A Conference for our Clients -
Retirement Investment Planning
We are holding a number of conferences around the UK exclusively for the benefit of our clients, friends and associates. The purpose will be to provide the opportunity for you to meet with our management, but more specifically to examine in detail the causes that lie behind the turbulence and subsequent collapse of the credit and investment markets; and, more importantly, the responses that we think are going to be needed to deal with these longer-term challenges.
We have all been badly let down by the bankers, the regulators and the Government. Our banking and fiscal systems were not stable, sophisticated and the 'envy of the world' as they were purported to be, but rather markets out of control. Whilst we do not wish to make this a political statement, over the last ten years, consumer debt has risen from circa £550 billion to circa £1.43 trillion - a near trebling, and approximately the same as the total value of our economy. Over this period the economy grew by less than 30%.
In the 1980s a pension fund of say £500,000 could be expected to sustain retirement income of approximately £50,000 per annum. That has consistently fallen to around £30,000 per annum but if, as we fear, investment returns settle at even lower levels once this recession is over, then the same capital will only be capable of supporting retirement income of perhaps just circa £20,000 per annum, or less.
Different investment approaches will be needed to deal with this new and harsher landscape. Equities may not be able to lay claim to be the 'best performing investment over the longer-term'; and there remains doubt as to whether there will be the same appetite for risk-based investment, without the prospect of such high returns as have historically been enjoyed.
The seminars will be held at various locations throughout Spring. Any clients interested in attending a seminar please contact your consultant for details.