My Expertise

As a Financial advisor I help my clients invest for both long and short-term goals. It is the financial advisor's duty to determine the client's goals and risk tolerance (attitude to investment) and to recommend appropriate investment strategies and solutions to meet their needs.
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One of the major services that I specialise in is retirement planning. A financial advisor should have knowledge of budgeting, forecasting, taxation, asset allocation, and financial tools and solutions to establish realistic goals and strategies by which to reach them. This will include the use of several investment tools such as a Individual Retirement Accounts linked to any of the following in order to generate growth of the retirement fund: mutual funds, stocks, bonds, CDs (Certificate of Deposit) etc.

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As your financial advisor I determine what percentage of the available income is necessary taking into account tax liabilities, expected inflation, and projected return on investment to meet a minimum balance for my client's target age of retirement. This is a fairly straightforward calculation, and I believe my greatest contribution to my clients is asset allocation and management determining how to maximize the return on investment while satisfying my client's risk tolerance(s).

Most people depend on their on-going income to help their children through university. However if you are sensible enough to start saving early to fund your child’s university education this is preferable and smarter as it spreads the future cost load on income and budget.



As always you really should ensure you have a good financial plan, or have taken advice from an advisor such as myself to safeguard your income and capital.



Basically speaking my clients fall into three categories; those looking to spread the cost of fees; those looking to invest a lump sum to generate annual returns to cover tuition fees; and finally the parents who are wishing to set up a regular savings plan to provide funds to cover the full or partial amount of future fees.

We don’t always have a plan for a lump sum of money that suddenly falls in our hands or builds up in a bank account over a period of time.

The sum can range from a few thousand to a few million. No matter what the amount is, the first thing to do is to sleep on your decision for a week at least before starting to think of your next step.



If your lump sum is considerable, you will be attracting all sorts of advisors and friends, keep in mind that the decision you have to take should put your best interest first and not the government’s or the bank’s interest.



Since everyone has a unique financial situation I will give you the appropriate information that will help you to start your decision making process. Depending on the amount of money you are considering, you might look to distribute it into several investment vehicles or pick only the one that fits your financial situation based on your risk attitude and timeline.

Timeline

If you think you may need your cash quickly, do not consider locking your money in investments with a set date or term. Avoid paying early withdrawal penalties by identifying beforehand the proper term and flexibility needed from your investment.

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​Fees

This is the most important variable to watch out for. You need to make sure you are aware of all management fees, or monthly account fees. If investing on a regular basis make sure you go with an account provider that has a bonus structure to help offset any fees.



Taxes

Try not to excite the government too much. We are taxed enough as it stands. Go over your investment options taking tax-free efficient growth into consideration. The more taxes you can avoid the better.



The categories above provide you with a good lead to start the decision process; make sure you discuss your options with an experienced financial planner such as me before a decision is made. I will be able to properly advise you by taking into account all the factors that I have mentioned above.