Do you even care about your investments?

[Estimated time to read: 3 minutes]

Feedback fuels us.

We welcome it and value it – both the good, and the sometimes not so good.

A question for you to think about…

If I could encourage your feedback by asking you just one question, I think it might be this*: 

Of course, the majority of people will answer “yes”.

But here’s the thing: even though most people care how they invest, many end up invested in expensive, inappropriate solutions, that are an insult to their intelligence.

How does this happen?

Who cares wins

Although you care about how you invest because you want to get the best returns possible, it can all go horribly wrong for you if your financial salesperson cares more about their own personal gains.

This problem is then compounded by the fact the international financial marketplace is a complicated environment to navigate.

A lack of any centrally enforced or endorsed regulations and rules means it’s pretty much a free-for-all.

So:

• International people, like you, who want to do the best for their financial health, seek out investment solutions to secure their future.
• Some people fall into the wrong hands, and then their money will likely be tied up in an unsuitable, expensive, complexly wrapped investment product.
• That product will not only be wholly inappropriate in most cases, but toxic in terms of its devastating impact on the money invested.
  
  But…

• That product will pay the salesperson, masquerading as a financial adviser, a substantial commission, thus incentivising him to sell it to you.

The devastating impact

We recently wrote about these types of products and their impact in A guide to losing money – from an expat millionaire.

We cited the real life example of a lady whose financial salesman had managed to lose her money when, globally speaking, the majority of markets were healthy.

He did this by blinding her with past performance stats, pushing her into Chinese stocks just before they went belly up, and by tying her up in punishing fees.

Her case is not an exception in expat circles; hers is so common that we see examples of similar situations every single day.

Many people do not realise this devastating impact upon their returns.

And sit in these products accepting dire returns.

Accepting the comforting lies of their 'financial salesperson' and ignoring the voice in their head that tells them something just isn’t right.

You know it doesn’t have to be this way

As a regular AES blog reader you know that it doesn’t have to be this way.

1. Expats don’t have to sign up for the complex, the opaque and the expensive.
2. Expats do care about how they invest, and should get what they want most - namely the best returns and the lowest charges.
3. Anyone worried about their own investments, savings or pension can have our expert second opinion with our X-Ray portfolio review service.
4. And the answers to the majority of international investors’ financial questions are simple – take a long-term, low-cost, passive approach to investing, and reap the resultant realistic returns.

* So, please can I have your feedback?

I know I said I’d like to ask you ‘do you care how you invest’.

But because really I already knew your answer to that one, please can I ask you the following instead – and this is the question I would most value your feedback on:

"What can we do to help more people, just like you, understand the risks they face from unethical salespeople, and identify the safer, better alternatives?"

Together we can make positive change

Your thoughts and ideas on this, and anything else you want to talk to us about are invaluable, please leave them in the comments section below, or email me personally.

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback to help us with our mission to bring positive change to international investors’ lives.