 | I've never liked Insurance and exclude that from what
follows - because I know so little about it. |
| Aged in my 20's - spend, spend, spend - but also..Company
Pension Plan plus also paying into the UK State Pension Scheme |
| Aged 30 onwards - try to be "independent" - get paid Gross
and decide what pensions/investments I want to get into - Also family life
required that we buy/sell houses |
| Aged 46 separate, divide assets 60% - 40% (guess who got the
40%!!) - work hard - play hard |
| Aged 56 onwards - retire and try to "invest aggressively" |
| Aged 61 onwards - beginning to think Fixed Interest is the
way to go (old-age conservatism creeping on??) |
| I like the idea of having some Solid/reliable investments
(maybe a pension or some Bonds) |
| Together with some more "extreme" ones - e.g. Premium Bonds
(wonderful), Lottery - where a small stake could win BIG!! |
| Private Banking/Investment Houses/ Banks - are all in
business to make money - and they'll take their cut - before you get yours - so
if you use them - you're likely to be in for the "long-run" and may not make
much in the end. Examples of how it's weighted against us.....
 | Bid/Offer Prices - immediately you BUY, you can only SELL
for about 95% of the value |
| And then there are the "charges" on every transaction |
| And maybe currency conversion charges |
| And even if the Price does rise - maybe the conversion back
to the original currency goes against you |
| Consider the buildings, the salaries, the glitzy
brochures/Reports/Research that Banks/Investment Houses occupy,
own/offer/produce - and the money for all that has to come from the "fees"
investors pay! |
|
| The State Pension Scheme should be "ignored" - until
retirement - and only rediscovered at that time - as some form of "little
bauble, present" - of no great value - just an extra couple of Pounds/Dollars
cash. |
| Private Pension schemes - are also "not as great as we'd be
led to believe" - since...
| You can bet your life - when it comes time to take the
pension - markets will be down - and conversion to an Annuity etc.. will be at
"all-time lows" etc.. |
| Also - the rules for "converting" will not be all that well
suited to what you want to do (e.g. 40% max as cash etc..) |
| So these should be regarded much like the State Pension -
but perhaps offering slightly more.. |
| However.... the good things to be said about both State and
Private Pensions are...
 | Investments are Gross |
| Employer may also "add-in" |
|
|
| Buying/Selling the family homes was the biggest earner for
me - but was only really "realised" when going from "the biggest/best" down to
"something less grand/large/costly" |
| Bank/Investment House Personal Advisors/Investment
Consultants - are about as useless as you and I are. In my experience they
tended to show me an ever "going up" graph - saying "this is a good one to get
into" - excuse me!! Buy Low - Sell High!! Not the other way round!! |
| They would also suggest "a Balanced Portfolio" - some in
Equities, some in Bonds, this portion in one currency, that in another etc..
etc...
| I thought they did this for good financial reasons - but
now believe:
| By spreading the risks - something will usually be "up" if
we need to sell - so they can always claim some sort of success - saying
"this is doing well" |
| Overall my (aged 30 to 61 investing) has come out about
even |
| But the Investment houses/banks have made lots of money
out of me |
|
|
