The world of investment opportunities can be a complete mine field if you aren’t a professional or an avid follower of the financial markets, having said that, even if you like to keep a watchful eye, understanding is key. We have all heard about the pension horror stories and like it or not those stories were likely a result of two factors, miss selling and or lack of understanding. If your money was in what’s called a ‘managed fund’ then it’s important that you know who is managing it and how, without knowing and understanding that, well, anything could happen.
What are managed funds?
Essentially, a managed fund is a pot of money that is made up of lots of ‘smaller’ pots of money, the idea is that with a larger overall pot of money the investor or investors who are managing the funds have more buying power based upon combined contributions. Generally speaking, the more money that you have to invest the greater your chances are of yielding a higher overall return, it also opens doors to more investment opportunities. How do we choose the right growth fund though? Good question and only you and or your financial advisor can help you with that one.
Why choose a managed fund?
If the right people are managing your funds, then you should have access to a much more diverse portfolio because your pot can be split across different companies and or market sectors as needed. Each segment of your ‘split’ total pot is pooled with other investors so you shouldn’t lose any buying power or your chances of receiving fund growth.
In fact, you should stand a much better chance of making money because the risk is spread and can be moved if needed, which should lessen the impact of any lower returns, on that note, take a look at this informative blog about BI software and insurance markets. The old saying “don’t keep all your eggs in one basket” starts to make real sense now.
Peace of mind
So that there is no misunderstanding, Investments can increase in value and in just the same way, they can decrease in value even going into negative growth, sad but true in the case of trying to make money by floating your money in stocks and shares, as such it is imperative your funds are watched carefully and moved when the time is right. Financial services are heavily monitored today, so the risks are much lower than they used to be, having said that, some managers are better than others so using the ‘more successful managers’ would be wise.
The investments are only a small part of the success, really and truly it is the person managing the funds that is going to mean that your funds are either successful, or not. If you get a good fund manager then it would be wise to build a relationship that could last the term of your investments, also get up to speed with current regulations. In an ideal world you would want to find someone that is paid on results, however that may happen.