Know Your Time Horizon

This is a crucial factor in deciding upon the right product. Are you saving for your retirement, looking to build up a rainy-day fund, or saving towards a deposit for a house? Or are you saving simply to be able to buy Christmas presents? Each of these goals has completely different time horizons and so should hugely impact your choice of product.

If you’re saving for a better retirement, pension products offer valuable tax reliefs that really boost the impact of your savings. However, these products are only suitable for retirement planning. On the other hand, if you’re saving for Christmas, putting your money in a deposit account is a good idea. It won’t grow much (if at all), but at least you are keeping it a bit out of reach for a few months! To get the best product for your time horizons, talk to a Financial Broker who will find the right one to meet your savings objectives.

How Much Risk Do You Want to Take?

Do you like to know that the value of your money will never fall, while at the same time realising that it won’t grow much either? Or are you open to taking some risk with your savings, being willing to endure drops in value, but in the hope that your money will exceed inflation and deliver real returns for you? Being willing (or not) to take risk has a fundamental impact on product choice. Again, your Financial Broker will assess your appetite for risk and find the best savings product to meet your needs.

Access to Your Money

So, you’ve decided on your timeframe and your appetite for risk. The next question is whether you might want access to your money at an earlier stage. If this is highly likely, it will again impact the choice of product. Your Financial Broker will help you decide whether your money should be in an instant access deposit account, a notice account, a savings product with a life company, or something else. And because your Broker has access to all of the products across the market, they will be able to find the absolute best one for you.

Growth Prospects & Charges

Finally, you need to consider the growth prospects of the various products on offer and their charges. Does the product you are looking at offer the potential to grow in line with your objectives, and will the growth be swallowed up in charges?

Can you consider all these factors alone? It’s time to seek out the services of a professional Financial Broker.