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Savings and Investments

Key points

Objectives – Everyone will have different savings and investment objectives, but whether you are saving to pay off your mortgage or to fund your daughter’s wedding, to pay for private education or to help your children through university, or because you want to build up a nest egg to improve your financial security, the following points are all important.

Risk assessment – It is very important to understand what level of risk you are comfortable with. However good or tax efficient an investment is, if it is more volatile than you were expecting, it was either the wrong choice or was not explained properly. Rock IFA will take the time to explain the risks involved in the different types of investment and the various strategies that can be used to minimise volatility. You will then be in a position to make an informed decision and will know what to expect from your investments and savings

Investment performance – regardless of whether you are cautious or adventurous, or more likely somewhere in between, it is important to obtain the best return on your money relative to the level of risk you are comfortable with.

Flexibility – Your circumstances will change and you may need to increase or decrease, or stop and restart your regular savings contributions. You may need to switch your investment selection perhaps to change the emphasis from capital growth to income. You may also need to take benefits earlier or later than originally intended. It is important to select a plan that can be simply and cost effectively altered to meet your changing requirements.

Service – Having a good service from both the investment provider and the IFA handling it are important. These days the better investment providers allow online access to a number of services and this can enable the adviser to be much more efficient and proactive giving you a better service for your money.

Charges - The biggest cost to most investors is not the charges but the cost of poor performance. However it is also important that you don’t pay more than you need to, to secure the flexibility, service, control and performance you require.

Reviews - It is important to remember that whatever was the best performing investment fund over the last 1, 3 or 5 years is not necessarily going to be best next year, so whatever fund you are invested in will need to be reviewed from time to time to make sure it is still up to scratch.

Tax efficiency – A great deal of tax is paid unnecessarily as investments are not always set up in the most tax efficient manner. The tax status of the individual here is very important; for instance, an investment fund taxed at source where the tax could not be reclaimed may not be the best option for a non taxpayer and could prove to be an expensive option. Likewise, a higher rate tax payer investing in a unit trust when they have not used up their ISA allowance may also prove to be expensive in the long term. Wherever possible, Rock IFA will seek to provide the most tax efficient solution to meet your requirements.

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