From growing and protecting your wealth, to ultimately preserving it.

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You have dreamed, planned, invested and grown your wealth. You have taken steps to protect it in order that it may continue to grow. But that is not where it ends: now you need to preserve your wealth for the long term.

You may ask, but is protecting and preserving your wealth not the same thing? No, it is not.

Let’s look at what wealth preservation means, and how to achieve it.

Almost two hundred years ago Nathan Mayer Rothschild, one of the founders of the Rothschild banking dynasty said, while it requires “a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune”, keeping that fortune “requires ten times as much wit.”

Rothschild’s reference to making that fortune can be compared to growing wealth from your initial investment; exercising caution in doing so equals protecting your wealth; while keeping that fortune means preserving it.

In our previous article, Protect your wealth, we discussed the steps involved in doing so: having a financial plan; regularly reviewing it; doing so with a financial adviser who is part of a team that understands your requirements and knows how to safeguard your investment while growing it; knowing what you are getting and what it will cost you; and not relying on governments or legislation to protect your wealth.

Given the rapid changes taking place in our world today, and the social, political and economic volatility that accompanies it, wealth preservation has become a core function in wealth planning and management.

Read also: Don’t put your estate in the hands of the state

While the point of growing and protecting your wealth is primarily to make money or wealth; the primary focus of wealth preservation is not to lose that money. There may be different strategies to achieve that, like growing your net wealth at a rate greater than inflation or limiting the charges or cost of your wealth.

But when it comes to preserving your wealth, the key words are “over the long term”, regardless of whether your goal is to provide for your own retirement or to leave a legacy for future generations, or both. The most important ingredients are, staying ahead of inflation to strengthen your purchasing power; growing your wealth with caution to avoid irrecoverable losses; and doing this over the long term.

Therefore, wealth preservation involves a long-term plan and preservation strategy that will safeguard your wealth from any number of potential threats, including yourself. Yes, yourself: because sometimes it is all too easy, when unexpected needs arise, to dip into your capital, thinking you will top it up again later. That seldom happens, and that is what short-term investments are for.

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So, to safeguard your long-term investment, you will need a sound wealth preservation plan that takes into consideration all the potential pitfalls and threats, makes use of the best available advice and tools, and which is fully geared towards achieving your specific long-term goals.

Among the available tools are options such as investing in a variety of assets that hedge inflation while allowing for optimal growth over the long term: in a nutshell, diversifying your portfolio against a long-term goal. Understanding the difference between short and long-term objectives, planning in advance and selecting the right tools and strategies are paramount. This is where the expert advice of an experienced financial adviser is invaluable.

Just like growing your wealth involved risk, preserving it may also involve some risk. But you can take steps to limit it by balancing the relevant factors. In fact, risk management should be at the centre of your wealth preservation strategy. Within this context you will have to consider questions like what will be the cost of your investment when weighed against anticipated return, the risk involved, inflationary trends, likely interest rates and economic growth. Might these be affected by external impacts such as political shocks or global developments? Again, these are issues where the advice and assistance of your financial adviser will be most important.

If your long-term goal is to provide wealth for your family or future generations after you are gone, another important factor to consider in your wealth preservation plan, is how to transfer that wealth to them. Again, an experienced financial adviser will be able to assist you in selecting the best plans and vehicles suited to your specified requirements, such as for instance, the various available trust vehicles, investing offshore, or in transferrable stock or property portfolios, among others.

With much hard work and careful planning, by exercising caution and smart decisions, you have built that golden nest egg. Now don’t lose it. Preserve it. Like our video on wealth preservation says, it is time to take stock, to preserve the dream you have accomplished. You have nurtured your growth and protected your accomplishments. Now it is time to dive deeper, swim further…safely so.

Preserving your wealth has never been more important. Carrick is the leading expert in growing, protecting and preserving our clients’ wealth.  Contact us on [email protected] for a consultation with one of our qualified advisers.

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