Archive for February, 2009

Regardless of what else is happening

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Our conviction and belief (and one of those things which helps me sleep at night during the current market volatility) is that regardless of what’s happening in the market, investment fundamentals don’t change.

Perhaps, if you have also subscribed to MLC’s Market Watch you would have read the post on Investment Fundamentals. If you haven’t visited the Market Watch website and viewed that post, I’d encourage you to do so. 

I had also been speaking with some past colleagues about their own experiences over the past 25-35 years … the challenges faced, the lessons learnt, ‘tactical’ positions taken (which made them feel better at the time but were proven to over time not make much of a difference at all) … I shared with them a print out of the Investment Fundamentals article and as they read it, their body language spoke volumes. Smiles and nodding of heads …

My past colleagues agreed with the observations from Mr Scurrah, “to take a long term view of your money, set a strategy for the long term and stick to it … however difficult it becomes ignore short term noise created by market volatility”.

moodMany previous posts made capture the essence of what I would like to again convey … rather than rewriting I’ll beg your indulgence and redirect you to posts that spring to mind: Headlines, Fear and Reassurance ; Dollar Cost Averaging ; Market Volatility - the fundamental things still apply.

Where to from here?

Posted in General, Goals & Objectives, Investment, Superannuation | No Comments »

Assurance or Insurance - A Forgotten Friend

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Many of the conversations in my working day include posing questions and presenting situations to deliberately challenge and reposition peoples thoughts. A client who has recently made a claim for payment for cover afforded to him by his insurance policy, was definitely happy I had done so in one of our earlier reviews …

The review was a result of him receiving his annual policy statement. The client was just seeking some reassurance that he understood the policy statement and the implications of the “Good News” booklet he had received with it from the product provider. He was a bit concerned about the purpose of the policy. To help with discussing his concern, I provided him a letter which caused him to raise an eyebrow and then share a laugh. (Download - the ”Letter from a Forgotten Friend” by clicking on the link).

Not even 6 months later while we were processing the paperwork to lodge his insurance claim, he told me of a lovely quote he’d once read … it was along the lines of “I don’t take out insurance because the insurance is worth it, I take out insurance because I’m worth it”.

I think thats a pretty good attitude to have. What do you think?

Where to from here?

Posted in Insurance | No Comments »