CAN I INVEST FOR INCOME? The aim of an income fund is for it to produce a regular income for you. Investing in an income fund for at least five years can provide with regular income and a very welcome supplement to your earnings or pension. Depending on the amount invested, it could raise your […]
INVESTING FOR THE LONG TERM Although shares are a higher risk asset (their value could go down as well as up), investing in the stock market for the long term generally gives you a better return for your money, because any losses you suffer are recouped in time. So if you’re investing on your child’s […]
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT INVESTMENT STRATEGY Before you invest, you need to consider your circumstances and how these may change. If you tie up money in an investment now, will you need to have access to it in the next few years? Are you planning any major expenses – like having children, moving to […]
EQUITY FUNDS Alternatively, you can save yourself a lot of trouble and invest in an equity fund. As the name implies, an equity fund is a fund managed by professionals, which invests in a range of equities and, most importantly, spreads the risk among all the investors in the fund. However, some funds have high […]
EQUITIES, SHARES… Shares, also known as equities, are the preferred ‘real’ asset for many investors. Buying shares in a company provides you with a portion of the company’s value and a stake in its profits, which are distributed yearly or half-yearly to shareholders as dividends. Broadly speaking, the value of a company should keep pace […]
REAL ASSETS So-called ‘real’ assets, such as shares and property, are those which, judging by past history, are likely to give a ‘real’ return: the value of your original investment is likely to grow in line with, or above, the rate of inflation. Investing in a real asset gives you a stake in a business […]
SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT PLANNING – A QUICK TOUR Before getting down to any serious financial planning, it is useful to have a working knowledge of the main types of assets in which you can save or invest. There are many different types of assets, each with its own particular combination of benefits and drawbacks, but […]
WAYS TO INVEST: REGULAR PAYMENTS OR LUMP SUM? Many people are put off investing because they assume they need a large lump sum of money to invest. But it is possible, and sometimes preferable, to invest by making regular payments of as little as GH¢50 into a fund. How Monthly Payments Help Regular payments into […]
WHY INVEST? We all have goals that we want to achieve in life. Unfortunately, many of them come with a large and heavy price tag. On its own, the interest that you earn on your savings account is not usually enough to meet the cost of these long-term plans. Your cherished ambitions are likely to […]
SAVINGS: Expect the Unexpected We can all expect rainy days to come along in life, even though we don’t know when. Putting some money aside for unforeseen expenses or changes in circumstances is a sensible precaution. Whether the ’emergency’ is minor, such as needing new parts for your car, or major, such as having an […]