mentor?.

Remember, ‘any fool can earn money it takes a clever man to hold onto it’. so let’s start with investing in YOU!

So, if you are ‘only a cleaner’, be the best cleaner, people will always pay for the best! And you should earn more.