Help with calculations!

whiteflag_3

TMFTP wrote: »

Quite right. I incorrectly assumed you must have used the wrong term. As you hadn't, your statement is potentially more incorrect. After your financial planning session - what happens then?

If you select the product(s) yourself that = risk. Or, you go to an adviser (on whatever basis) and we're back to where we started.

There is simply NO "risk-free" option.

My initial post said that its possible to delegate managing risk, although quite rightly you pointed out I did use the term "no risk".

I stand corrected and would agree that there is never " no risk"and I shouldnt have used that phrase.

However the point I was trying to make is that there are financial planners out there now that use sophisticated software to run financial models, the aim being to minimise risk as far as possible. So after the financial planning session and a plan (and sometimes product(s)) are put in place, regular reviews are carried out to check the plans are on target.

Believe or not, its this on going planning that some financal advisers think is where they can add value in the future, rather than trying to be "fund managers" which clearly they are not!

Hungerdunger

jamesd - thanks for the detailed reply. (Post #19 above)

My financial knowledge is very limited compared to yours, so I am unable to suggest better alternatives to yours for people who want to invest.

However I'm going to stick to my guns over the 76 year old lady! Although the person enquiring on her behalf used the word "invest", it was pretty clear she was talking about "savings", especially when she said "Now I'm a complete novice on things like these", and I still think it was inappropriate to suggest investments.

TMFTP

whiteflag wrote: »

Believe or not, its this on going planning that some financal advisers think is where they can add value in the future, rather than trying to be "fund managers" which clearly they are not!

Absolutely agreed, wf. My only issue with financial planners is that they're another layer between "my money" and "my profit" that will need to be paid for. Their input and advice may well, in the long run, be cost effective.

But if I start with £1000, pay a financial planner £100 to specify a type of product, then pay an IFA £50 to recommend / set the specific product up, the remaining £850 has to do an awful lot of work to catch up with the initial £1000.

Of course, unadvised, I may have chosen to invest the £1000 in Northern Rock, in which case it doesn't have to work hard at all....

But them's the risks.