The Importance of Financial Planning

Does the Market Decline Worry You?

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Howard Marks, Chairman of the US based Oaktree Capital was recently asked a question by a Bloomberg reporter – ‘does the market’s decline worry you?’ – he answered the question by writing the following in a memo to clients which we believe is a far more useful answer than the current sensational media headlines.

Does the market’s decline worry you? “The answer lies in another question: What does the market know?” Is the market smart, meaning you should take your lead from it? Or is it dumb, meaning you should ignore it? Especially during downdrafts, many investors impute intelligence to the market and look to it to tell them what’s going on and what to do about it. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. As Ben Graham pointed out (many years ago), the day-to-day market isn’t a fundamental analyst; it’s a barometer of investor sentiment. You just can’t take it too seriously. Market participants have limited insight into what’s really happening in terms of fundamentals, and any intelligence that could be behind their buys and sells is obscured by their emotional swings. It would be wrong to interpret the recent worldwide drop as meaning the market ‘knows’ tough times lie ahead.”

The Importance of Financial Planning

Meeting Investment Expectations

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Investors now have a much wider range of investment choice open to them than ever before, ranging from the US stock market to the value of the euro versus the Japanese yen, the price of commodities such as oil, German government bonds and a whole range of other securities. For the non-professional, attempting to devise an appropriate investment strategy with all of these options and choices available can be a daunting task.

It is widely understood that higher investment returns are accompanied by higher risks. While we might dream of making a killing on the stock markets, however, we might not want to risk our hard earned cash on high risk strategies. Fortunately there are now some quite useful and necessary tools available to assess an individual’s risk appetite to ensure they don’t find themselves outside their comfort zone.

There are three key elements that feed in to an investors profile and risk tolerance with regard to the investment strategy required.

  • Attitude to Risk
  • Requirement
  • Capacity

Attitude to Risk

This deals with the individual investors own risk attitude and/or their tolerance of risk.

“How can I emotionally handle moves in the value of my portfolio?”

Are you likely to panic, for example, if there are significant downward movements in values? On the other hand are you a bit of a gambler and feel you can take on lots of risk and volatility in order the achieve high returns? To get the balance right the attitude to risk then need to be co-related to requirement and capacity, bearing in mind that in most cases taking some level of investment risk is key to higher investment return.

Requirement

Here the need is to focus in on what is the objective of any investment. If, for example, the investor has €200,000 and wishes this to grow to €300,000 over 10 years this is probably achievable without too much risk. On the other hand if the need is to do this over 3 years then history shows us what short-term volatility can do to an investment over that period. In addition an individual’s requirement when it comes to investing a capital sum for example could be quite different to the same individual’s requirement for his pension scheme. In the first case the time horizon may be quite short while for the pension you are probably looking at a longer term.

Capacity

This is perhaps the most important consideration of the lot and deals with the individual’s ability to take the financial risk.

“If this investment lost a significant amount of its value would it make a material impact on my financial position?”

Capacity is particularly important for individuals taking on higher levels of risk obviously. Risk tolerance and appetites change over time and can actually change very quickly. It could be a significant inheritance or business success that changes circumstances for the better or when it comes to pension planning it will be necessary to calibrate risk capacity the closer the person gets to retirement. Suffice to say that there are strategies to suit each circumstance and it is vitally important you review risk tolerance regularly.

Aidan Wall has been providing impartial and unbiased investment and pension advice to clients at all stages in the their lives since 1983. If you would like to talk to Aidan about a lump sum investment or pension fund please call 046 924 0961 or email: aidan@lifetimefinancial.ie

At Lifetime Financial Planning we also conduct regular reviews of your investment / pension fund performance, which we believe are the key to ensuring your chosen fund(s) can meet your expectations.

The Importance of Financial Planning

Serious Illness Cover – Protecting Your Family Income

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How often does it happen that you bump into an old friend in the shopping centre or at a social gathering when, not long into the conversation, you learn of their suffering or that of someone close to them? Primarily your concerns are for their well being and that they make a full recovery, but what we often overlook are the associated financial costs which may impact heavily on a family or an individual. These could include loss of earnings, treatment or care and/or medical equipment which could aid recovery. What’s more, your financial situation should be the least of your worries if you were to become seriously ill.

We often overlook are the associated financial costs of a serious illness which may impact heavily on a family income, including loss of earnings, cost of treatment or care and/or medical equipment

Another consideration is that people are now living longer than ever and as a consequence the chances of being diagnosed with a serious illness are higher. Below lists out some more common serious illnesses and the average number of people affected in Ireland each year:

Cancer – 20,000 new cases each year*
Stroke – 10,000 per year**
MS – 250 new cases diagnosed each year***

One way to potentially alleviate such costs or worries would be to put a Serious Illness Cover policy in place. Serious Illness Cover, also referred to as Critical Illness Cover or Specified Illness Cover is designed to provide financial support in the event that a person suffers from / is diagnosed with an illness which is specified in the policy conditions. The plan pays a cash lump sum which can be used to offset costs during recuperation.

In recent years, Life Assurance companies have enhanced their offerings in the area of Serious Illness plans. We are now seeing the addition of illnesses to their specified lists and indeed the addition of partial payouts for more minor conditions / accidents. Although hard to think about, most plans also include some level of cover for children at no additional cost.

What is covered?

Most insurers now cover in the region of 40-50 illnesses but a key point for consideration is that the range of conditions varies between one insurance company and another. The statistics show claims to be greatest for malignant cancer, heart related diseases and stroke. On a more positive note, however, survival rates have improved significantly with advancements in science and research.

If you have ever asked yourself the question; “How financially secure would my family be if I became seriously ill?” and if the answer is “not very” then consider Serious Illness Cover.

Of course, it is extremely important to seek professional advice in this area and with that in mind please contact us to arrange a discussion.

Who should be covered?

Ideally the main breadwinner of the family should be covered, especially if that person is self employed and if an inability to earn an income would impact on their family finances.

*Source: National Cancer Registry, Ireland ** Irish Heart Foundation *** MS Ireland

If you would like to seek impartial and unbiased advice on Serious Illness Cover then please contact Aidan Wall at 046 924 0961 or email aidan@lifetimefinancial.ie

We can help you to gauge what level of cover you might need or whether you even need any cover at all. We can also research the market to find you the appropriate product in terms of price, terms and level of cover.