Herald - Issue 422

Page 60 • The HERALD • 21st April 2022 v THE HERALD - SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES v ASK A PROFESSIONAL ‘TIME IS MONEY’ by Michael Osman, Oyster Financial Planning Are your investments working as hard as they could be? Here are 5 principles of investing everyone should know. 1. SET INVESTMENT GOALS - Successful investing begins by setting and developing measurable and attainable investment goals. Keeping your plan on track also means evaluating the progress regularly. Committing to investment goals will put you on the path to building further wealth. 2. INVEST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE - If you invest early and incur a loss, you have more time to make up for the loss on investment. Whereas an investor who starts investing at a later stage in life will get less time to recover any losses. Not only is time your best friend when you’re investing, but you’ll also reap the bene ts of something called ‘compounding’. To paraphrase Ben Franklin: Your money makes money. And then you make more money on the money your money makes. 3. INVEST REGULAR AMOUNTS - By investing regularly, you bene t from highs and lows in the market – called ‘pound cost averaging’ – and this helps cut down the risk of investing when the market is high. If your chosen investments have become cheaper to accumulate it means your investment buys more shares or units to keep for the long term. By investing regular monthly amounts, rather than a larger lump sum in one go, you end up buying more shares or units when prices become cheaper and fewer when they become more expensive. 4. DIVERSIFY YOUR PORTFOLIO - Diversi cation is spreading investment risk. Your investment portfolio should be split across di erent types of investment. While di erent kinds of investments can su er declines, it’s very rare that any two or three assets with very di erent sources of risk and return, like government bonds, gold and equities, would experience serious declines at the same time. 5. RESIST THE URGE TO PANIC SELL - If there is a stock market correction, resist the urge to sell up immediately; instead sit tight and ride out any downward movement before looking for opportunities to exploit if they arise later. Keep calm and carry on building up your investments. If you need any investment guidance and advice please do get in touch with Michael at Oyster in Hythe village. Michael Osman, Oyster Financial Planning New Forest Business Support Hour New Forest Business Partnership (NFBP) offers a free weekly Business Support Hour every Wednesday at 3pm. Each week will focus on a specific topic from a local business expert. An important element of these sessions is the interactionbetween attending businesses.Whilst the rst half hour is focused on the chosen topic, the second half will allow businesses to share ideas, opportunities or issues. You can sign up to attend this support hour via the NFBP website: www.n p.org.uk/events