Savings
For your short term savings needs, it may be appropriate to set up a savings account with your bank. Access to your money may be of importance to you, especially if no emergency fund is already in place. However for medium to long term savings goals such as third level education, the rates on offer on deposit accounts are low and in fact your money loses value over time due to the effects of inflation. I can help search the market for you to identify a product to suit your needs and also most importantly, your risk tolerance.
Investments
There are many opportunities for lump sum investments though the numerous product producers that Keenan Financial Planning hold agency appointments with. The asset classes are wide and diverse, ranging from traditional equities, commodities, to wind farms and wave technology. When establishing a suitable investment product for you, the client, we need to review the following;
- The importance of access to your cash, how soon might you need it?
- Is there an emergency fund in place?
- Timescale, how long would you like to invest your money for?
- Risk, how risk tolerant are you?
- Capital guarantee, how important is it to you?
- Ethical considerations, are there any Companies or industries you’d rather not invest in?
These are but a few of the many details taken into consideration when advising you on an investment product.
Understanding Risk
We are all different. We all view the world differently. We all view risk differently. Some of us are very risk tolerant, some of us are not. Many factors will dictate this, our previous experience with investments, our time horizons, our very personalities, to name but a few. When I advise on a product that involves risk, be it a pension, savings plan or lump sum investment, I carry out a full Risk Analysis with you the client. All regulated investment products have an ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) rating, ranging from 1 to 7, with 1 being the lowest risk. If you don’t like risk, I will not be advising you to invest in the higher risk products or funds. I seek to match a clients risk tolerance as closely as possible to this rating scale so that the funds/products invested in are a reflection of the clients own rating.