Investment Advice

Table of Content

It’s true that savings are safer than shares, but investing your money can be incredibly rewarding.

Cash is unlikely to have the potential to grow into a more substantial sum when left alone. Plus, if your money’s tied up you’ll be unable to spend it, meaning saving for the future is much easier to do.

There are many ways in which you can invest your money, and Liberty Partnership can go through all of your options with you.

We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, so we’ll spend time getting to know you in order to understand your needs and goals, tailoring our advice to suit your individual circumstances. Once established, we’ll help you to create a plan that’s in line with your long-term financial objectives.

Why do I need investment advice?

Although you can invest in things like stocks, shares, pensions and bonds without the help of a financial advisor, you’re more likely to make the wrong decision if you don’t take any professional investment advice first.

Whether you’re an experienced investor or you’re looking at investments for the first time, it’s not something that should be entered into lightly, but Liberty Partnership can help you make the right choices to ensure you don’t end up with a product that’s unsuitable for you.

Investing can be a minefield for experts and novices alike, but with years of investing experience we’ve come up with some of the things to look out for when deciding how and where to put your money.

What we offer

If you’re thinking about buying shares, unit trusts or any other type of investment, you may feel overwhelmed by the complexities of all the different products that are out there. Liberty Partnership can explain everything you need to know, so you understand all the options that are available to you.

Our experts are on hand to help you with:

  • Deciding whether investing is the right path for you
  • Planning your financial future to give you security and peace of mind
  • Bespoke advice that’s tailored to your specific circumstances
  • A wealth of information on all the different options available

Once we’ve established your current financial situation, goals for the future and attitude to risk we can provide you with your personalised investment advice and give you a recommendation based on everything we’ve discussed.

Benefits of investing

While saving into cash products like a bank or building society account is not a bad thing to do, low interest rates can make it harder to get a good return on your money.

With investments, you’re taking more of a risk with your money and even though it’s not guaranteed, you can make much more of a profit.

While it’s impossible to predict exactly how much you’re likely to make on your investment in the future, your friendly Liberty Partnership adviser can give you an indication of how much it could grow to.

Types of investment

When making a decision on how to invest your money, you’ll need to consider how hands-on you want to be. If you enjoy making investment decisions and understand the risks, you could consider buying individual shares, whereas investment funds like unit trusts are a popular choice for new or small-time investors as your money is pooled with others’ to buy a wider range of shares. We can help with your decision-making and talk you through some of the following ways in which you can invest your money:

  • Stocks and shares – Buying shares in one or more of the companies listed on a stock exchange is most people’s first experience of investing. The value of these shares can go up and down for various reasons. It could be that a firm is tipped to struggle, meaning its price will fall, or if a company is experiencing growth its price will rise. The reason businesses issue shares is because they want to grow and become more financially successful. You can make money from investing in one of two ways. One is by selling your shares when they’re worth more than what you paid for them and the other is by dividends, which work in the same way interest does on a savings account. If a company makes a profit you get some money back; the first £2,000 of which will be tax-free.
  • Funds – This is another way to buy shares but instead of buying a portion of a company directly, you buy units from a fund manager who then pools your money with that of other investors to buy lots of different shares in a stock market. Again, the value of these units can rise and fall depending on the economic health of the market. There is less risk associated with funds than individual stocks due to the fact your investment is relying on the fortunes of a single company but rather the collective fortunes of many companies.
  • ISAs – Putting your money into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) is the best place to start, whether you’re saving or investing. This is because everyone in the UK can save £20,000 into one each year without paying tax on any interest or stock market gains you may make. You can either use all of your allowance for a stocks and shares ISA or you can split it up and put some into a cash ISA too.
  • Bonds and gilts – When you invest in a bond or a gilt, you’re effectively loaning a company or the government money for a set period of time. You’ll be paid a regular rate of interest – which is known as a coupon – with the idea that your original capital is paid in full when the bond reaches maturity.
  • Property – With property, you can potentially make a return in one of two ways. One is to rent it out to tenants and earn a regular income and the other is to sell it for a higher price than what you bought it for. Some other ways to invest in property include property maintenance and management services.
  • Pensions – Choosing the right pension provider can be a great investment decision. In addition to giving you investment advice, your dedicated Liberty Partnership representative can help you with your retirement planning.
  • Other ways – Some of the less common ways to invest your money include vintage vehicles, artwork, wine, farmland and even Rolex watches.

How long to invest for

The thing you need to be prepared for when investing is that the value of your investment may go down as well as up. If you’re comfortable with that, you then need to work out how much you can afford to invest and how long for. We recommend that you invest for at least five years, because the longer your money is invested, the longer you have to ride out fluctuations in the market and you have a better chance of beating inflation.

When investing, it’s a good idea to set medium or long term goals, depending on how soon you want to get your money back. You should start thinking about whether you want to cash in your investment in five to ten years time or if you can wait for ten years or more. Bear in mind that investments are more likely to grow over time, so you should be prepared to be in it for the long-haul if you want the chance to make serious money. But remember that with greater returns, comes more risk.

Once you’re clear on your goals and how much risk you’re willing to take, we’ll help you draw up an investment plan in order to identify the product that’s right for you.

Investment hints and tips

If you take investment advice from us, we can give you lots of useful tips, such as:

  • Only invest what you can afford – As a general rule of thumb, you shouldn’t invest more than you can afford to lose in the event of a stock market crash. It’s also a good idea to pay off debts before saving or investing, as the interest you pay on a credit card or loan could outweigh any savings interest or returns you make on your investments.
  • Diversify – By spreading your money across various companies and industries, you can lower the overall risk in your portfolio.
  • Keep an eye on the market – Regular reviews will ensure that you’re keeping track of how well your investments are performing, but try not to act every time prices move in an unexpected direction. If you watch your investments every day, you’re more likely to buy and sell too often, therefore achieving lower returns.
  • Check the charges – Charges apply to investments like funds and individual shares, so remember to take these into account when drawing up your initial plan.
  • Be tax efficient – We can advise on the types of investments that can reduce the amount of tax you pay.

Long-term support

This is only the start of your financial journey with Liberty Partnership, as we firmly believe that even the best of plans should be reviewed. As part of our service arrangement, we’ll agree how often to meet with you to review your circumstances and keep your financial plan on track.

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