Financial Planning for High Income Earners
The purpose of this article is to discuss the issues faced by high income earners in creating
long-term wealth and security. An Australian study by respected research agency Brand
Management reported that while prosperous individuals desire and value good financial
advice, and are more than ready to pay for it, it is difficult for them to source the services
they want, in the way they want these services provided. Many also complain about high staff
turnover, lack of ability, lack of product and a shortage of market knowledge as reasons why
they felt they were being underserviced by the financial industry in general.
As financial advisers with years of experience, we help people make educated financial
decisions throughout various stages of life. Throughout this post you’ll find out what sets us
apart from the rest, and makes us a prime candidate to be your partner in helping you create
and more prosperous future. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER
Chapter 1:
When it comes to Financial Advice, money
can’t buy happiness – unless you’re shopping
in the right place.
“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.” – Woody Allen
If you are a high net worth individual, which means having investments worth at least $1 million besides
the family home, you may have gotten that way because you inherited wealth from your parents, but it is
far more likely that you are pretty good at what you do and have worked very hard for 25 – 30 years or
longer to get there.
Statistically, you are likely to be over 45 years old and about to enter the most important and lucrative
years of your career. One thing in your favour is that your timing is impeccable. The beginning of your adult
working life coincided with one of the most prosperous cycles in Australian history and you have prospered
with it by maximising the opportunities offered to you. There have probably never been a greater number
of high net worth individuals in Australia at any time in its history, yet you are a member of a small
minority – less than 400,000 of Australia’s 17 million people (about 2.5 %) are classified as high net worth
individuals.
You’d imagine that as a member of this elite group, you’d be beating off top financial and investment
advisers with a stick. You’d think you would be able to pick and choose the very best quality of financial
and investment advice to help you make the most of what you have worked so hard for. Surprisingly, that
is not necessarily so.
Consider this: The major share fund managers recommended by many professional advisers are meant to
have the expertise to buy, sell and hold shares with much greater success than the average investor. In
actual fact, the vast majority do not. Between 2001 and 2004 for instance, only one in 10 managed share
funds managed to outperform the Australian All Ordinaries Index, while 90% did not. And that was before
management frees were deducted! (Source: MSCI)
We believe that if you are more successful than the average citizen, you deserve, and
should demand, better than average financial advice – especially when you realise how
mediocre average financial advice can be.
Is it any wonder that Warren Buffett, hailed as the world’s most successful investor, advises the average
investor to invest in shares through index funds mirroring the total stock market, rather than attempting to
pick winning shares individually or handing their money over to a fund manager. Besides, as Buffet points
out, the management fees on index funds are much lower than those of managed funds.
Another problem for high net worth individuals is that seeking advice for a financial problem is like seeking
advice for a sore knee. See a surgeon and he’ll want to operate on it. See a chiropractor and he’ll want to
manipulate it. See an acupuncturist and he’ll want to needle it. Similarly, the advice provided by many
financial advisers is biased towards selling you a particular investment category. Stock brokers would like
you to put all your money into shares. Most financial advisers want to invest you a managed fund. Real
estate agents are licensed only to sell real estate.
Right away, you can see a disconnection here. If you want to invest in both shares and property, for
example, who can you turn to for advice on the best combination of share and/or property investments to
meet your own specific needs and objectives? The answer is none of the above.
Not surprisingly, a high degree of investor cynicism has begun to overshadow the conventional investor financial
adviser relationship, and this was cited in the report already mentioned.(High Net Worth Report’, Brand Management Research, 2006)
Chapter 2:
The Issues that Matter most to High Net
Worth Individuals
High net worth investors are demanding and different. They demand financial advice which is high level,
encompasses more than purely investment advice and is consistently available.
And they have issues that other investors simply do not encounter.
They have more assets and higher potential earnings, so they can think bigger than average
investors, are more ambitious and aim higher.
They have more wealth or the means to create more wealth and, as a result, they have more
investment and lifestyle options. They don’t have to stay in their job until age 65 in order to have
enough money to live on in retirement.
Because they are wealthier they not only pay more tax, but can also make a substantial difference
to the tax free or after tax part of their income just by the way they organise their affairs.
Many six figure income earners have a nice home and a good superannuation scheme, but they are
very aware that they could and should be using this income to accumulate the kind of wealth that
translates into real future security.
Because they will normally die wealthy, high net worth individuals have more issues around estate
planning and inheritance.
Because wealth is often accumulated as family wealth or intended to be passed to future
generations, family wealth management (as opposed to individual wealth management) emerges
as a need.
“Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are
still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes. – Oprah Winfrey
Issue: How much is enough?
The majority of Australians are working to age 60 or 65 simply because that is the only way they can hope
to accumulate enough capital to survive on in retirement. As a high net worth individual, you have more
options and less reason to stay on the treadmill.
Successful investment, like most other rational objectives in life, depends on setting achievable goals and
then working out a strategy to achieve them. For most Australians in their 40s or 50s this has become a
process of working out the lump sum they will need on the day they retire in order to invest it to deliver
today’s income. But is this really an adequate answer to an anticipated lifetime of up to 80 years?
In September 2008, the New York Times interviewed ‘poor millionaires’ in Silicon Valley for a feature.
These were wealthy individuals in the information technology business who were still working stressful 50
hour weeks in spite of the fact that they were worth millions. When asked why he had still not given up his
day job. in spite of the fact that at age 51 he owned a $1.3 million house, had another $2 million in the
bank and was in the top 2% of American incomes, one of them replied: ‘I know people looking in from the
outside will ask why someone like me keeps working so hard, but a few million doesn’t go as far as it
used to’.
“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing
everything for money.” – Benjamin Franklin
What makes the ‘how much is enough’ equation invalid is that your life and your need to grow your assets
is not going to end or change on the day you retire. Thanks to modern medical research you could easily
have 25 – 30 years ahead of you at age 50, hopefully in good physical and mental health. In fact, you may
not actually stop working until your 70s, though not at the same job you were doing at 60. This means that
you will need to nurture and grow your assets just as diligently when you are 70 as you do at age 50. The
need for active investment management lasts as long as you do, so we should correctly regard financial
planning as one long continuum stretching from around age 25 when you have your first serious job until
your 70s or 8os.
Issue: How many lifetimes will you actually have?
In a no holds barred interview with Andrew Denton broadcast on ABC TV in September 2008, the
controversial brain surgeon and medical maverick Dr Charles Teo admitted that at age 51 he was beginning
to feel the emotional pressure and physical strain of constant brain surgery. As a result, he expected to
stop operating within 5 years.
For people like Charles Teo, this does not mean that he intends to retire at age 56. As founder of the Cure
for Life Foundation, which is actively seeking the causes of brain tumours through research and a Director
of the Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery, Dr Teo probably has enough work to keep him going for the
next 20 years without the need to step into an operating theatre. On the other hand, he is one of many
successful Australians who see transitions in their lives that go a long way beyond retirement.
“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find – at the age of 50, say –
that a whole new life has opened before you.” – Agatha Christie
Some, like Dr Teo, may consider a future where they can apply the skills they have honed over a lifetime
with a slightly different focus and lot less pressure. Others, like Brian Sherman and his commitment to
Voiceless or Bill Gates, now working full time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have accepted
demanding new commitments and are living second lives very different for their old lives.
Many others, who have devoted decades to building up companies and professional practices, feel
emotionally unable walk away from their life’s work, yet would like to have more time for themselves, the
people who are important to them and the experiences they missed out on. For these people, a carefully
planned transition to retirement involving a part time presence in the business could be an ideal solution.
To be successful these lifestyle transitions must be well planned from a financial point of view.
Issue: High income earners who are low investment achievers
If you are earning a couple of hundred thousand a year, yet have not managed to accumulate any
significant assets beyond your family home and your superannuation plan, you are cheating yourself of
future security and the chance to choose a new challenge at an age when a change could help keep you
young, active and interested in life.
It is very tempting to spend a lot of money when you earn a lot for money. You can afford to indulge. You
don’t want your children to go without things you could not have as a child. Your hard work and your
status deserve tangible rewards. But – and it is a big but – you are very likely at the peak of your earning
power right now, and if you cannot divert some of that money into growth investments that will keep on
working for you when you want to take it easy or do something more interesting and less demanding, your
life could hit a wall in your 60s or 70s, instead of opening up into a new horizon.
There are only two ways to accumulate enough wealth to achieve your personal freedom. One is to inherit
it. The other is to have a goal in mind, draw up a plan to reach it, and have the discipline to stick with it.
If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting. – Benjamin Franklin
Issue: Old age and the next generation
Money can’t cure old age, though it certainly can camouflage it a little and make it a lot easier to live with.
But when do you start planning for it? Should you, for example, invest now in a luxury rental apartment in
a building lived in by people of all ages where older residents can have advanced care like meals,
housekeeping and medical treatment delivered to the front door? This offers them the advantage and
mental stimulation of living in a normal community of people of all ages rather than an aged home and it
could be paid off and ready for you when you might need it.
Is that thinking too far ahead? Maybe, but consider these questions: How long can you realistically expect
to live for? How many other human beings are you responsible for? (Spouse, family, employees...) Are you
working for yourself or the receiver of revenue? What will really make you happy?
How can you take care of your needs if you require personal care? These are all important questions and
the answers could affect your prosperity and peace of mind in the future. They are also all financial
planning issues which can be anticipated, discussed with your adviser, planned for, agreed, acted on and
(of course) reviewed frequently. Many things are possible if you really want them, if you plan for them and
if you have a personal wealth coach dedicated to helping you achieve them.
And what is going to happen to your wealth when you finally hand in your chips? Is the government going
to grab a huge whack of it? Or is it going to go to the people you would really like to have it? This may
depend on decisions made decades before your death, such as whether real estate is registered in your
own name or the name of a spouse, child, family trust or corporate entity.
Some people plan to spend it all before they die. Others may be forced to spend it all before they die to
pay for expensive care or medical treatment. But for high net worth individuals, the chances are that you
will leave a substantial estate when you die, and the way you structure and tax plan your assets could
make a huge difference to the amount your heirs inherit.
Issue: The need for a ‘Virtual Family Office’
The Family Office is an American concept that acknowledges the fact that wealth tends to be accumulated
and passed on through families and dynasties. It originated as a real company office with a large staff that
operated every family member’s financial affairs, including paying accounts and expenses.
Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations – 19th century saying
The more modern concept is that of a virtual family office, where the financial affairs of several
generations of the same family can be integrated by a financial adviser who will devise strategies which
extend beyond the lifetime of the primary client.
Major objectives of a virtual family office may include:
Enabling the primary investor to make plans for the management of family wealth that extend
beyond his or her lifetime
Ensuring stress-free financial security for the primary investor in old age, or ensuring that a spouse
who survives the primary investor has complete financial security
Estate planning in order to minimise death duties and inheritance taxes
Establishment of family trusts and other administrative structures which will preserve family wealth
until younger generations have reached the age and maturity to manage their own affairs
Ensuring the fair distribution of family wealth among future generations.
Because Moneytree Partners integrates accounting and investment financing services with our mainstream
financial planning role, we are able to assist you in providing family financial advice that can include and
benefit future generations.
Chapter 3
You only live once, make sure you live well.
‘’If I only have one life, let me live it as a blond’. – 1960s hair colouring advertisement
Most people are unaware that both childhood and old age are relatively recent inventions. Right up to the
Victorian age, children quickly progressed from being babies to being young adults, sent out to work when
they were 6 -7 years old to sweep chimneys and do other hard and dangerous jobs. It was not until the
growing complexity of the 19th and 20th centuries forced the need for more than a basic education that
children were allowed a childhood. We even had to invent a new name for a category of older children
who were not yet adults. We called them teenagers.
Until the second half of the 20th century, life after work was not a luxury that many could indulge in either.
Average life expectancy less than 30 years in medieval Britain was. At the beginning of the 2oth century,
400 years later, things had not changed that much. Only 50% of people born in 1900 actually reached the
age of 50. Those lucky enough to survive retired from work at age 60 sat on the porch in their rocking
chairs for a few years and quietly fell off the twig.
For those of us fortunate enough to live in developed countries, modern medicine and better nutrition
have extended our lives to the extent that we can look forward to a second lifetime after 40 – 50 years in
our original job. (50 years ago, for example, a blood clot was a death sentence. Today it can be repaired in
half an hour by inserting a stent in the blood vessel under light anaesthetic). So we had to invent yet
another new word for these long-lived people who no longer worked: Retirees.
Australians currently have the second highest life expectancy in the world at 80.4 years (Australia’s Health
2008), but what’s the point of living longer unless you do something enjoyable and worthwhile with that
extra 15-20 years? That is the crux, is it not? When the time comes to take your final bow, will you do so
with a sense of happiness and fulfilment, or on a note of regret for opportunities missed and things left
undone?
If you are a high net worth individual reading this, you are probably a baby boomer born around 1950.
Younger generations (X, Y and Z) accuse baby boomers in their 50s and 60s of being self centred, selfish
and greedy. Yet the truth is that Australian baby boomers are the first generation not only to enjoy a
longer life expectancy (without the risk of being sacrificed in war), but also to have the money and assets
to make different decisions about the last decades of their lives. In fact, there have never been more high
net worth individuals in Australia than there are today. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER
The problem is that many of the baby boomers – who can now make decisions about the future their
parents could never make – are making bad decisions, or not making decisions at all. This could be the
reason why so many sea- and tree-changers set off for the beach or the bush with high hopes but return to
the city disappointed. Maybe they all knew what they didn’t want – the lives they were living before – but
they didn’t really know what they wanted to replace them with.
Consider the average person’s thinking (or non-thinking) about superannuation, for example. Most people
never get beyond calculating how much capital they need to accumulate in order to keep on paying for the
same lifestyle they have now. But do they want the same lifestyle they have now?
At the same time, many financial advisers go on about superannuation as if it is the one and only
investment goal in life. In fact, there is life before, during and after retirement and these three stages
might be quite different. For instance, you might retire from your first career and start a second before you
eventually decide to put your feet up.
For most people these kinds of ambitions may not be financially possible, but for high net worth individuals
like yourself, many things are possible, even the most unconventional dreams and ambitions. A story in the
New York Times earlier this year reported that the chairman of a German company gave up everything to
become a Sadhu, or seeker of enlightenment and now wanders around India stark naked except for a holy
thread around his waist, covered in ash and carrying only two possessions – a walking staff and a begging
bowl. Not everyone’s dream, perhaps, but he is happily doing what he wants to do.
“Non, je ne regrette rien – No, I regret nothing’ – Edith Piaf, singer
Of course, the meaning of life is a very personal question that every individual has to work out for
themselves, but you actually have the potential to accumulate enough capital to make just about anything
possible. It is therefore extremely important to take a long hard look at yourself and decide what you truly
want out of life. How much flexibility do you need? What do you really want to achieve compared to what
you have achieved already? What would make you feel fulfilled and happy? You might not know the
answers right at this moment, but just thinking about the questions could help to redefine your personal
goals and broaden your investment horizons to meet them.
For a start, some things may not be worth putting off until retirement. If your ambition is to climb the
ancient Inca pyramids of Michu Pichu in the South American Andes, you may be better able to survive the
strain of high energy, high altitude climbing in your 50s than in your 70s. How badly do you want to do
certain things, and how do you balance increased leisure to do them vs. advancing age and physical
limitations? And can you afford to take the time off to do them without suffering financially as you get
older?
And considering everything you have achieved to date, how more satisfaction can you accumulate if you
simply keep on doing the same thing for another decade or two? Do you have important things left undone
which are outside your mainstream career? And even if you are not yet ready to retire, could you have
more fun and keep on making a contribution to the management of your business or the exercise of your
professional practice by transitioning to a part time working week that would take the pressure off you
and make some room for your other interests? Even just doing what you do in another context can
transform your life. Fred Hollows had been a successful eye surgeon for years before he turned his
attention to curing blindness in third world countries at a miniscule cost of $50 per cataract operation.
This year, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has been supporting medical and development charities in
third world countries for many years, quit his day to day job at Microsoft to devote himself full time to his
charitable foundation. Two of his many projects include finding a cure for river blindness disease in West
Africa and helping to prevent the spread of AIDS in Papa New Guinea. Closer to home, Brian Sherman, one
of Australia’s most successful professional fund managers, now devotes most of his time and energy to
running an animal rights charity with his daughter.
Sometimes it is difficult to think your way past day to day or short-term problems in order to look at the
big picture of your life. This is why it is important to re-define and review your goals with a trusted financial
adviser who will encourage you to think outside the square. Before you can have a financial plan, you have
to have a financial goal – and it has to be a goal that’s about your quality of your life in the future, not just
an end amount of dollars.
Just as a personal trainer who understands the theory and practice of fitness, considers your individual
needs and actually motivates you to put on your joggers every day, a good financial adviser can make a lot
of difference to your life by acting as a personal wealth trainer for investment success. A fitness trainer can
make all the difference to your health and waistline just as an effective personal wealth trainer can
introduce you to a disciplined wealth regime.
Chapter 4
Choosing which assets to invest in is not the
hard part.
There are people who make money trading in rare postal stamps, fine art or Aboriginal paintings. However,
they are usually the dealers who sell postal stamps, fine art and Aboriginal paintings. The reason for this is
simple. The dealer puts a sizeable mark up on each item (usually 100% or more), and you have to hold it for
some time just to make up for that before you can sell at a profit. Collect paintings for pleasure by all
means, but we believe there are only two assets a high net worth investor should invest in : real estate and
shares in productive businesses – both assets with known values which can readily be bought and sold on
accessible markets, and both asset classes with very strong historical growth trends over time.
Note: real estate and shares, not real estate or shares. This is because we believe that it does not make too
much difference whether you invest in real estate or shares – because if you pick the asset wisely, time will
do the rest. So in spite of the fact that you can Google ‘real estate vs. shares’ and come up with at least 50
web sites telling you to do one or the other, we always tell our clients they are welcome to do either,
because there is a place for both in any investment portfolio.
4. Shares require no insurance, upkeep, maintenance or renovation. “A very low-cost index is going to beat a majority of the amateur-managed money or
professionally-managed money... (Managed fund) fees will eat up a significant percentage
of the return. You'll pay lots of fees to people who do well, and lots of fees to people who
do not do so well.” – Warren Buffet, world’s most successful investor
4 Reasons Why Real Estate is a Good Investment
‘It's tangible, it's solid, and it’s beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real
estate’. – Donald Trump
Chapter 5
What is good advice?
Financial planning has to start with a thorough understanding of your needs and priorities and a discussion
about your personal goals, the way you see your life developing or changing in the future and your family
commitments. It also requires a blunt assessment of your financial strengths and weaknesses and your tax
exposure.
Successful financial planning is always personal and individual. If we could achieve it just
by applying certain proven principles, we could fire all our advisers and do it all on a
computer.
Once we have an in-depth knowledge of your goals, needs, ambitions and current financial situation, and
after we have made a thorough analysis of your current investment portfolio, we might advise that you
retain it unchanged and build on it with our guidance, or sell it off entirely and reinvest the capital more
productively, or retain a part of it and sell off the balance to finance new investment. Each
recommendation would be justified purely from your own point of view, discussed thoroughly with you,
and only acted upon with your permission.
“Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive
dreams come true.” – Lester R. Bittel
All of the above are simply common sense principles professionally applied. What really sets our team
apart is the special role our advisers play as professionals who takes the trouble to understand you as an
investor, help you decide on the achievable financial goals you really need and want, and work out a plan
to help you try to achieve them while providing discipline, encouragement and support along the way.
With a life expectancy of 80+ you are going to need good, active financial advice well beyond retirement.
Chapter 6 Investing like Warren Buffet
Secret #1: One bird in hand is worth two
birds in the bush?
This popular saying basically means that it is better to stick with something
you already have, rather than pursuing something you may never get.
What if there are more than two birds in the bush? How
about if the birds are injured? Investment is really about laying out cash, and how
much cash one can get back.
If a person cannot assess with much certainty the future value of what one can
get back, he/she is actually speculating. The more we know about the birds in
the bushes, the more certain we are of our Return on Investment.
Coming down to a more practical level, one must ask ourselves how certain we
are about the returns and whether they are sustainable. Obviously, the more
predictable the returns are, the more an investor will be willing to put his cash in,
both in terms of amount and duration.
The reason why this saying makes sense is when there is a high level of
uncertainty in the returns expected. Many a times, quotes not contextualized
properly can often lead to mistaken understanding.
#2 Value shouts at you!
According to Warren Buffett, when one sees value, it should shout/scream at you.
It is widely circulated noone haveever seen Warren
take out a calculator/computer to assess whether a company is undervalued or
not.
Obviously, Warren probably has more processing power in his brain than most
people when it comes to investing. It is also a result of him reaching a level of
unconscious competence over the years after looking at plenty of businesses and
investing opportunities.
As I have observed around me, I notice that the people who achieved mastery
in their areas are those who keep doing it better and repeatedly. Many world
class athletes are a case in point. For that period of exertion that they have
(example: less than 10 seconds for 100 meters run), the athletes have clocked in
much more hours of intense training.
Another simple analogy will be: shopping for a product that you are familiar with.
If you are very aware of what the prices are for the product is, you will be very
likely to see a great bargain when the price is lower than usual or when it is on
sale. Basically, the bargain will shout at you!
#3 Don’t be a smart alec!
In the academic world and life in general, it is often preached or assumed that
high intelligence is a prerequisite to in life. While that may apply to certain
contexts, there are increasing research reports that showed that it may not be the
case.
In fact, a person could have an IQ of 150 and still
be a disaster in investing. Another person with IQ of 120 and operates within
his circle of competence, will be able to do much better!
Having said that, I think to be a good investor (or a great human being!) requires
a certain level of intellect. Once past a certain point, the extra intellectual ability
will contribute a lesser role to the overall success of the person. Instead, the next
point will become more important.
#4 Investing is simple but not easy because
of emotional instability
Instead of intellect, the key to investment success is emotional stability.
Investing is simple but not easy because of emotional stability. What is emotional
stability about? In simple terms with regard to this, it refers to the way a person
handles his/her emotions when the investments make or lose money.
Fear and greed are two emotions that the investor can never run away from. How
he/she handle those, in spite of all the knowledge that he/she has is crucial to
investment success.
When the stock market drops like a rock, say down 50% or even more,
many people will intellectually know that it is the time to buy. However, they
will hesitate (and hesitate) due to their fear of being wrong and also fear of going
against the crowd.
On the other hand, when the market is bullish, and many people around him/her
seems to be making money so easily, it is hard for the person not to also join in
the herd to buy stocks when it seems so easy to make money.
How one keeps one’s sanity in the face of market fluctuations is the key to
true investment success.
#5 Leverage is what causes trouble for you.
Leverage has been instrumental in making a lot of people wealthy and also
a lot of people broke. It is a double-edged sword. Because of leverage, gains
and losses can be magnified many times, making it the ultimate tool for the
speculator.
In Warren’s opinion, leverage is what causes trouble for you. After all, when
everyone is rushing for the exit door at the same time, there will be many
casualties.
Think about this, people who did not leverage on borrowed money, the most they
could lose is what they have in the market. However, for those who have
leveraged heavily, the money lost could be more than what they even own in
total, making them the candidates for bankruptcy.
In addition to the famous quote referring to derivatives as “financial weapons of
mass destruction”, Warren also stressed that derivatives pose great risk to
financial well being because many people think they are safe from overleveraging.
#6 Two ways to protect yourself from
inflation
With increasing inflationary worries and concern, it was inevitable that there were
questions ask about inflation and how to combat it. According to Buffett, the best
protection against inflation is your own earning power. After all, if you are
the best doctor, lawyer, teacher, or whatever, you will get your share of the
national economic pie, regardless of the value of the currency.
The second way to protect you against inflation is to invest in a great
company. People will give up their own earnings to enjoy whatever products
your company is making.
His sidekick, Charlie Munger, suggest becoming a brain surgeon and investing in
Coca Cola. I would say that it is a more specific way to combat inflation. After all,
very few patients will be arguing with the brain surgeon on the price of
his/her services at that critical stage in life.
#7 Warren will teach 2 courses on investing
Warren was asked to explain his investment strategies and how to teach that to
the next generation. He explained that he will teach 2 courses on the following:
1) How to value a business
2) How to think about markets
Being able to value a business is essential to be an investor. Warren mentioned
that one should start with his circle of competence, that is, invest in companies or
assets that one understands. Knowing where that edge of the boundary is
important. There are a lot of people who do not realize that there is a
fundamental difference between price and value, causing many to overpay
for their stocks (or other assets).
For a business, valuing it basically take three approaches: dividends, income and
assets. To be able to value a company is not just an exercise in the analysis of
the numbers in the company; it is also being able to assess the future viability of
a business. Most importantly is the ability to assess the intrinsic value of a
business to be able to pay a low or at most fair price with an adequate margin of
safety for the investment.
Warren likes to use Benjamin Graham (Warren’s teacher & mentor) analogy of a
character called Mr. Market to illustrate the behavior of the markets.
Imagine that there is this fictional character whose mood swings from being
extremely optimistic to being extremely pessimistic. The prices that Mr. Market
will quote will swing in accordance to his mood. If he is very optimistic, the prices
in which he will quote will be high. If pessimistic, the prices in which he will quote
will be low. There are some people who think that value investors like pessimism.
Actually, that’s not quite accurate. Value investors are not necessarily
optimistic or pessimistic. Value investors just like the low prices that
pessimism brings.
Are You Ready To Be A Value Investor?
Warren Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, have seen many crises
throughout their many years of investing. The success that Warren Buffett and
Charlie Munger have brought to their investment results bear testimony to
their sound investment principles.
Their nuggets of advice are derived from their experiences and learning from
them will bring you (and many others who are reading this report) to the next
level of applying the principles and secrets that work for this legend.
With this report, we hope that it has served its purpose of “enlightening” you to
the merits and principles of value investing. Putting these secrets to work is
the next stage that you will need to do in order to achieve the kind of
financial abundance that you deserve. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER
INKOM Wealth Management and our experienced certified financial planners
specialise in providing tailored financial plans and financial advice,
aimed to guide and accelerate Australian investors towards their financial
objectives. These often include wealth creation and saving money for
their retirement. Our fee for service financial advisors can help you
ith financial planning strategies and personal financial planning advice.
Our comprehensive financial planning services ensures our clients have
the peace-of-mind of controlling their current financial position and
onfidence in what their future will encompass.
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