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FPW Christmas Carol

December 17th 2020 – Written by Andrew Chorley

FPW Christmas Carol 

Whilst we have no plans for a “Zoom” nativity play, with virtual mince pies and mulled wine, as the festive season approaches, we have our version of the tale of A Christmas Carol!

There lived a young couple who were expecting their first child; a conscientious duo, they wanted to put something aside for the soon to arrive bundle of joy that would give them a nest egg to set them on their way in life. After trawling the Internet for ideas, they went to bed and were soon having nightmares about equities, mortgage-backed securities, index linking and alternatives – it was all too much, particularly as the Nursery furniture was still in boxes. That night they would have three visitors……

The Ghost of Christmas Past was the first to arrive – it showed our couple how fortunes were made in Tulips, in the roaring 20’s, in stocks called the nifty fifty, before taking them to the heady heights of the 1980’s the technology bubble of the 90s and the Emerging Markets boom of the mid noughties! But just as they started to have visions of their hard-earned money doubling in short order and junior graduating from University debt free, the Ghost of Christmas Past showed them the aftermath of these bubbles and fortunes lost almost overnight.

Next to arrive was the Ghost of Christmas Present, a jovial character who has a nest egg of his own built up over many years as he learnt about investments and made some prudent decisions (that he made with the help of his trusted adviser!). He explained how he came by his wealth, that he was helped by his adviser to define his goals and objectives before being advised to make a commitment to regular savings in a mix of well-run investment funds. He had been told about the benefits of “pound cost averaging” that meant his monthly amount bought more when markets were falling, and how he would reap the rewards of sticking to the plan in the bad times.

The last visit was from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and our couple were shown a frightening scene where they were older, they had foregone the regular savings and tried to make up for it too late investing in a get rich quick scheme that they later found was unregulated and had quickly made them even worse off. Their children face an uncertain future, one does not want to attend University as they did not want the burden the debt; whilst the other had missed out on the house of their dreams as the bank of Mum & Dad was less than well capitalised.

As dawn breaks the next day, both awake more aware of the Financial World and keen to learn how to achieve their objectives from a suitably qualified Chartered Financial Planner.

Christmas 2020 - Office Hours

Please note that the Office will close from Tuesday 22nd December and will reopen on Monday 4th January.

If you have any urgent queries please contact us via email and we will do our best to respond to you as quickly as possible. 

We would like to thank you for your support throughout 2020 and we look forward to a prosperous 2021. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Financial Planning Wales. 

EST. 1999