As a founding member of the Society of Financial Planners of Ireland I am truly delighted to see increased media coverage of our fledgling organisation. This delight extends not from the ego trip that one might think such a name check might get but from the financial media’s recognition that far higher professional standards in the area of personal financial advice are needed in Ireland. Unfortunately the minimum standard that exists in Ireland to give personal
Read more →Irrespective of the professional service that we might look to engage, most people select those who they seek advice from on the basis of a “gut feeling” that the person eventually selected will do a good job. This is no different irrespective of the profession from tradesmen to architects, doctors to engineers and accountants to travel consultants. Such gut feeling is either reflective of someone else’s referral or the fact that there is something about
Read more →As someone who is in the investment advisory arena for more years than I actually care to remember I am often asked, by clients and financial media alike, what investments would I recommend to potential investors. My answer is always the same – None! My reason for such a statement is that there is no such thing as a standard investment client. Everybody is different by virtue of their family circumstances, their need for capital and or income,
Read more →There is a broad approach among investment advisers that as a client becomes older they should be advised to become less risk orientated in their investments. This is partly driven by the thought of “how would I advise my parents?” and partly driven by fear of the Financial Regulator finding fault with an adviser’s investment process. Since we would always want to care for our own kin, therefore why should we treat elderly non-family any
Read more →A question I get asked quite frequently, even in today’s economy, is: ” Is my money safe?” There is no doubt that the level of distrust and incredulity that was directed towards banks after the Celtic Tiger crisis had turned a once sacred cow into a national pariah. And from that, depositors feared for their own account balances like never before. The ongoing, but necessary, rationalisation and merging of the whole banking system has only served to
Read more →When I meet a prospective client one of the first areas to be discussed is what financial products they currently hold. While many people will know that they have a mortgage and its broad details, less will know about what their pension fund and investments are applied to and even fewer again will know what level of life assurance they hold. Most people usually do not give time to, never mind arrange, either their Will or
Read more →The best way to grow your retirement savings is to invest them intelligently. Putting money in a bank deposit account will, after deduction of DIRT, more than likely not earn you enough to even cover inflation. In order to beat inflation you have to invest in such a way that your rate of return goes above and beyond inflation. The best place to to use what are referred as “real assets”. In essence, this would historically have meant
Read more →Financial history is peppered with stock market crashes, property market booms and busts and a vast array of stories of individuals who have either made or lost fortunes, or even both. Irrespective of the past, a financial adviser deals with the here and now as well as the future, keeping one eye on clients’ possible expenditure requirements. In doing this, giving the right advice is a subjective process in terms of possible investment portfolio construction
Read more →Some years ago I became involved in using psychometric tools to analyse human behaviour in a financial context. Since then I have been more watchful of both individuals and group dynamics as people go about their daily routines. The skipping of breakfast, grabbing a coffee on the way into work, eating a sandwich at the desk, playing 5 a side football on the way home or the 9 holes of golf on early spring evening. Indeed, we all have our
Read more →As an investment adviser, the starting point for all investment advice is understanding each client’s tendency to take risk as well as their tolerance in accepting possible losses. From an adviser’s perspective the nightmare scenario is a client who tells you that he/she is prepared to take risk in order to possibly get large gains yet is the first to complain when markets go in reverse. As could be seen from the demise of the
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