Alec Maclaren

Why is financial Planning so important? Most people don't think financial planning is for them. Some think they are not rich enough to worry about such things, others believe they are rich enough so do not need to bother with financial planning. But financial planning is for everyone no matter what your current financial status? If you have no wealth then you need a plan for creating it, using ideas such as compounding growth combined with regular saving. If you already have wealth then you need to ensure it is protected, from areas such as tax, liabilities in business or relationships, or from financial failure of banks and market turmoil, whilst at the same time ensure you are receiving a good enough yield. In reality we are all financial planners and most people have a financial plan on some level, whether they are trying to learn about managing debt, find the best interest rates, save for education, buy a house, save for retirement, almost everything we do requires some for...

Why must there be risk? Chasing compound growth! Compound growth is the main reason we take risk. "Would you rather have $10,000 per day for 30 days or a penny that doubled in value every day for 30 days?" The answer is to choose the doubling penny, because at the end of 30 days, you would have about $5 million versus the $300,000 if you chose $10,000 per day. Compound interest is often ignored or classed as marketing hype used to sell investments, but in reality it is the most valuable investment tool there is. Perhaps people do not understand the fact that it requires a great deal of time and patience to actually benefit from using compounding. The fact is put away a small amount of your income every month into equities, and after 20 years you will have a sizeable return. It is clear that turning a penny into £5 million over 30 days does take the idea into the fairytale realms but the principal stands. The best part about compound interest is that it applies to mon...

I have over 20 years experience as both a UK based IFA and an offshore financial adviser, I started in London in 1992 after leaving HM forces, I qualified in March 1993 and then spent 6 years in London. I moved to Cyprus with my wife and two girls in 1998. We had two more children whilst living in Cyprus. I enjoyed living and working in Cyprus we made many friends and it was an excellent place to raise a family. I worked and spent a great deal of time in other areas including Romania, Czech Republic, Grand Cayman and the Middle East, as well as Kazakhstan. Over the years as an offshore IFA I have experienced both good times and bad in regard equity markets and asset management. The world has suffered quite a number of financial meltdowns from the net bubble at the start of the decade, to the liquidity and debt crisis which is still ongoing. I have learned and experienced a great deal over this period certainly about the importance of long term planning and risk management. As well ...