Facing Your Financial Fears
Do you have any financial fears? If you did not have these fears, would you be closer to achieving your goals? We will explore some of the most common fears persons have and look at how we can overcome them together in order to live the life we love, and love the life we live.
Sydney overcame his financial fears in 2018 and is on his way to achieving his dreams; we hope his journey will help you to face your financial fears too.
1. Fear of not being able to afford all his big goals: Sydney needed to upgrade his car, afford future university costs for his daughter, purchase a property and plan for retirement. The thought of figuring out all this on his own left him overwhelmed and in a state of paralysis for over three (3) years.
Facing the Fear: “Sydney, it is all possible.” I said. “Michelle you make it sound much easier than it is!” he rebutted. So I said to him, “nothing is ever as easy as it sounds but it can be much easier than we think. JMMB’s Free Goal Planning Session would assist you in prioritizing your goals, and help him to accomplish them in ‘bite size’ pieces. If you are determined, you can accomplish much more than you originally thought.”
2. Fear of losing all my money: We explored how much he would be able to afford to invest each month and began talking about appropriate investments to help him to amass the down payment for his house in five (5) years. Immediately he blurted out “I can’t afford to lose my money Michelle!”
Facing the Fear: If you have the same concern diversification is key to minimising this risk. The approach simply means not putting ‘all your eggs in one basket,’ so that the stronger returns should compensate for lower return investments. I shared with him that unit trusts are a great way to diversify, with various unit trusts based on how much risk he is willing and able to take (risk tolerance).
Among the options shared were JMMB Bond fund (comprised of a variety of bonds), which offers moderate risk and the JMMB Income and Growth Fund, which is more aggressive. The annual returns on these funds were 5.88%* and 16.78%*.
3. Fear of Insurance: Sydney grinned as he viewed his projected returns and the projected amount he would amass towards his house and daughter’s future university costs. “Syd, since you fear losing it all, we need to ensure that you have adequate personal insurance coverage.” Shutting me down he declared, “Please stop, if I take it out, someone will get sick or die, or if no one gets sick or die, it becomes a waste of my money.”
Facing the Fear: “Are burglar bars a waste of money if a thief never breaks in Syd? Insurance will protect the money you have accumulated for your goals from the unexpected attacks such as sickness, and/or death.” Additionally, “JMMB Insurance Brokers will listen to your needs to ensure that you are neither under nor over insured and the plans are affordable. There is even the Family Indemnity Plan which covers up to six persons and costs between J$422.40 and J$5,280 per month for coverage of J$80,000 and J$ 1million per person, respectively.”
Like Sydney, would you like to be bold and face your financial fears in this year? We can help you, if you give us a call on 876-998-5662 or text BOLD to (876) 822-5662.
*As at January 22, 2018 to January 23, 2019
Written by Michelle Sinclair-Doyley, manager, client financial education