{"id":152193,"date":"2017-01-28T11:15:13","date_gmt":"2017-01-28T09:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=152193"},"modified":"2017-01-27T18:15:33","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T16:15:33","slug":"12-investment-tips-for-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/152193\/12-investment-tips-for-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"12 investment tips for 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While January often feels like the longest month of the year due to the pressure on the purse strings after the festive season, Alexander Forbes has investment advice to help prevent that scenario from happening again in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Financial Planners Michael Kirkpatrick and Mladen Colic from Alexander Forbes Financial Planning Consultants said that a health check-up is a good way to ensure that you get the New Year under way in the best possible way.<\/p>\n<p>The only way to know where you\u2019re overspending is by drawing up a budget, the planning consultants said. \u201cYou can use an ordinary Excel spreadsheet or there are apps available where you can set up your budget and will help you to keep track of your daily spending \u2013 these automatically update your spending from your bank accounts,\u201d Colic said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Motor insurance tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Think before you buy: lower powered, lower value and low risk vehicles often get charged cheaper insurance premiums.<\/li>\n<li>Limit your mileage: use lift clubs or public transport where possible. Let your insurance company know that you use public transport during the week and your premium could be reduced.<\/li>\n<li>Keep your vehicle secure: it\u2019s important to know that where you keep your car during the day\/night impacts your premium.<\/li>\n<li>Stay on the radar: have a tracker installed on your car to reduce your premium.<\/li>\n<li>Get rewarded for driving well: some insurance companies use telematics technology to measure how you drive. The better you drive, the lower your premium can be.<\/li>\n<li>Review your policy: vehicles lose value over time, so make sure you reassess your premium every year with your insurance company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>House insurance tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do an inventory: it\u2019s important to be covered for the right amount and for the items you actually have. Do a spring clean once a year to establish what you actually have.<\/li>\n<li>Take extra security measures: Although the outlay of capital may be an issue initially the extra safety could result in lower premiums, thereby saving you more in the long term.<\/li>\n<li>Consider communal living: living in a secure estate, or a boomed area may result in your premiums being reduced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Investment tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stick to your plan: it\u2019s vital that you stick to your goal when going through periods of tough economic periods. How do you know whether you are achieving your goal? Before investing, you should have a clear objective as to what that investment must do for you. Is it to keep your money safe, grow it over time or receive an income that must sustain you until a certain age? Knowing what you want to achieve, will enable you to match the most appropriate investment strategy and allow you to determine whether you are on the right track or not.<\/li>\n<li>Never compare yourself to others, as you don\u2019t know what their objective is, it could be completely different to yours.<\/li>\n<li>Look out for the fees: it\u2019s important to take note of the fees that one pays for your investment. Companies should show you the fees you will pay per year if you keep the investment for a period of one year, three year and 5 years. If your provider is not showing this, you must query it. This helps you compare different investment products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/151833\/the-coastal-property-markets-in-south-africa-you-should-be-investing-in\/\" target=\"_blank\">The coastal property markets in South Africa you should be investing in<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander Forbes financial planning consultants Michael Kirkpatrick and Mladen Colic provide investment advice to help plan better this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":143755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[6280,26],"class_list":["post-152193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-alexander-forbes","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152193"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153375,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152193\/revisions\/153375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}