Investments & Savings

There are a bewildering range of savings and investment vehicles available to the investor today. Putting a little money away regularly is the best way of saving up for expensive things, like a holiday, furniture, or a special family occasion. There are two ways to save – short term and long term. Savings accounts are for times when you may need to get at your money quickly. They’re different from investments, which are really for the longer term.

The main ways to save for the short-term are bank and building society accounts, National Savings accounts, and ISAs, which are all readily accessible in the high street. We can also advise on saving and investment plans, which are designed to help you plan for more specific future financial requirements such as your children's future education, 18th or 21st birthday present, wedding expenses, or deposit on your first home.

Building an investment portfolio is an ongoing process. It must take into account tax opportunities and implications, attitude to risk and reward, and balancing the need for income or growth, or both.

Following a detailed personal review of your current financial position, aspirations and objectives, we will assess all of the above factors with you, before making recommendations for your asset portfolio. It is our role to help you choose the right investments in order to help you meet your objectives. Wealth creation and managment requires regular meetings to ensure the best chance of your objectives being met.

Sensible investment planning revolves around understanding what your investment aims are. Generally the longer that your investment is to be left alone, (e.g. for retirement), the higher level of short term risk that is acceptable. If however the money is needed in full in the near future (e.g. for a house deposit) then short-term safety is essential.

In short, we will help you determine an investment strategy appropriate for your needs, and using the investments best suited to your attitude to risk and tax position.

Risk, Volatility and Time Scale
When considering any investment it is important to understand the risks involved and your willingness to accept those risks.

Most investments entered into by the general public would not produce a total loss of the original capital invested. When people generally talk about risk they actually mean 'volatility' - the more adventurous an investment the more ups and downs it is likely to experience.

If you are the sort of person who is put off when an investment drops in value, and feel that you should pull out, even though you would probably achieve a good rate of return over the longer term, then more volatile or adventurous investments are not for you.

What many people fail to grasp is that whilst the value of real assets can fluctuate over the short term, over a longer period such as five years or more, investments have generally seen greater returns than traditional deposit based investments.

If you would like a 'no obligation' consultation to discuss investment or saving opportunities, please call us on 01225 771540 for an appointment.

Further Information

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The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The past is not necessarily a guide to future performance and past performance may not necessarily be repeated. If you withdraw an investment in the early years, you may not get the full amount you invested. Changes in the rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value or price of an investment in sterling terms if it is denominated in a foreign currency.