Over my 25 plus years in the investment world the importance of constant review and change has been reinforced to me through many experiences.
Back in 1999 when I was with Ernst & Young’s Consulting and Advisory division it was instilled in me that if you are not changing you are going backwards.
Many of the companies I was brought in to advise were starting to struggle with cash flow and profitability. They used to have a good business and make a good profit but over the years the environment around them changed, they didn’t and their profitability started to suffer.
Jack Welch the former Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 – 2001 increased the company’s value by 4000%, he was of the view that people and companies should, “Change before you have to”.
As humans amidst constant change, we often default to stability, constants, anchors to give us comfort. Keeping things the same means less effort we have to think less, make less decisions. Even if we aren’t necessarily happy with the current situation we stick with it as its comfortable and we know what to expect.
Take Wendy for example. I had been dealing with a good friend of hers for many years who had been singing my praises to Wendy. Wendy already had a financial advisor looking after her superannuation fund and she was quite happy. Wendy felt she got good service, advice and had occasional contact.
Then, the advisor retired and another advisor took over. Wendy felt it was easier to give the new advisor a chance (do nothing). A year went by with no contact from her new advisor. Wendy called the advisor and pointed this out. The advisor said things will change and Wendy accepted this rather than look to change advisor. Another year or so went by with no contact again. Wendy eventually changed asking me to look after her superannuation.
The other day Wendy said, “I should have changed to you years ago” She is happy, her investment performance is good, and I ensure we have regular contact.
Change can be hard but when you are dealing with investments that need to support you in retirement you need to regularly review your situation, look carefully at your options and ask:
- Are you happy with the level of service provided by your Advisor?
- Are you happy with the performance of your investments?
- Are you confident they are performing well against the right benchmarks?
- Are you feeling comfortable with your investments or do you just not want to think about changing?
Contact arcinvest if you would like a free and honest appraisal of your existing investments. A second opinion from an experienced and reputable advisor is a great form of review. It’s quite likely your investments will be performing satisfactorily, we can advise if change is needed.