Savings

Savings Plans are monthly contribution policies that are invested into a mixture of stocks, bonds, cash and property. You complete a risk questionnaire to your attitude to risk (level of risk you are comfortable with). There are dozens of funds available and we will help you choose the appropriate fund. These funds can go through periods of volatility (increases and decreases in value) but tend to deliver the highest long term returns.

Business Savings Plans

Business Savings Plans work in the same manner as personal savings plans except the business contributes to the plan. If a business has strong cash flow, it can make contributions to fund the purchase of an asset for the business, refurb of premises. Business savings plan can also benefit from more favourable tax rates.

Personal Savings Plans

In our experience, most clients use savings plan for children’s education. Whether it is for secondary school or third level education, school fees involve coming up with a lump payment each year, when cash flow can be tight in a household. Savings Plans can be started using Child Benefit allowance every month.

Deposit rates return very little, if anything, at present. Managed funds, despite the volatility they inevitably go through, have far greater long term returns. The greater the returns, the less money you need to fund the investment and the greater the fund you have to purchase an asset, inheritance etc

Savings Plans – what to look out for

The key criteria to look out for in a Savings Plan are cost, service, fund performance and product selection

Costs

The main costs to consider are the Allocation Rate and Annual Management Charge. The Allocation Rate is the amount of your monthly investment that gets invested into the pension (eg 99% so that means a 1% charge). The Annual Management Charge is paid annually on the entire investment and is usually circa 1%

Service

This relates to the service you get from your advisor regarding technical advice on investments and general day to day enquiries

Fund Performance

Consistent strong fund performance is crucial to make your money work for you and to see the benefits of compound interest

Product Selection

Most life companies and investment companies have a range of managed funds that are invested in bonds, property, cash and shares. Ethical investments as well as specialised investments such as Clean Energy are not available through all companies

Integral Financial Planning has access to many different institutions and will evaluate the most suitable for clients based on the above criteria. Call 0877785325 today for more.