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Risky Business?
Generation Games?
The answer is, in many cases, probably yes, and as less and less of the next generations have or are able to build pensions and other saving, more and more so. And it’s a double-edged sword. The parental generation increasingly worry that they won’t be able to leave enough to their children and worry that the cost of care in their approaching old age will whittle away at any potential inheritance. Many then spend money setting up complicated lifetime trusts, to try to make sure that their house and savings will stay intact and be passed on. If I’m asked, my advice is don’t. The odds are that you won’t need care, or at least not for too long. And if you do, would you really want to be reliant on whatever limited funds your local authority might have left in its limited coffers to pay for your home or carers? Probably not, and neither would your family; whatever the effect on their own retirement plans.
Investment Update - 15 Sept
The Advice Gap (again)
The Advice Gap has been much discussed in the world of financial services and advice in recent months. It boils down to the fact that if you don’t already have money to invest, most financial advisers can’t or won’t afford to take you on as a client; or you won’t be able to afford their fees. In fact, you may not be a good prospective client or have enough money until you’re starting to think about retirement, by which time you may not, paradoxically, be able to afford to retire. The current wisdom is that technology will be the answer, delivering cheap guidance-not-advice (ie no-one has to carry the can if it goes wrong). Old hacks however, will say that commission used to be the answer, as it meant there was some reward for helping the young or less wealthy set up a pension, life assurance or savings. Those plans and policies might not have been such good value for money (although only, usually, if you stopped paying early) but at least they had them. And isn’t something better than nothing?
Investment Update - Under the Bonnet
The cost of car insurance
Here’s a bit of inflation you may have missed if your car insurance renewal date hasn’t come around yet. On average, premiums are up by over 20%, a lot more if you’re fortunate enough to still be classed as a young driver. This is based on actual paid, not quoted prices, the amount you manage, if you have the patience, to end up paying after you’ve spent an hour on the phone, threatened to leave, been put through to a different department and someone’s talked to their manager. Why? Plenty of reasons, apparently. Repair costs have soared as garages’ overheads are up, energy and labour costs etc… Thefts also up as second-hand cars are worth a lot more; and as none of the insurers predicted this, most made a post-pandemic loss and are playing compare-the-meercat catch-up. But with not much in the way of public transport alternatives, we’re all over the proverbial barrel, I’m afraid.
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