Why choose us over investment platform apps?
You may have seen my article recently about my friend and SK client who was scammed on EToro. And while our world and that of the new app based investment platforms like EToro do sometimes collide, we occupy two very different markets. We have different target audiences and we provide very different services. We fulfil different roles and meet different needs.
If you find yourself straddling both, have you considered coming to us with the investments you have on these platforms to see if there is something that we could do for you?
The lure of great tech
These platforms serve a purpose. As I have said before, they are super slick and easy to use – their tech is definitely up there. You can buy and sell investments with just one click and make deals with as little as a few quid. There will be plenty of people for whom this is the perfect way to do things. They can make changes quickly and easily and essentially while away many an hour trying to ‘play’ the markets – timing the sale just before a market or share crash or timing a purchase just before things start to claw their way back up.
There’s no denying it’s tempting. If you do want to go down that route, it is worth reading my friend’s experience. It is a cautionary tale of how things go when problems arise. The tech may be great, but tech is notoriously bad at supporting you when things go wrong.
Planning for the future you want to live
But it is not just about the service you will miss out on when things go wrong. It is whether or not you believe this is the way to effectively manage your investments. Trying to play the market and taking a very short term view of your investment very rarely (if ever) helps you achieve your long term goals.
As you will know, here at SK, our focus is on people and on relationships. It’s about understanding what makes you tick and what your vision for the future looks like. This is where we start. We then build the investments up around this and make sure that everything is always set up to achieve what you want to, so you can live the life you want to now and in the future. This approach means you can have the confidence to ride out turbulent times (and there have been plenty of these lately), knowing the markets will come back and take you where you need to go.
As you journey through life, your goals, needs and wants change. We are there with you to talk through these. Together we find the right options to move money around (if necessary) to make sure you stay on the right path. These conversations are just not possible with a chatbot.
In it for the long term
Taking a short term view of funds – which is the focus of many of the investment portfolio apps – means you will more often than not miss out on long term accumulation of wealth. No one can predict what the market will do, when. You may time it right by chance once or twice, but this will be luck. And every bit of research shows that people make more money making investments over the long term (seven to 10 years) versus trying to time the market.
So yes, people may want to hold all their investments with other investment platforms and that is their prerogative. We will never be the right financial company for them. If you want real people on the end of the line, who can chat through your options now and as you journey through life, then we’re always here. Please do get in touch.