Category: Wellsfaber

Trauma, misinformation, poor mental wellbeing and life experiences are all factors that erode our confidence. And a lack of confidence affects every area of our lives – from our personal relationships and quality of work, to health and our wealth. Here’s something that we’ve learnt about confidence: it’s not something we arrive at after future success, it’s something we work on today that helps us achieve success in the future. In other words, confidence is not […]

Do you ever feel that others have access to better investment opportunities than you?  You might be right – it’s certainly not a level playing field. But one investment strategy that family offices, pension funds, insurance companies and banks make extensive use of is private assets.  Private assets are investments bought and sold privately between two willing parties i.e. not publicly traded via an exchange. Residential property is probably the most widely held private asset in […]

Seasonal change is all around us, from mother nature’s colourful markers that delineate the year’s four quarters to the festive seasons accentuated by the kaleidoscope of marketing in our stores.  Whether man-made or man-followed, seasons are important. They help us plan for and navigate change. WellsFaber has been around long enough to advise our clients through seasons of change – relational, generational and vocational. In a culture of instant gratification, seasons remind us that there is […]

We’ve said it before; we’ll say it again: the markets don’t make us wealthy; our habits make us wealthy. Investment success is primarily due to behaviour – not luck. As you will probably know, one of the mature investment perspectives reminds us that it’s not so much about timing the markets as much as it’s about time in the markets. This means we need strong resolve and a seasoned perspective to stick to healthy financial habits, […]

When it comes to financial planning, we acknowledge that we cannot avoid all risks, whether in the markets or in our daily lives. Although we can’t avoid risk, we can reduce our exposure (mitigate) to risk. When it comes to breast cancer, awareness is helpful for peace of mind and reducing our risk. October marks Breast Cancer Awareness month, the most common cancer in women. According to the National Cancer Registry, around 1 in 30 women […]

As with all stages in life, we experience change and growth. The way that we work with our money is different with each decade or each significant milestone. These changes impact our earning ability, budgeting behaviours and the way that we perceive and define value. When we’re young, the value of a robust financial portfolio for our later years is less important as it feels so far off into the future. But with each passing period […]

We’ve worked with countless clients who earn plenty of money and still struggle with debt. But how can this be?  When most of us look at other people, we make a judgement call on their wealth. We all do it. And the quickest perceivable solution is often: I just need to earn a little more each month. It’s easy to think that everyone else has it figured out and is ‘earning enough money’, and we’re the […]

“Investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.” – Jason Zweig Or as Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor said, “The investor’s chief problem—and even his worst enemy—is likely to be himself.” Even though this book is over 70 years old, it is still relevant. The advice to buy with a margin of safety is just as sound today as it was when Graham first introduced his […]

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” – C.S. Lewis Fear is a very relevant part of the collective grief most of us are feeling right now due to the global pandemic we are facing. It adds a layer to the personal grief we may be feeling and we are not used to this kind of all-pervading grief that seems inescapable.  Grief expert David Kessler explains that we are grieving on a […]

“Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.” – Mark Twain Both of these involve the loss of something held most dear. This is heart wrenching – no matter what it may be. So although grief most often is associated with a loved one passing away this is merely the worst […]