Retirement – Page 6 – Greg Fok Advisory

Tip #1 Financial Planning Advice

April 30, 2019April 30, 2019
by Gregory Fok

Be clear of your financial objectives.

We all know this feeling. Money is flowing in all directions and there is always something that comes up which is a priority.

When it comes to financial planning, there are multiple objectives as well. We need to save for retirement. We need to get the insurance. We need to pay the mortgage. We need to send our kids to university. We need to invest our money…. and the list goes on.

If you are not clear of your priorities in life, you will keep shifting your priorities and along the way, lose money and you say that financial planning does not work.

You just need to get it right from the start of what you want to do and why you need to do it and stay focused.

The truth is – this is probably the hardest part of the planning.

How to buy low and sell high

October 1, 2018
by Gregory Fok

How do you buy low and sell high?

One of the most difficult strategies to implement in investments is to buy low and sell high.

In a roaring market, no one likes to be left behind and have to take on less risk.
In a bearish market, everyone is fearful that it might just get even worst so people hold on at the side lines.

We put a system in our wealth management strategy to consistently rebalance at particular points irregardless of market conditions.

Rebalancing helps us to take the emotions of investing away and make very rational and logical decisions. And that is to buy lower and sell higher.

Speak with us to take the emotions away from systematic investing.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-27/no-taper-tantrum-here-emerging-markets-look-like-a-haven

Investing in a volatile market

September 20, 2018September 20, 2018
by Gregory Fok

What to do when markets are volatile?

How are you feeling?

With the backdrop of the increased volatility in the markets, it can be
unnerving to be seeing your portfolio too frequently. There is going to be
a US-china talks held on the 21-22nd Aug in the United States, to speak on
the tariffs.

Not much might change, as both sides are still going strong with their
views but it seems that both countries eventually want to achieve a win
win situation.

It is also time to bring you back to the
fundamentals of investing.

1) Time is your friend
Speculators who have short time horizons will be very fearful at this point because of uncertainty. Long term investors will be happy because it
can be good time to buy in when markets are discounted right now. You get
to buy more when markets are cheaper.

2) Stick to your original objectives
Do not shift your long goals just because markets have shifted in value.
In fact, any downward shift is good for long term investors.

3) Do not let emotions take over.
Back in 2008, there was extreme fear in the markets especially when
markets collapsed unexpectedly. However, if a person stayed the course
of investing and topped up, he would have emerged much better off today
than 10years ago.

4) diversify
In volatile markets, single companies could collapse and never recover. In a portfolio of diversified investments, continuing to buy in a downtrend market is fine.

A 100% equity allocation like China would have dropped by about 25% by
now, but because we are widely diversified in a portfolio, we are still
affected, but slightly affected, down in the range of 5-6%.

In short, what should you do now?
a) Stay calm and relax, drink your coffee.
b) Stay invested and TOP-UP if you have extra money meant for the long
term now.
c) Continue to rebalance regularly.

Create legacy and retirement strategies

September 13, 2018September 13, 2018
by Gregory Fok

Create legacy and retirement strategies

You are now a successful business owner or individual and have built more than sufficient for yourself. But you are worried about your children and if they might be able to manage.

One of the strategies we use is to create legacies for 3 generations.

With an structure of an annuity, you start off by benefiting through the monthly payout it provides to yourself as the contributor. You are the first generation.

As you pass on, the funds continue to last for the period of your children’s lifetime. It means that the monthly payout continues for the rest of your child’s life. If he lives till age 100, the payout continues till then.
And when he passes on, there’ll be a death benefit that would be paid out to the 3rd generation, which is your grandchild.

On top of that, with an annuity trust, you can ensure that the funds are protected from divorce or even bankruptcies of your children and grandchildren. In this way, the wealth will be protected from unnecessary risks.