Despite the promising title, we have had a real disappointment with our little nest egg. One investment fund has gone down the pan and we are now being advised to sell the remains for whatever is there (probably peanuts). For a moment, this got me really worried…. will I have to go back to work? In the cold light of day, no I doubt it, but in the middle of the night and lying awake thinking about it, it’s a terrible situation.
“Drat. We could have done without that, we can’t afford to lose a few thousand like that”
Perhaps all too easy to be down hearted about it.
On the other hand, we are in good hands. We have been well advised in the past and none of us have a crystal ball to know what the future holds. Such a thing would be too frightening for most.
As part of getting our finances sorted, we have had to be mindful of a few things:
- knowing what we want to realistically achieve and how this can be funded
- making sure we are comfortable with the level of risk, for instance do we put money in a secure account paying a meagre 0.5% interest or accept more risk for healthier returns? I remember discussing this in the past and completing a questionnaire about this. It indicated I was comfortable with a moderate level of risk. Rachel, in comparison, is a more adventurous and is willing to accept much higher levels of risk, knowing there might be greater returns, or losses
- making sure our assets are stashed away in a broad and varied way. This means making sure not all of our eggs are in one basket, just in case something goes wrong and to even out some of the fluctuations which inevitably come along. In real life this also means our little nest egg, our house and our occupational pension funds
- we need to be prepared to take a long term view
- being prepared to seek ongoing advice, to pay for it and to follow the advice. Having said that, we don’t blindly follow whatever is being said. We like to understand the advice but 99% of the time we follow the advice to the letter
So although we have lost a few thousand over night, I think we are still on track. We should realistically expect these occasional knocks. It is important to keep these things in perspective and to recognise how money shouldn’t be shaping us and ruling us. We live in a reasonably careful way.
Above all, always grateful and thankful for what we have been blessed with. We must be careful, wise custodians of what we have.