Managing wealth for clients with different time horizons, risk profiles and life circumstances requires equal parts discipline and flexibility.
The discipline comes in the form of an overarching philosophy. That philosophy is universal no matter the client’s circumstances. Your philosophy should guide all high-level decisions.
The flexibility comes into play when implementing the specific investment plan for each client. Each strategy must be personal to fit the client’s needs and goals.
As Jeff Bezos once said, “We are stubborn on the vision. We are flexible on the details.”
When I wrote Everything You Need to Know About Retirement last year I tried to focus mainly on my philosophy for getting people started with saving and investing. But I also had to include some details. Since the majority of my audience is American, that meant including some details on 401k accounts, 403b accounts and individual retirement accounts.
This is a guess but the book is probably 85% universal philosophy and 15% details related to the U.S. retirement system.
Because the Internet is the great equalizer of information, my audience is not based exclusively in the U.S. In fact, according to Google Analytics, only 60% of my readers are based in America. The rest are scattered around the globe.
So when Craig Pearce from Harriman House reached out to see if I would be interested in converting parts of this book to reach an audience in the United Kingdom I was intrigued. The problem is I don’t know many details about the retirement system in the U.K.
But I do know a blogger and financial education advocate from the U.K. who immediately came to mind when Craig asked for some recommendations. Robin Powell at The Evidence-Based Investor has been producing high-quality content on markets, investing and personal finance for years. He’s not only enthusiastic about spreading the good word, but he knows this stuff inside and out.
I asked Robin to help me fill in the holes to write a version of my book for people in the United Kingdom.
I self-published the first time around so it was helpful to have some professionals in the mix this time. Craig and his team at Harriman outfitted us with a slick new cover, edited the book and helped integrate the new material from Robin. We updated some of the information, data and charts and even changed the title.
The new version is called Invest Your Way to Financial Freedom.
I took up stand-up paddleboarding on the lake this past summer so I was happy to see that was one of the options for the cover. It’s the little things in life.
In some ways, the U.S. is different than the U.K. They have much cooler-sounding slang words than us. We have better food. The beer is probably a toss-up.
There are also many similarities. U.K. regulators are trying to figure out how to better protect investors and help them invest in a sensible manner:
Earlier this week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out its “view of consumer harm” in the investment market and a three-year strategy to address it. The main aim of the plan is to encourage more people to invest in sensible investments while avoiding scams, which sounds laudable. The FCA has set several targets with regard to meeting these goals, which could help to implement changes but must be treated with care.
According to the regulator’s analysis, 37 per cent of investors in the UK with over £10,000 of investable assets have it all sitting in cash, and a further 18 per cent have it mostly in cash. In response, the FCA has set a target of reducing by 20 per cent the number of ‘higher risk tolerance’ consumers who hold over £10,000 in cash by 2025.
For many people, just getting started can feel overwhelming. This is true no matter where you live. There are so many choices in terms of accounts, funds, securities and strategies.
This book was designed to help those who want to get started but don’t know where, along with those who have gotten started but have no idea where they stand when it comes to reaching their financial goals.
As of right now, this book is only available in the U.K.
You can find it here.
One of my favorite financial blogs, Monevator, was nice enough to run an excerpt of the book on the investor’s lifecycle here.
And if you’re someone that doesn’t live in the U.K. who feels left out, feel free to order the original here.
Further Reading:
How the Stock Market Works
