My name is Jill Turner and I work hard to make financial planning engaging.  It might seem strange that an investment professional states, “that I care  more about how my clients are doing than how the markets are doing”, but  let me explain what I mean in this article, which is an expanded version of the latest sixty second presentation to my business referral group.  

My inspiration came from what has affectionately become known as the patchwork quilt, to the left.  Designed for investment professionals, it graphically represents the rise and fall of different asset classes, ( e.g Gold, UK Smaller Companies, Property, Large US companies etc. ) showing the percentage growth or loss in any given calendar year.  If you're struggling to see the small print, it might be handy to download a full page version here and refer to as I go through two, possibly polar extreme examples, of  investment journeys that both start at the beginning of 2005.  At least you will be able to check my calculations.

For our first journey, let's dust off our crystal ball and chase the investment returns. At the beginning of 2005, we invest £1,000 in Japan and benefit from a cracking return of 40.49%. It would be tempting to stay put and hope for a repeat of these gains but along with our crystal ball we have a nephew working in the City who gave us the inside track that markets were getting tricky. So we sell our Japan fund and invest everything into Gold where we remain until the end of 2008. We managed to keep our powder dry, ready to invest on the gun fire and surely enough as equity prices fall we sell our Gold funds and buy into a UK Smaller Company fund.  We stay with this asset class until the end of 2013 and our £1000 has become £8,439 in nine years.

An extraordinary return, an average of 93.7% per annum but remember we were relying on our crystal ball.

But it could have been so different. It's the beginning of 2005 and we open the Sunday papers. There in the money section journalists tells us that Japanese funds are the winners for 2005 and as luck would have it, we get a good return. That's great we file the annual statement and look forward to similar returns next year and the next. As we haven't reviewed our arrangements we don't realise that our Japanese fund has gone down three years in a row.  Okay its not too bad, we grit our teeth and hold out for a gain but after another year of losses we get impatient and sell our fund, keeping everything in cash where inertia takes hold and there we remain until the end of 2013. An overall loss of £118 or 1.3% each year and our £1,000 is now worth £882.

So where does this leave me as an adviser and my clients.  

I can't influence the markets. My role as a financial planner is strategic planning. This includes working out how much volatility you can tolerate, why you are saving or investing, what timescales you have allowed, recommending an asset allocation and calculating the expected returns and therefore how much you need to save to achieve your goals.  Can we second guess the markets or effectively time the markets and know where and when to invest? Maybe with the use of technology, information feeds, inside knowledge, constant monitoring of the markets, talking with politicians about impending changes in legislation and monetary policy. But do we have the time that all of this takes and can my clients in turn afford extra fees for all the extra time this takes? And if its that straightforward to chase returns by switching in and out of different asset classes, why aren't all funds chasing “the next big thing”?

High risk, that's why.  
   
The majority of clients will have their needs satisfied with model portfolios or  multi manager multi asset funds, where funds and  assets are selected to work together, to create the broadest diversification and to harness expertise across the various asset classes as well as different market conditions.  This in turn helps to reduce volatility and give a smoother client journey.   Where my clients have more bespoke needs we work in partnership with a number of discretionary fund managers.  With market monitoring and outsourced investment solutions taken care of I can devote my time and  concentrate on what I do best, caring about how my clients are doing. 

How easy do you find it to make investment decisions ?  Get in touch and tell us about  your investment successes and disasters or use the comment section below for a free copy of "Our Guide to Investing".

Jill Turner 26th June 2014

Up in smoke -  is based on today's recent 60 second presentation to my local business referral group.  It came about after reminiscing over my very first "proper" job, running the art department in a social services day centre for people with long term mental health challenges.  Cigarettes became a type of currency, with an exchange rate pitched at 10 pence, designed in the main, to be a deterrent to smoking.  On a personal level, quitting smoking was probably one of the best things I did and it all got me thinking, if you ever wanted a greater financial incentive to stop smoking, then read on.

Did you know..... that in 2014 the price of a pack of twenty Benson and Hedges is now a staggering £8.87  (according to the Tesco website). For someone who smokes twenty cigarettes a day that's  £3,237.55 a year. Bear with me and my financial planning twist but if you gross that up by the basic rate of tax at 20% that will give a £4,406.25 annual pension contribution.   For a higher rate tax payer this would become £5,395 per annum.

According to a recent report by a well known nicotine replacement patch manufacturer, the average age for someone quitting smoking is 27.  So, imagine if you quit smoking twenty cigarettes a day and instead, the money that would have gone up in smoke was invested into a pension plan.  By the age of 55 you could have a fund worth £301,000.   This has been calculated based on contributions increasing by 2% per annum, investment growth of 5.4% and factoring in 1% for investment fees. Under current legislation, you could take 25% of that as a tax free lump sum giving  £56,250 immediately, leaving the remainder to provide ongoing income.  That's all due to change soon but that;s the subject of another blog.

So, for now, if you or anyone you know are trying to quit smoking please give them my contact details as this could be a huge financial incentive.   Now, I did say at the beginning this was the basis of a 60 second presentation at a business referral group and not a technical blog, but if this has caught your attention please read on for details of how we can also help you to access the Allen Carr EasyWay to Stop Smoking programme at no charge to you, saving you  even more money.

I work closely with Pru Protect,  one of the world's leading providers of life insurance, income protection and serious illness cover for my clients.  They are the only provider who actively offer incentives and rewards to improve your health.  Now that's actually quite sensible of them really because the healthier their policyholders are, the less claims they will pay and in return they  will reduce your premiums as you get fitter.   Its the only life insurance product that I know where premiums can reduce and stay reduced over the term of the policy. 

Pru Protect do this through their Vitality programme, designed to engage you with improving your health and rewarding you.  Not only do your premiums go down as you achieve your health targets, you can also benefit with discounts various things including,  gym membership, health checks, special offers on bicycles, free cinema tickets and what got me started on this, the free quit smoking course. 

Here's the link to the Allen Carr EasyWay to Stop Smoking courtesy of Pru Protect.  Yes, you have to be a policyholder but life insurance, income protection or serious illness cover its pretty helpful in its own right and once you've been free of nicotine for twelve months, your premiums will come down in price and you will benefit from non smoker rates, a saving of 30-40% on rates charged to smokers for the extra risk they pose in making a claim on their policy.

Most importantly you will be adding 10 years to your life according to a recent reports from the NHS.

If you want some local motivation in Sheffield we are pleased to recommend  Suzy Newson of Train with Suzy.