FINANCIAL SECURITY OR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP?

Are you going to be financially secure?    

It is a question that many people are realising does not have a positive answer for them right now! The reasons are that the global economic downturn has lead to

• A fall in the value of property
• A fall in the value of stock and shares
• A fall in the value of pension funds and subsequent annuities
• A fall in interest rates and the return on people's savings

The above four investments have traditionally been what people have relied upon to give them financial security so it is no surprise that many people have realised that they are not going to be as comfortable as they once thought.

What the Future Holds?

With everything that has happen since 2007 many Economic journalists have endeavoured to predict what is to happen in the future. Not to be left out we have taken this opportunity to make our own predictions.

• Property prices are currently stagnating and in some cases rising very slightly due to a lack of property on the market. This, coupled with more affordable variable rate mortgages, mean a lot of people are not moving as they are better off financially and also with small amounts of property on the market are unlikely to see anything they want to buy.  Given that banks are going to be very cautious with their lending for the foreseeable future it is very unlikely that prices will rise as they have done in the preceding decade and what we expect to see is a much lower and sustainable rate of growth. The only possible cause of a spike in prices is that very little new property has been built in the last two years and whilst the current economic climate prevails even less projects are being started. This lack of new home may cause a real supply demand imbalance when lending relaxes which could cause a short term bubble.
• The stock market has shown a tremendous increase in recent months. It has defied logic that whilst the general economy has worsen the market has improved. What we have seen is that a lot of the rise in the markets has been driven by (historically) very low volumes of trading which leads to disproportional movements in price. Whilst it may be that the market has shaken off the worst and that it will soldier on many economist believe we are facing a "W" shaped recession and that a market correction is due. What ever may happen in the short term the markets have always proved extremely resilient and that after a downturn stronger, leaner and more dynamic companies emerge which offer good investment opportunities.
• The outlook for pensions does not look good. The above headlines show that for most people pension returns are not going to be anything like they thought.  It is well publicised that many private companies have closed final salary schemes and have " pension black holes" due to poor returns form the markets as well as the tax levied on them by the incumbent government. The fall in tax revenues and growing numbers of public sector staff also means that the government faces a similar problem. Therefore anyone looking at starting a pension right now faces a very uncertain future.
• Low interest rates are currently hurting savers as the Bank of England have cut the base rate down to 0.5%. Recent predictions have stated that rates are going to remain low for some time in order to assist the economic recovery. Whilst this may be good news for borrowers it means that savers are being punished for being prudent and that given inflation are actually seeing their money devalue in real terms every day the rates stay low. The other economic issue of low rates is that life insurance companies may also struggle to meet their obligations. 

What do I do now? 

In our opinion we believe that either the stock market or property investment will give people the best chance of financial security. Whilst they both have their advantages and disadvantages it will come as no real surprise we think that property offers the average person the best chance!

The never ending demand for property, the ability to borrow money (leverage) in order to help you buy property and the fact you own a tangible (hard) asset which is yours to control leads us to think it has more in its favour than stocks and shares investment.

Now all you have to do is take time out of your busy day and scour estate agents, auctioneers, asset managers, private ads, the Internet and industry publications to find a good deal, outbid everyone else, hope the vendor is serious and does not pull out, organise the best mortgage deal, solicitor, lettings or resale agent and you are there!

OR.....A better way! 

We are not exaggerating when we say that for many of our clients, joining Choices Acquisitions has been literally a life changing experience because it has opened up a viable way for them to achieve financial security in retirement, something they felt was probably not realistic before meeting us.

There is nothing complicated about what we do, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to do it and yes, you can buy property as an investment without our help. However, there are some simple advantages which we have over any one individual trying to go it alone.

• Advantages like a massive marketing budget to attract distressed sellers, just check out a Google search to see that we are the market leader in attracting distressed sellers through our advertising and page ranking on searches.  
• Advantages like our massive buying power gained from representing thousands of investors, this is strength in numbers that allows us to negotiate the biggest discounts from developers and allows us to make bids on entire blocks of flats which have to be sold fast.
• Advantages like the many contacts we have developed over the years with agents, developers, lenders and official receivers, contacts that know if they need a fast sale we can make it happen at the right price. 
• Advantages like the experience and expertise we have developed over the years, experience and expertise that has enabled us to carefully guide our clients through the pitfalls of the last boom and ensure that the properties we put forward have been properly researched and evaluated.

 All we ask is a fair hearing

Certainly anyone can do what we do, all they need is a massive marketing budget, twenty years experience and a team of twenty behind them, all a bit unlikely and uneconomic if you just want to buy five flats at 20% below market value. Of course there are no guarantees, or magic wands in this business, it all comes down to common sense and proceeding with a healthy amount of scepticism. If we were you we too would be sceptical because not everyone out there delivers on their promises.

All we really want from you at this stage is a fair hearing, we are completely confident that if you give us that fair hearing you will be satisfied with what we can show you and we do mean show, because anyone can tell you what they do, whereas we can show you what we have done and let our track record speak for itself.

Kind regards

Choices Acquisitions and Investments

01342 840050