Everyone it seems ignores change, but in my opinion, the only thing that is guaranteed – apart from death and taxes of course – is that EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE. This is not a maybe or a might but WILL change.
What I have never understood is why people invest money and then just basically leave it alone for the cobwebs to attack it at random as that is just asking for trouble. The only way that returns are likely to go then are down the way, so why leave it alone?
OK I will admit that you might take out a mortgage fixed for 5 years and you won’t change that, but that is to cut your long-term costs, so it is logical. But can you imagine a Building Society giving YOU a mortgage and leaving it for 25 years at the same rate – absolutely no chance, because they would invariably lose money over the long period. What they would do is change this as and when base rates at the Bank of England changes, so that they continue to make money on a mortgage, just as any business would do. So why oh why do people invest money and leave it invested for a long time without change – apathy? laziness? lack of knowledge? Who knows why people do this, but I have come across a lot of people who do this with their pensions and investments, which I can half understand, only because the pension is a long term savings contract, but they will still lose out nonetheless.
From cases that I have seen over the last few years, a lot of investments and pensions that have been left to stagnate will get around 2% to about 4% per annum, whereas if something is actively managed, then you would be looking for 6% to 8%. That is a world of a difference, and makes you want to shout some people out of their indifference. A lot of people will merely stumble through with their 3% or 4% and think that they are doing not too badly – but this is because they do not know what is out there to compare it to.
My message is simple – EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE, so if you have investments or pensions, they need to change as well, and if you don’t – you will lose out.
What we do at MAP is invest a clients money and then monitor this at regular intervals and if economic conditions change and a fund starts to lose money or even go down in value, then we contact the client and change it. In our opinion this is the ONLY way to invest money. What would you rather have?
1. Somebody carefully watching over what you invest in and adapting it to current conditions OR
2. Put money into an investment and then walk away and do sweet nothing
I know which one I would do – and that is what MAP DOES.
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