The basics

Tuesday, 15th June 2010 11:20 - by Resident IFA

How often do you invest time simply to ‘see what you have’ in financial terms? I recently advised a Client who, admittedly, had quite a few investment products. We undertook a full run-through of their holdings to review the adequacy of them. Yet, a few days later, another Investment Bond worth £32,500 surfaced from the file! The point I make is do you really know what financial products you hold today? How much do you pay for them? Does that represent good value? Has that marketplace changed or the products lessened in price? (I.e. Life insurance) If it is a Pension or Investment product; what risks you face, what are the charges, has it performed (grown) well, and is it still appropriate to your goals and its original purpose? A favourite is people paying for two Building & Contents Insurance policies. Surprisingly easily done. As aforementioned, if you have what I would term as a ‘standard’ life insurance of, say, 5+ years standing and you are still in the same (good) health, have you compared prices lately? You might be surprised at how that market has developed in terms of premium costs. I stand guilty as charged too. I, as you would hope, have a pretty clear idea of what financial products I have, but would still benefit from creating a spreadsheet or the like to formally tie everything together. The Plumber’s leak is the last they will get around to fixing… Above all, if you commit to a couple of hours of sorting through that pile of dusty paperwork or archaic filing system, it will make you feel a lot better…and could improve your bank balance and/or financial worth! If you find a financial product you own that you deem uncompetitive in terms of price or return, by all means surf the internet to get a foothold on what you could do about it, but don’t forget that Independent Advice might help…and is probably not far away from your front door or place of work. I’ll have to practise what I preach, putting aside the time and setting to work on that summary financial document this weekend. Wish me luck! Until next time…