Bellmore Group Management Services, Tokyo Japan

Making sure you have enough wealth through old age used to be simpler. The idea behind pensions was that your employer would guarantee you a set payout once you retired and handle the investing decisions required to grow the money you would eventually receive. But the pension safety net is full of holes. For one, fewer and fewer employees have access to them: The proportion of private workers covered by them fell from 38% in 1980 to just 20% in 2008. And even if you are lucky enough to have a pension, there's no guarantee you'll actually get the funds at retirement age: That's because unrealistic expectations on investment returns have emptied the reserves of the federal program protecting pensions from losses. With pensions shrinking, the 401(k) has become the preferred investment vehicle of choice: It puts the onus of retirement savings equally on both the employer and employee (assuming matching contributions); and leaves investing decisions to the employer....

A cottage industry of asset managers, financial advisors and investment can give you their takes on how to be just like Warren Buffett. You can skip the circus of wannabes and hear from the Oracle of Omaha directly in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway a shareholder, which was published Saturday. In his most recent letter, Buffett praised the virtues of index funds, railed against the steep fees hedge fund managers charge and said "investors who avoid high and unnecessary costs and simply sit for an extended period with a collection of large, conservatively-financed American businesses will almost certainly do well." You don't have to be a stock-picking whiz to benefit from his success. Buffett has already detailed three ways to emulate him in your retirement portfolio. The two-fund portfolio Buffett outlined an investing strategy for ordinary investors in his 2013 annual shareholder letter: My advice to the trustee could not be more simple...

Risk and reward are inextricably intertwined, and therefore, risk is inherent in all financial instruments . As a consequence, wise investors seek to minimize risk as much as possible without diluting the potential rewards. Warren Buffett, a recognized stock market investor, reportedly explained his investment philosophy to a group of Wharton Business School students in 2003: “I like to go for cinches. I like to shoot fish in a barrel. But I like to do it after the water has run out.” Reducing all of the variables affecting a stock investment is difficult, especially the following hidden risks. 1. Volatility Sometimes called “market risk” or “involuntary risk,” volatility refers to fluctuations in price of a security or portfolio over a year period. All securities are subject to market risks that include events beyond an investor’s control. These events affect the overall market, not just a single company or industry. They include the following: · Geopoli...

What does 'financial institution' exactly refer to? There is no cut-and-dry answer. For many years, banks have been absorbed by others or merged with other banks, making the definition hard to delineate. It all depends on the technical nature of the company's personality as it is registered at the FCA. Some difficulties, therefore, arise – for instance: If you save money in the Bank of Scotland, Halifax and BM Savings, which belong to one group, the covered amount is also considered as one. Hence, you get only £85,000. If you save money in the Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster and NatWest, which all belong to the giant RBS conglomerate; you get £85,000 protection for every one of three banks where you have put money. Which banks are linked? You may visit websites to help you find out if your bank shares its savings protection. Or you may check the FCA registration number on your bank's website. If the institution is not among those listed, it d...

The collapse of Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley, and Icelandic banks caused a lot of panic several years back, leading people to wonder whether their savings are safe at all. What steps can we take to secure our savings from such a terrifying and real threat? We will provide a detailed safety checklist as well as what safeguards you can apply in case of averse economic scenarios. The essential facts you need to know At least 6 facts will let you prepare for worst-case scenarios, namely: · Increased protection limit. At present, your savings now gets £85,000 protection based on UK-regulated financial institution instead of the former £75,000 only Every UK-regulated savings and current account as well as cash ISAs in banks, credit unions and building societies are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). From £75,000, the cover was raised to £85,000 on 30 January 2017 after the pound's post-Brexit fall led to a review by...

According to David Fabian, “A vital part of Investment success depends upon one’s ability to compare historical returns with an index or benchmark. Doing so will let you measure if your approach meets the performance expectations or evaluate the efficiency of somebody else’s recommendation prior to hiring them. Although is may be very common in the entire industry, many investors still make knee-jerk conclusions based on unreliable or biased information. Two primary conditions that must be satisfied when determining the viability of any investment approach are discussed below: A proper standard of evaluation We now lay down the reasons why these concepts are essential to your decision process. Let us talk about time. In reality, time is a commodity that has lost its overarching value in the fast-evolving dynamics of our daily existence. People so often fall prey to the temptation of immediate gratification provided by modern technology that they totally ove...

For many years, value investing has grown to become a very popular and profitable investment strategy. Among those who consider value investing as a viable choice are Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett – two of the most successful value investors with spectacular gains over a long period of time. The expected returns from value investing are comparatively high, although the risks are oftentimes much higher than most investors can handle. This is because value investing can result in an investor being subject to value traps, which occurs when a stock’s price is low for a very valid reason. What are value traps? Value traps Surprisingly, value traps are more common than most investors realize. In spite of global share prices having increased from the beginning of the year, many other shares will still actively trade at significantly low prices in comparison to the broader index. Although some might catch up and recover, others will not. Nevertheless, low-priced share...