Where are some of the worst places to keep your money?

Do you have any money trapped in a 'dinosaur’ investment funds?  Enable’s IFAs in Bishops Stortford can help you dig out any outdated funds and savings plans and get them working for you.

Estimates by Telegraph Money suggest that monies languishing in “legacy” investments could be as much as a staggering £450bn. Separate research by broker Hargreaves Lansdown arrived at a similar figure of £400bn. How would you know if you have a dinosaur in your portfolio that needs weeding out?  The Telegraph listed some key areas to look at:

With-profits funds, complex savings plans, popular from the Seventies that were sold by life insurance companies as relatively low risk investments, designed to deliver steady returns over set periods. These funds however fell out of favour after returns disappeared following the stock market crash in 2000 so route them out.

Stakeholder pension funds that were launched in 2001,and billed as “revolutionary” have failed to move with times. These deals typically capped charges at 1.5pc for the first 10 years, dropping to 1pc after that. They were cheap at the time but would now be considered expensive, with the average pension fund charge standing at around 0.5pc.

Child Trust Funds (CTFs) meant that parents of every child born from 2002 were given seed money of £250 and another £250 when they turned seven, but in 2010 the scheme was closed and then replaced by Junior Isas in November 2011, which offer better interest rates and choice - make sure you know where that cash is. Enable’s IFA’s can help you sort it out.



Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners 
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
 Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Source: The Telegraph

Managing your own investments?

It is understandable that since the introduction of new regulatory rules to make the true cost of financial advice transparent, people have become wary of advice but it should be remembered there are still a lot of potential pitfalls when managing your own investments.

When making a new investment it is important to keep in mind your personal goals, time horizon and circumstances. However, the huge number of topical articles and write-ups heavily tipping particular funds can make this really difficult. Often something that might sound attractive may not really be suitable for your circumstances. What’s more, investing without advice carries less regulatory protection than taking it, so having a well thought out strategy and making decisions based on the context of how an investment fits alongside your portfolio is vital. It is also the case that buying investments on an ad hoc basis can lead to unnecessary levels of risk and a lack of overall balance.

One thing that seems obvious is to choose funds that top a performance league table or have the lowest costs. That may seem like an easy way of building a successful portfolio but unfortunately, the past is no guarantee of the future, so selecting a fund on backward-looking data alone is like trying to drive a car by only staring in the rear-view mirror. Having access to quality research rather than relentless marketing will help you make informed decisions and should be an important consideration when choosing who to invest with.  It might also be the case that you simply do not have the time.  Enable’s IFAs are happy to explain any fees or charges before moving forward.


Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Save money on your mortgage

At Enable in Bishop's Stortford our IFA’s know that millions of families have saved a fortune on their mortgages since rates were slashed to an all-time low of 0.5 per cent in March 2009. But David Miles, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, warned borrowers and lenders to prepare for the day when rates start to rise. ‘Interest rates will not remain at this level for many years to come,’ he said ‘They need to think very carefully what’s going to happen when the cost of that mortgage moves up.’

Bank governor Mark Carney last week hinted that rates could rise early next year for the first time since July 2007 but vowed that the MPC ‘will not take risks with the recovery’. He insisted any increases will be ‘gradual’ and ‘limited’ – bolstering expectations that rates will not rise above 3 per cent before the end of the decade.

But it is important to remember many borrowers have got used to record low mortgage costs. Graham Beale, chief executive of lender Nationwide, last week warned ‘a whole generation of borrowers have never experienced increases in their monthly mortgage payments’. A sharp fall in inflation however, to a four-year low of 1.9 per cent in January, according to official figures released today, has eased pressure on the Bank to raise rates. Keeping your mortgage right for you is part of what Enable’s IFA’s are here to do.


Remember - Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. 
 

Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

Comics can make you rich

Let’s be honest investing in comics might not be top of the list of conventional investments but who knows what might be hidden in a box in your grannies attic?

Maybe you or a member of your family unwittingly stashed something valuable away. There are two main comic markets; the brightly coloured action-hero US comic, which appeal to serious investors. And then there is the British comic market, featuring much-loved characters- where the inclusion of the original free gift can easily multiply the price.

The sums of money could be seriously useful were you to come across a mint condition copy of the first edition of Action Comics, printed in the US in 1938, for example you might have found something worth more than $2m (£1.3m). But, Britain still has its valuable comics. A first edition of The Dandy from 1937, complete with the free gift of a whistle, would sell for more than £20,000. The Beano started in 1938: 10 years ago a copy of the first edition sold for more than £12,000.  At the end of the year approaching Christmas when the shops are full of annuals aimed at the younger generation, a hidden-away annual from years ago could be worth a handy sum, a Beano annual from 1940 sold for £4,265 in 2010.

Duncan McAlpine of comicpriceguide.co.uk has a collection of around 100,000 comics - including the much prized Action Comics No 1. He said: "In 1987, when I was working as a floor manager on East Enders, I spent £10,000 on a copy. If I tell you that recently a copy sold for $2.6m (£1.6m) you'll see it was a good investment. Although my copy is not mint, it's probably still worth several hundred thousand pounds. I don't think it will be long before we see the first $5m comic." Enables IFA’s would be delighted to talk you through any of your plans for your financial investments.


Issued by: Enable Independent Financial Life Planners
25c North Street, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 2LD
Telephone: 01279 755950 - Fax: 01279 657339
Enable Independent Financial Life Planners is a trading style of Enable Independent Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is important always to seek independent financial advice before making any decision regarding your finances. If you would like any assistance, please contact us.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS GIVING INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL ADVICE

The Secret Of Long-Term Financial Success

As Independent Financial Advisors, Wealth Management is key to our activities at Enable. As with all other IFA’s we are always looking for the best way to make returns over the medium term.  At Enable we always advocate diversity and learning form others success and mistakes. One fund manager who also prefers not to put all her eggs in one basket is Margaret Lawson, co-fund manager of the SVM UK Growth Fund, a 12-year-old portfolio.

Lawson has seen the fund endure a difficult 2011, when it fell 8.2 per cent (A share class), falling behind  the FTSE All-Share Index of UK stocks by 4.7 per cent, but over the longer term, this is a strong fund. Since its launch in March 2000, the fund has delivered a cumulative performance of 74.8 per cent, beating the index by 44.6 per cent. (Lipper data at 29 February, 2012.)

One of the “unique selling points” of a fund like this is how its managers divide it into three categories: its “core” holdings, “tactical” holdings and “alpha kickers”. A “core” segment holds the low-risk, robust selection of stocks that are rotated infrequently; a “tactical” segment contains stocks that are chosen for their exposure to shorter-term trends, such as changes in the economic cycle, and “alpha kicker” segment, which gets its returns from firms undergoing significant change and where shares often trade at a discount and offer potentially large returns.

Enable can see the benefit of being able to adjust the share that these three segments have of the total fund so that performance can be maintained and losses curbed in different economic conditions: recession, strong growth or sluggish growth, our IFA’s are always available to discuss your Wealth Management strategies.