Ipswich Financial Adviser

Posts Tagged ‘Investments’

With the end of the tax year (05/04/2010) fast approaching ,everybody should review their use of Individual Savings Accounts (ISA’s).

These are tax efficient wrappers for your money, so that there is no capital gains tax or income tax on the proceeds that are generated from investing in an ISA.

If you are under the age of 50 you can invest up to £7,200 in any one tax year . The over 50’s, get a more generous allowance, they can invest up to £10,200. The good news is that the higher limit will apply to all savers from the 6th April 2010.

You can open one cash ISA and one stocks and shares ISA each tax year. Up to £3,600 can be invested in a cash ISA for the under 50’s and £5,100 for the over 50’s. The remainder of your allowance can be invested in a stocks and shares ISA. Alternatively, you can just open a single stocks and shares ISA and invest the full amount in that.

You do not have to invest up to the maximum limits, you can pay into an ISA any amount up to the limits available. This could be by a lump sum payment or by savings regularly.

To make the most of your ISA allowance, speak to the experts at Thompson Financial Consulting, we will be happy to advise and help you make the right financial decisions.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

When you are looking to invest money or invest within a pension, it is of paramount importance that you diversify where you invest your money.

There are many different asset classes that you can invest in such as, Equities, Bonds, Gilts, Property, Cash and Commodities to name some of them.

Ensuring that you invest in a spread of these means that you are not backing a one horse race. If you only invest in one area, you stand a good chance that you may not get the returns you had hoped for. However, if you spread your money between the various asset classes you ensure that you can make the most of all the investment opportunities that are available.

By diversifying you get the benefit of lowering your investment risk, but with the upside of potentially greater returns, a win / win situation.

You should always get professional help to ensure you have the right mix of investments and that the investment risk you want to take is matched by the spread of investments you put your money into. 

Getting the combination right can mean the difference between making a return or loosing money.

Please feel free to contact Thompson Financial Consulting Ltd, should you require any help or advice ion planning your investments or pensions.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

When you are looking to invest or put money away into a pension you MUST consider where you are going to place your money e.g. into what are you going to invest.

Are you going to invest in Equities, Property, Gilts, Bonds, Cash, Commodities etc, or a combination of these?

But this is not your only decision, once you know what asset class you are going to invest in (Equities, Property, Gilts, Bonds, Cash, Commodities etc) there are many sub sections to these investments. For example, Equities can be in different parts of the world, UK, North America, Europe, Asia, Emerging Markets etc.  So you need to decide on that.

Further more, there are more sub sections such as large, medium or small cap equities.

As you can see the choice is huge and that is ONLY ONE asset class. You need to consider all these options for all of the other areas to.

So the above is too difficult and you decide that you will invest in a “Managed Fund” so that the decisions are made for you, but how do you know the Managed Fund is any good and will provide you returns? How do you know that the investment risk rating of the fund matches the level of risk you want to take. Managed funds can range for 3 up to 9 out of 10 on investment risk ratings depending on how the fund manager invests the money! Would you want to take that much investment risk with your money without knowing?

This shows that you should get professional help in organising your investments and pensions, to ensure the money works as hard as possible for you.

Please feel free to contact Thompson Financial Consulting and we will be happy to guide you through the right investment choices for you.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

We all start to think about New Years resolutions when we start to get to the end of the year.

Why not have a different type of New Year resolution and decided to take a look at your money and old financial policies.

There couldn’t be a better time to find your old policies and pension documents that sit at the back of the cupboard or in the loft and get a professional financial adviser to review them. This will ensure your money is working as hard as possible for you in the New Year.

Thompson Financial Consulting is happy to help and advise you to plan your financial life. Please contact us for your review.

What is inflation? – Inflation takes away the spending power of your money overtime; as inflation and so prices increase the pound in your pocket is worth less each year, a sobering thought.

As an example, if inflation is only 3% p/a, £100 pounds invested today would only be worth, in really terms, £53.75 at the end of a 20 year term.   That is the negative effect of inflation and why it is so important to take it into account when you are looking at your long term savings and investments.

Many illustrations you get from investment or pension companies often do not take inflation into account, the figures that you get  may look large in today’s prices, but in 20 or 30 years time, this perceived value will be much, much less. That is why it is important to get professional help when organising your long term savings and pensions to ensure all the factors have been taken into account and that you stand the best chance of beating inflation.

If you are looking to save regularly within a pension or investment, please speak to Thompson Financial Consulting and we will be happy to help advise you as to the best way to go about investing your money to help beat the effects of inflation.

When I am reviewing clients existing investment and pension holdings the one mistake I see time and again is the narrow way in which the investment content of the policy has been set up.

You will typically set the policy up within one or two funds and you have confidence that this will provide you with a return over a period of time. Unfortunately, the economy and markets  are always changing, so you need to ensure you have money invested in different types of funds so that you spread (diversify) your money. For example, if equities (shares) are not doing well, it could be that fixed interest holdings or property might be doing the opposite and are providing good returns. If you hold all your money in equities then you are MISSING OUT on potential returns from other areas that you do not have any money invested in.

This is why it is SO IMPORTANT  to spread your money between different funds and investment areas, so that you get access to a diversified portfolio and hence GREATER long term returns.

Don’t get caught out and believe that one type of fund can provide you with a consistently good return. You need to ensure you spread your money and with it, spread your risk for GREATER long term returns.

Please feel free to contact Thompson Financial Consulting and we will be very happy to help in advising you the best way to set up your pensions and investments to get the best potential returns.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

There are many hundreds of company’s and fund managers to invest your money with. But how do you know you have put your money with the right company?

Detailed research is the answer, you need to ensure that sufficient due diligence has been done to ensure you get the best possible returns for your money.

The things you need to consider for a product provider are -

• Financial Strength,
• Credit rating,
• Length of time the company has been trading,
• Past management performance,
• Charges,
• How good is their administration and after care,
• Current Promotions,
• Range of investment options.

As can be seen there are many things to consider. As Independent Financial Advisers we are aware of what companies are offering and how good they are at providing the products that people want to invest in.

Don’t get caught out with a bad provider, always get professional help. Speak to Thompson Financial Consulting and we will be happy to give you the right advice for your investment needs.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

When considering investing money, either a lump sum or a regular contribution, an important question you need to ask yourself is over how long do you want to invest your money for.

The reason for this is that the longer you want to invest for, the more potential you have to make your money grow. It’s similar to the acorn and the oak tree; from small beginnings you can create something large, if you have time on your side.

In the same way with investing; even if it is a relatively modest amount of money, the longer you can invest for the better. By spending sometime considering this before you invest you are more aware of what you want your money to do for you. This will lead to the right investment product and investment options being chosen.

If you require any help with investment plans or regular investment savings then please contact Thompson Financial Consulting and we will be happy to help.

Most people have a “herd mentality” to their investing. Are you part of the “herd?” It is usual for people to choose the “flavour of the month” when it comes to choosing their investments. They will pour money in to ONE popular asset class  within a popular fund. They fill their pension or investment portfolio with  narrow focused funds, only to find that overtime, their performance is poor.

Investing is more about looking forward than backwards. Past performance can help but must not be relied upon. There are many stories of investor chasing a particular asset class and fund because of its past performance, just at the time, when the investment sentiment has ran its course and the past returns are unlikely to continue. Remember the dot com bubble or the  commercial property bubble to name just a couple?

Don’t get caught by the “herd mentality”, you need to ensure you have a broad spread of investmnets and not just chase the current “flavour of the month” in investment circles.

Please contact us if you require help and advice on investing within portfolios or pensions. It will save you becoming one of the herd! Contact Thompson Financial Consulting for help and advice.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

What do you do if your ISA is not performing? You may well have ISA’s (Individual Savings Accounts) that you have invested in and the performance is not what you had hoped for.

There is a solution to this; the top tip is NOT to cash them in, unless you actually need the money for something. This relates to cash ISA’s or investment linked ISA’s.

It is much better to SWITCH the ISA to another provider. By switching you can then get better performance or a better interest rate on your ISA monies. If you surrender and cash in your ISA, then you will loose the tax efficient status that the ISA gives you.

If you need any help or advice on the correct ISA for you, please contact Thompson Financial Consulting and we’ll be happy to help.

The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.