LOOT

Look, it's pretty much written in stone: lots and lots of people can't wait to get their hands on the SSIA loot and blow it on current consumption. Hell, even Governments do the same thing with tax windfalls so we shouldn't be too surprised! I know it doesn't matter a whit that some clown in the media, or on the radio, or in a book like LOOT! is urging continued investment: the spending boom is still going to happen.

The maturity of the SSIA scheme heralds the beginning of endless dinner discussions on a common set of vexing puzzles. The maturities alone will bring up to EUROP 40,000 into many households, but for most even that will not be enough to solve the conflicting dilemmas facing many families.

Whichever of the four routes to property investment you take, you will be faced with assessing, or evaluating, value for money before you take the leap.

For a long time wealth has been created by careful and well-researched investment in property, but the continuous surge in property values, particularly for Irish homes, has created a newbreed of investor, an investor who breaks just about every rule in the book.

Unless you fancy yourself as an Active Trader or a Property tycoon, you will invest in assets through some kind of fund. The important thing to remember is not to lose yourself in the torrent of jargon, hype and drivel that seems to go hand-in-glove with the fund industry and to stay firmly focused...

At first reading this seems like an attractive thing to do. After all, there is nothing like shedding a bit of weight off the home mortgage and freeing up some monthly cash flow. But is it financially correct?

Whether or not we like to admit it, practically all of our investment decisions are influenced by emotion. Sometimes that's not a bad thing, but oftentimes our emotions fly in the face of reasoned thinking and logic, costing us valuable opportunities to do a lot better with our money. Consider, for example, that eight out of ten SSIA savers sought refuge in cash deposit accounts because the stock market had fallen dramatically in the period prior to the commencement of the scheme: this was an emotional response by many who would otherwise have chosen equities.

In talks I've given all over the country, one thing always draws gasps from audiences: the realisation of just how much is needed, in working assets, to fund a pretty modest long-term lifestyle once you have finished working for a living.

The best approach to investment planning is, as the old adage says, not to have all your eggs in one basket, to chase after the highest rate of return at  the lowest rate of risk, to understand how the stuff actually works, to buy well at the right time and to hold good properties and equities through thick and thin. Knowing what to reasonably expect from different assets and the type of factors that affect them is the foundation of good long-term strategies.

Loot! is designed to help you to steer your way through investments from an informed position, but you can't isolate yourself entirely from advice because, quite simply, you can't be an expert in everything. When you do seek advice, however, it's important to be able to measure the quality of the advice available to you, and the motive of the advisor.

In Ireland, to bring a noisy dinner party to a complete halt, all you have to do is turn the conversation to the subject that provokes unbridled lust in Irish people - investment property. Sharp and sustained rises in property values, a growing population and historically low interest rates have combined to create lots of wealth. And how we love to drool over our creme brulee...

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