Investwise Ireland

60 Seconds with Yours Truly for Business and Finance. A little insight into where my head is at these days!

60 Seconds with David Quinn of Investwise Financial Planning 60 Seconds with David Quinn of Investwise Financial Planning who discusses challenges and success throughout his career.

We are very proud of our new ‘Retirement Spending’ report, published last week.
I spend most of my time working out how much is ‘enough’ for our younger families. We also focus a lot of time on how much our retireees can spend in retirement and not run out of money.
It is for this reason I thought it would be useful to put together a comprehensive guide to Retirment Spending. Free to access, and I hope you find it helpful!

www.investwise.ie

On with Pat again this morning on Newstalk at 11:40 answering listeners questions. Fire on any pension or financial planning questions, and I’ll try and get to them on air. DM me if you prefer!

What a great bunch of lads! Can’t wait to see them progress in the coming years! Hard luck in the DDSL Cup Final today.

The year that was!
Strangely enough, our Year End for Investwise is 30th April, which is a throw-back to the old self-employed tax deadline.

It is a real testament to my dedicated and hard working team that we have achieved some exciting milestones during the year, that are worth celebrating!

Thank you and well done Enda McGuinness Liam O'Riordan CFP® Investwise Lauren Morahan Roisin Archibald Jennifer Gregg Nicole Kearns

It was a tough year personally, but it was so exciting to see the team develop into such a cohesive, skilled and knowledgeable group!

Highlights for us:
- Grew our revenues by 27%
- Added Lauren to the team
- Increased our focus on financial planning
- Assets under management passed €200 million for the first time.
- More of the team qualifying as CFP’s. 4 in total now.
- Roisin returning from Maternity leave
- Some fun socials during the year, even though we missed our beloved trip away for Christmas!

We see more savvy clients coming our way now, who demand transparency, value and long-term partnership.

Long may it last, as the market becomes more sophisticated, knowledgeable and engaging! Here’s to another great year for Investwise, and for Irish investors in general!

On average, almost €7m a day was switched out of Irish Banks and into other, better yielding options last year. Low risk returns of 4% are available, with DAILY access to your funds!
It was really encouraging to see Irish investors taking control of their money! Every financial plan needs some levels of growth. Understanding that number, and then putting the plan into action, is exactly what we do. There are plenty of options out there, from tax free Irish Government Bonds, to Cash Funds and beyond. If you need help understanding the options, give us a call for advice on the whole market and all options out there. (Don’t be fooled by the seemingly attractive ‘cash’ and ‘guaranteed return’ products offered by the banks and insurance companies)!!

Investors ‘furious’ with ‘evil’ Vanguard for not launching a Bitcoin ETF.
This is just part of the reason we love Vanguard so much! They don’t get sucked into the latest fads and trends. They stick to simple, extremely low cost investments. They outperform virtually everyone else, at a fraction of the cost. If your advisor or portfolio manager isn’t investing the majority of your portfolio with Vanguard, you need to ask some serious questions as to why not?

They might give you some c**k and bull story about risk management, diversification, investor protection, value strategies, thematic investing etc etc. it’s mostly nonsense. A verg simple portfolio of index funds wins out almost all the time. If you dont believe me, send me your portfolio and I’ll do a free, no obligation comparison to Vanguard and we can compare? Please take up this offer, I’m only too happy to do the comparison!

Link in comments :

€215m 😲 It took us 15 years to build the business to €100m in client funds back in 2021. When we hit the first milestone I was watching the number every day! Less than 3 years later and we broke through €200m before Christmas (€215m to be exact!) Current strong stock markets means I missed this important milestone by a few weeks. I really can't believe the progress we have made as a business in the last few years, which is completely down to our great team. The growth has been a combination of pension fund, private family and corporate investments, and we take this responsibility to our clients very seriously. Proud to say we don't invest in anything we wouldn't put our own families in. No structured products, no high commission investment bonds, just world class portfolios using the worlds best investment managers such as Vanguard, Dimensional and Blackrock (iShares). All of this is firmly based on a Financial Planning model where we seek to understand our client goals and dreams deeply before we even consider making any recommendations.

It is at a times like this you have to just take a step back and reflect on the wonderful progress made! 🙌 Enda McGuinness, Liam O'Riordan CFP® Grad Dip, QFA, APA(Gen ins) SIA, PFP, FPRA, RPA,Nicole Kearns, Lauren Morahan, Roisin Archibald, Jennifer Gregg

Congrats Eve McMahon on your Olympic qualification!! 👏🙌. It was clear you were destined for bigger things when you won the Investwise Youth Nationals in Cork a few years ago!!

So the Spot Bitcoin ETF has finally been approved. For all the Bitcoin supporters out there, this isn’t institutions like Blackrock accepting Crypto into the mainstream. They just want a piece of the action, and fees from Crypto investors, nothing more!
Also, for those that were expecting a big jump in the BTC price yesterday after the announcement, that’s what the jump over the last 4 months was all about! Markets look forward.
The ETF will just expand the universe of retail speculators who will be able to access BTC more easily now (nice fees for the fund managers!). BTC has very little intrinsic value, so it needs demand. It is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay, like any other speculative asset or commodity. - The greater fool theory! This development will bring more cannon fodder into play!

The Global Stock Market ended 2023 up 17%. Over 5 years markets are now up 84%. Yet my Facebook and Linkedin Feeds are still full of people recommending property (within pensions in particular, as a tax efficient way to invest your pension). Even German Supermarket property investments are still being pushed on Irish investors these days. While it might feel more dangerous and risky to invest in the largest and most profitable companies of the world, I know which I would prefer over the long term! Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway etc, or an Aldi in Hamburg? Which one is going to deliver the best outcome over the next 10 years I wonder?

Some photos from our very successful Winter Client Lunch yesterday. We were blown away by the positive feedback. A full house of 60 clients were treated to a sumptuous lunch in the gorgeous surrounds of 25 Fitzwilliam Place. Thanks to our client and friend, Louis Goor, who stole the show with a presentation on his around the world adventure. Everyone found this to be truely inspirational and emotional, and a perfect example of living your best life! We were also delighted to have Vanguard over for a more practical presentation on investment behaviour and evidence based investment.
I even got some positive comments about my wine selection!
I was very disappointed I couldn’t make the lunch myself, but the Investwise team did an absolutely stunning job. I think it was actually better without me!!! Thanks Enda, Liam, Lauren and Nicole!!

Today is World Financial Planning Day, so later this afternoon we will be dropping the first in a series of videos.

These will give my top tips, from 25 years of experience in managing money and people’s finances! I’ll also let you in on some tricks that the finance industry don’t want you to know!

Really looking forward to speaking, and taking a stand at the 50 Plus Show in Cork this Tuesday and Wednesday. Drop in and say hi! The event is being held at the Radisson Blue Hotel, and admission is free. Senior Times LIVE

Ignore all our previous advice on index funds and diversification! The TOTE is the way to go!

What exactly do we do here at Investwise (Hint - we are not just pension and investment advisors!)

Over the past few months, we have had a number of enquiries from existing clients asking if we do financial planning, as well as Investment and Pension Advice.

Short answer is yes!

Actually, Financial Planning is at the heart of everything we do, and our ideal engagement starts with a comprehensive financial plan. This is the cornerstone of long term financial success and security. You would never start building a house without architects drawings, and yet most individuals make financial decisions 'on the hoof' as circumstances change and opportunities present themselves

I felt it was very important to get this message out to our valued clients, as financial planning is by far the most valuable and interesting service we offer. As an existing client, it is often included in your current fee arrangement, and even if it isn't, the process is very good value.

For those of you who have used us in the past to set up a pension account, investment account or some protection, but didn't realise that we have such a focus on financial planning, we would strongly recommend considering it. The process is very rewarding and opens up conversations which cover all aspects of your family and professional lives.

We have had some absolutely fascinating and exciting conversations with clients when the topics shift from investment markets to life long dreams and aspirations. We love nothing better than a client saying to us that they always had a particular dream, but never thought they could achieve it. In our process, we want to get to the truly aspirational leisure and career goals, and then try to find a way to acheive those dreams. Where there is a will there is a way!

If you haven't done so already, I would strongly recommend putting together a comprehensive financial plan. I know I would say that as a planner myself, but it is an incredibly rewarding and freeing exercise.

To find out more about how financial planning can help you, we have put together a document on our website :https://www.investwise.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Investwise-Financial-report.pdf

Wondering what to do with your savings in these uncertain times, but keep them safe? I see Irish Banks starting to offer some interest (see BOI announcement today) but there are much better alternatives for those who are wary of taking any risk. I worked with Fiona Reddan in the Irish Times on this piece, regarding Irish Govt Bonds and low risk Money Market Funds.

Could government bonds offer a solution to low deposit rates? Bonds can offer better returns but are not without risk and, ideally, require substantial investment

A sample of some of the fantastic photos that were featured in National newspapers last week of the Investwise Irish Sailing Youth National Championships!

On the Pat Kenny Show at 11:40 today talking all things pensions - Buying back U.K. State Pension Years, New generous Company Director rules etc. Send in your questions!! Harder the better!

Banks are closing all around us, and competition from online banks is increasing all the time! I’ll be on Newstalk again after the 11am news tomorrow with Pat discussing switching banks!

Here’s a piece I wrote for RTE on personal finance. Despite some serious temptation walking by Toners on Friday evening, I’m still just about sticking to my Dry January plan! How are your personal and financial resolutions working out so far?

New year, new you: Financial resolutions for 2023 While the 'new year, new me' approach isn't for everyone, January can be a good time to set some financial resolutions for the year ahead.

Worth 5 minutes of your time, especially the video edits of 9th March 2009! This famous day was the bottom of the last bear market. Who knows when the next bottom will happen, or maybe we are already at it? Comments below…. When will this current bear market bottom out?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2022/10/what-a-stock-market-bottom-looks-like/?fbclid=IwAR0Z3toSwNRlMxMpilS6IjBh_ym6CCxDjPmMY6_wg2PbZlDoljSC__oElbE

What a Stock Market Bottom Looks Like What a Stock Market Bottom Looks Like Posted October 16, 2022 by Ben Carlson There’s an old saying that they don’t ring a bell for you at the top. I know this to be true because investors spent more than 10 years during the bull market of the 2010s calling everything they saw a top. The regime c...

My thoughts on the largest single ECB Rate Rise in the past 30 years!

Analysis: ECB rates are on the rise, what does this mean for mortgage holders? Financial expert David Quinn looks at the latest rate hike and the options available to homeowners.