Introduction
You have entered NICRI’s moneymap, a set of tools to help you develop an informed understanding of investment products and processes and how you can use them to plan for your future and for retirement.
The guide aims to assist those with less complex issues and/or modest amounts to invest, who are reluctant to or unable to seek professional advice. It will also be useful for those who just wish to learn a little more about issues surrounding the process of investing. The guide is not a tool to replace professional financial advice. There are many issues to consider with regard to your financial planning requirements and NICRI suggests that professional advice be sought if required.
We have highlighted a number of life events that you may encounter and provided you with links to relevant government departments, consumer/community organisations and to publications you may find helpful. You may come across some investment jargon throughout the site, these words or phrases will be explained in the glossary. We also have a number of calculators that cater for a range of savings, investment and loan scenarios. These can be accessed at any stage and are handy when considering potential outcomes.
You will then have the opportunity to enter information about your current financial status (you will need to have your super statements, details of investments etc at hand). It is not essential that you complete all sections but doing so will provide you with a clear indication of where you are now. You will then be asked about your future needs and objectives … are you happy with your current investments …. do you wish to find out more about alternative investments … can you see that you will have lump sum expenses that you need to budget for?
You can enter amounts you wish to consider alternative options for. These will automatically flow to the ‘Needs and Objectives’ section. Here you can choose time frames you wish to invest for and consider your major immediate expenses. This section also explains different investment objectives and allows you to prioritise how important each objective is.
A risk/investment profile can be filled out … once you have answered a series of questions about your comfort in investing, you will be given a risk rating i.e. you may be considered a Defensive, Conservative, Moderate, Growth or Aggressive investor. You will be able to read the description of your investment style and match it with your current investments and keep it in mind for your future investing.
The completion of the risk profile will highlight the asset allocation for your particular profile i.e. if you are a Conservative investor the asset allocation would typically be 60% to 90% in cash and fixed interest investments and 10% to 40% in growth assets such as shares and property.
The guide will then highlight investments that may be suitable for each risk profile and provide a full explanation of each of them. The choice of investments is yours to make. It will allow access to information about other areas that need consideration such as estate planning, complaints resolution and understanding risk and discuss briefly social security, taxation and personal insurance issues.
We want to make the investment process easier for you to understand and provide you with information to make wise choices. Certain information will flow through to a summary sheet which, as with all sections, can be printed or saved.
It is important to note that although this website is secure there are security risks in transmitting information via the internet. You should assess these potential risks when deciding whether to use our online services. To avoid unauthorised access to your details NICRI recommends you protect your password.