PLANNING YOUR JOURNEY IS EVERYTHING
Having more money is great but it’s rarely the true objective of investing. Money is nothing more than an enabler – the financial cable that runs through our lives.
Our clients are on a journey to secure a lifestyle free from worry and to have certainty around their wealth and to know their investments will comfortably sustain them regardless of what happens.
The term ‘financial planning’ is used widely these days but the actual spectrum and quality of advice a client can receive can be as long as the Great Wall of China. As an analogy, to say that ALL financial planning is the same is like saying that all mechanics are the same. However, even the most optimistic interpreter of the term ‘mechanic’ can see that the skill levels of a run of the mill mechanic differ wildly to those of a F1 car mechanic.
The ‘run of the mill’ adviser simply applies a plaster to the real issue and sends you on your way, whereas the ‘F1’ adviser provides comprehensive holistic planning for all your finances within the broader context of your life making your whole financial world purr like a well-oiled engine. If the F1 mechanic does their job, then the driver’s journey should be safe and trouble free. Being able to contact us whenever you like to discuss your plans is like having your own F1 pit stop crew at your disposal to keep things running smoothly.
When an F1 engine purrs you know it is just right: good financial planning is the same. It is all about listening to the client to understand what is important, what their passions and concerns are and what they want to do with their lives. The only thing the F1 mechanic or F1 equivalent financial advisor cannot account for is the mechanical failure of the moving parts. In financial planning this is the equivalent of a clients’ rational thinking breaking down.
Knowing what to do is one thing, but making it happen and sticking to tried and tested principles is quite another. Successful financial planning is not a one-off event but a long-term process that never stops evolving. A financial plan put in a drawer, never reviewed, nor put into action is just a waste of a document, gathering dust.
Making the plan happen needs discipline, like a diet or a fitness training programme. Any instant fix is not a financial plan, it’s a Lottery ticket – with a very slim 45 million to 1 chance of winning.
WE WILL...
- Always be transparently open, and honest with you.
- Help remove any anxiety about investing and keep you sane while others are paying too much attention to the media doom mongering headlines, panicking, and making bad decisions at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.
- Get to know your ambitions and concerns.
- Be a good listener, and a considerate sounding board for you to bounce ideas off.
- Provide clarity and transparency around the often-confusing world of investing.
- Never use jargon and always communicate in plain English.
- Endeavour to stop you making the common investor mistakes.
- Provide reassurance during periods of scaremongering media pessimism.
- Manage your affairs with the same care and attention that I do my own
WE WILL NEVER...
- Invest your money in what simply happens to be doing well right now, or the flavour of the month because it is simply too dangerous. This is pandering to short-termism and falls into the ‘get rich quick’ schemes. We never get involved in anything that could be remotely considered a get rich quick scheme. In 30 years as an adviser I have only ever invested clients’ money in things that have historically always worked, namely by investing in a huge and highly diversified collection of the largest companies on planet Earth; the companies that most of us spend our money on every day of our lives.
How ironic it is then that we are happy to pay most of our direct debits to these companies yet feel uncomfortable, hesitant, or reluctant to invest in them and participate in their profits ourselves?
Jeff Bezos, founder and owner of Amazon and the richest person on the planet asked fellow multi-billionaire Warren Buffett (probably the greatest investor who has ever lived) your investment thesis is so simple…you’re the second richest guy in the world, and it’s so simple. Why doesn’t everyone just copy you?” Warren Buffett replied ”Because nobody wants to get rich slow.” Hence, we don’t get involved in risky ‘get rich quick’ schemes.
- Claim to provide consistent high investment returns or better returns than another adviser might promise you with low volatility because this is completely unreasonable, and impossible.
- Sell your investments when there is a temporary fall in value, otherwise known as financial suicide.
- Allow you to do anything we would not do ourselves.
- Try to predict what the stock market or what the economy is going to do because nobody can.
- Pick the perfect time to invest or disinvest because nobody can do this on a consistent basis. If they could, do you seriously think they would be spending any time on telling you how to do it? Long-term history proves conclusively that it is the ‘time in’ the market and not trying to ‘time the market’ that produces the best returns. The most successful investors that have ever lived cannot time the stock market. The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, the second-best time is today.
- Voice an opinion on things that are outside of our control or are unimportant – the bulk of what the financial media feel compelled to obsess about every day. The financial media aren’t interested in educating you, they just want to pump you full of financial ‘porn’ and negative news that will only induce anxiety and make you feel compelled to act on irrationally. The only thing we can control are our reactions and behaviour around these events. The most catastrophic thing anyone can do when investing is panic selling in a stock market crash. You must keep your emotions in check and ride it out because this is the only rational and logical thing you can do. Everything else is futile, expensive, and will only end in tears.
I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT TELLING PEOPLE THE UNDILUTED ABSOLUTE TRUTH ABOUT INVESTING.
‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’
Leonardo DaVinci
In my 30-year experience, I have heard far too many stories about advisors that overcomplicate things, use too much industry jargon, and how clients believe that they haven’t been attentively listened to. I have found that by keeping things simple and explaining concepts in a way that makes sense, clients can be sure that they are arriving at fully informed decisions. I work on a no surprises basis. I never want my phone to ring only to hear the words ‘you never said this could happen’ from a disgruntled client.
I pride myself on responding to client enquiries as quickly as possible because I know what it is like when you need a quick answer or solution to a problem when the clock is ticking.
