You may have one or more of the following: Deposit account, Endowment, ISA, PEP, Investment Bond, Shares, National Savings, Investment Trust, Fixed-rate Bond, Unit Trust, OEIC,  Premium Bonds, Venture Capital Trust – there is a huge and often baffling array of options out there.

Are You Saving and Investing?

With interest rates at historical lows, inflation increasingly a threat and the stability of some financial institutions brought into question it is more important than ever to spread the risk and opportunity when seeking growth and income from your savings and investments.

Risk Free Savings?

Deposit  based savings, a rate of interest either fixed or variable is traditionally seen as the ‘safe’ option with protection of capital and a total that goes up not down. Is it risk free though?

Inflation is the real enemy of deposit based savings with the real value of money i.e. the purchasing power, destroyed by rising prices typically in food, utilities, travel costs, medications and holidays.

Investment and Risk

The next step from simple savings is to invest money, usually through collective funds that spread the risk and opportunity, in ‘real assets’ such as Shares, Bonds (loans to companies), Gilts (loans to the Government) and Commercial Property.

One suggestion might be that a way to counter the destructive force of inflation is to hold shares in the companies that are putting their prices up! Such companies do dominate the UK Stock Market with the Dividend stream they produce offering opportunities for capital gain and regular income, even in a subdued market.

Rational Investment

If someone claims they can time the markets and pick the winners, then swiftly running away might be one option to consider. By contrast, we use an approach we call ‘rational investment’, in short establishing a measured risk tolerance relevant to your aspirations and anticipated duration of investment.

Once these key points are determined, investment across a broad range of assets and geographical areas is achieved through holding a number of collective investment funds in the most tax-efficient wrappers.

Regular Reviews

Things do change over time, such as the tax regime applicable to saving and investing, fund managers come and go and most importantly, your aspirations and needs may change. We strongly recommend our ongoing review service including an annual meeting.