Investment Advice In Kent – Why Do You Need It?

What do you want your money to do for you?

Like many people in Kent, you may be feeling that in these difficult times, you want your money to work as hard as possible for you, rather than gathering dust in a savings or deposit account.  You may have chosen a deposit account because it was safe – but if you want a decent return, you really need to think about investment.

But how do you know what investment to choose?  It can be a daunting prospect with the vast numbers of products to choose from.  Not only this, but once you’ve invested, you need to keep an eye on your investments, and this can be extremely time consuming.  If you’re considering getting into the investment game, you will almost certainly decide it makes sense to look for good investment advice in Kent.

But why is it important to take investment advice in Kent, rather than choosing your investments yourself?  There are actually quite a few reasons.

• It’s a fact of investing, that the higher the return, the higher the risk.  If you do make the decision to move from your savings nest-egg to investment in shares, equity or bond markets, it will be because you are interested in a higher return.  But of course with a deposit account, although interest rates may fluctuate, you can be sure your capital will remain intact, whereas with shares and other types of investment there’s a possibility of losing most or all of your money.   If you take investment advice, the adviser will start by assessing your attitude to risk, so that you won’t be taking more risk than you feel comfortable with, and will clarify what level of risk each potential investment involves.

• If you are planning to invest directly in shares, you will probably go through a stockbroker. However, you are more likely to be looking at one of the different types of collective investment vehicles such as unit trusts or OEICs.  An IFA who specialises in investment advice is the best person to advise you which of these is the best one to choose.

• Many fund providers now make it possible to invest directly via their web sites. They make it look very easy and of course it’s accompanied by seductive advertising to convince you that theirs is the best product.  However, they are not likely to tell you about any snags or risks involved in their product.  What’s more, it may not be obvious that the very attractive rate they are offering is actually just an introductory rate.  It wouldn’t be a good idea to invest directly in one of these without obtaining investment advice first.

• You may be one of the increasing number of people who are looking at the attractions of offshore investing.  This offers tax advantages, plus there is a lot less regulation involved which means a much wider range of products available for funds to invest in.  But there are also extra risks, including the unpredictability of exchange rate fluctuations, and plenty of other traps and pitfalls for the unwary.  It’s really important to take specialist investment advice if you are considering going down this road.

• More people nowadays are looking for personal pensions, as there are fewer good company pensions available.  If you are one of these people, you will have found that the variety of pension products to choose from is very confusing.  Making the wrong choice can affect your whole life, so it’s important to take investment advice.  

Investment advice in Kent can make all the difference to the degree to which you can profit – or lose – from your investments.  Trying to go it alone really doesn’t make sense, especially if you’re just starting out.  There are people with skills and knowledge to put at your disposal, so use them from the start before you come to grief.