We have quality procedures in place to ensure we fully understand your current financial situation, goals and dreams.

Our process differs from others in that we carefully analyse your complete financial position in terms of understanding your goals and needs, while highlighting your financial planning issues, all without cost or obligation, ensuring you have time to arrive at an informed decision to employ our services.

We regularly review your situation to keep your informed and to build the client relationship we consider so important.

Our system brings into clear focus precisely what is realistically feasible. The fact that we do this at no cost initially is testament to the fact that we retain our clients for the long term. Building wealth is one thing but what’s the point if you don’t have personal goals and dreams as well.

The Financial Planning Process is made up of 6 steps.

1. Find a Professional Investment Services Wealth Coach

Contact your local Professional Investment Services Office and a registered Wealth Coach near you will be in touch to arrange the initial consultation.

2. Checklist: Preparing for the first interview

Prior to the first interview, it is recommended you consider your financial and lifestyle objectives for the short, medium and long term.

These may include:

*Wealth creation

*Savings capacity

*Income requirements present & future

*Retirement planning

*Lifestyle needs

In addition, we recommend you compile the following documents (listed below) for the initial interview to enable your Wealth Coach to obtain a clear understanding of your present financial position.

*Personal investment details including investment and rental statements

*Tax returns

*List of liabilities eg. amount and applicable interest rates

*Additional assets

3. Initial consultation

On first meeting with a Professional Investment Services Wealth Coach, they will provide you with a disclosure statement which outlines their;

*Qualifications

*Responsibility for advice given

*Restrictions applying to advice given

*Fees and charges

*Complaint resolutions schemes available

*Privacy information

The first meeting objective is to ascertain current position, expectations, future objectives and risk profile. This is achieved by asking a series of personal and lifestyle questions supplied in a client data form.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Wealth Coach will seek your commitment to prepare written recommendations that addresses your financial situation and will detail any fees that apply to this process.

4. Written Recommendations

After preparing the written recommendations your Wealth Coach will meet with you to go through it step by step and answer any questions that may arise. You must also confirm that the details within the written recommendations are correct.

At the conclusion of this meeting, your Wealth Coach may schedule a follow-up to answer any further questions.

5. Implementation

If you are happy with the recommendations and wish to these, your Wealth Coach will ask you to sign an ‘Authority to Proceed’ that formally documents your consent.

Your Wealth Coach will assist you with the implementation process including completing forms and lodging the applications.

6. Review and service

Maintaining ongoing review and service of your financial plan is vitally important to achieving the optimum results in your financial future.

Many variables in your life can change over time impacting on the suitability of your investment portfolio.

At a minimum, Professional Investment Services recommends annual review of your financial plan to ensure it continues to meet your needs

I believe house prices, in the main centres, will continue to appreciate, especially Auckland which has already started to occur. This is due both to supply and demand. There are less new dwellings becoming available as there are fewer being built (especially in the apartment market), demand is increasing due to higher immigration figures, more Kiwis returning home and a natural population increase.

Interest rates will go up but in the second part of the year only as the Reserve Bank honors it’s commitment to the nation when it said it would keep rates low. The amount they go up all depends on the recovery happening, how strong it is and if unemployment is starting to fall.

Finance will be difficult to obtain for self employed, businesses and construction projects due to the demise of virtually all second tier lenders. This is a serious issue for the country and will hinder our future growth.

Each month the international credit crisis moves further into the background and hopefully next year it can be consigned to part of global economic history.

Just a few days ago, Karim Rahemtulla, one of my counterparts at Mt. Vernon Research, stopped by our office in Delray Beach, FL to say hello. I think he was only looking for some chocolate, but, as is often the case when two traders get together, the conversation turned to the market.

It turns out we were both trading the S&P Financial Select SPDR (XLF) put options. (Just a reminder: Puts are instruments that benefit the buyer when the stock, or, in this case, the ETF, drops in value.)

Now the odd thing is that Karim was selling the XLF puts and I was buying them. He was betting that the XLF would remain above the 20 level. So he was making money by collecting the premiums and letting the puts expire worthless.

I was buying the April 28 puts, which meant that I made money when the XLF fell from $27.50 to $24.50.

Two totally different approaches to trading the XLF puts. But we were both making money.

I prefer buying options to selling options. When you buy an option, the worst that can happen is you’ll lose 100 percent of what you paid for it. Meanwhile, your upside is unlimited. When you sell an option, your gain is maximized then and there. But your downside is unlimited. Given the choice, I’d rather maximize the upside and minimize the downside of any trade I make.

That is the name of the game when it comes to trading. There are many ways to trade. There are many ways to make money in the market. The key is to find the type of trading that works best for you.

Hundreds of companies around the world have been affected by the turmoil in the financial markets. US$220 billion has been lost to date in what has been described as the biggest credit loss since the Great Depression. The 10 biggest losers of the sub-prime crisis are:

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Citigroup: After revealing another US$12 billion in sub-prime losses a few weeks ago, this US bank has emerged as the biggest loser of the global credit crunch, with losses totalising US$40 billion to date;
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UBS: Switzerland’s biggest bank reported a further US$19 billion of assets write-downs, taking total credit losses to US$38 billion;
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Merrill Lynch: Wall Street’s most aggressive player in the housing market has lost more than US$31.7 billion so far;
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HSBC: After a decline in the US housing market hit the value of its loans, HSBC announced a US$17.2 billion loss;
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Bank of America: Charlotte-based Bank of America reported a 77% drop in profits in the first three months of 2008, hit by trading losses and a US$6bn write-down to cover bad loans. So far, its sub-prime losses total US$14.9 billion.
*

Morgan Stanley: Last December, Morgan Stanley announced higher than expected losses from its mortgage-related investments, writing off US$9.4 billion and selling a 9.9% stake in the company to China’s CIC. Losses to date total US$12.6 billion.
*

Royal Bank of Scotland: Its exposure and subsequent credit losses come close to US$12 billion.
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JP Morgan: After cutting the value of its mortgage-related investments by US$1.3 billion, the US bank posts a record credit loss of US$9.7 billion.
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Washington Mutual: The US mortgage lender has been hit hard by rising defaults on its mortgage loan book, losing US$8.3 billion.
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Deutsche Bank: Wrote down US$4.2 billion in the first quarter of 2008, on top of the US$3.6 billion writedown which it announced in 2007.

Data source: Bloomberg.

© 2008 financialalert Limited.

Leadership is not a job title. Leaders routinely hold executive positions, but routine leaders rarely renew their organizations to attain fresh success in an ever-changing world. Routine leaders tend to manage the status quo, and thus fall behind what the ever-changing operating environment demands.

By contrast, futuristic leaders stay well ahead of the trends and simply make the future happen.

Futuristic leaders literally “see” the future. Then they enable others to see it, motivate them to venture there, lead them there, reward them when they get there, and celebrate their collective success. They are true leaders who understand the A-Z of winning the future, described fully in my book “Futuristic Leadership A-Z,” which may be summarized as follows:

Futuristic leaders ACHIEVE results because they truly BELIEVE a different future is possible. They CHANGE their own and their organization’s behavior, habits, and culture, in order to obtain their collective DREAM.

Futuristic leaders fully EXPECT to reach their goal — and also fully “expect the unexpected” along the way — because they unswervingly FOCUS on that goal.

Aware that reaching the future requires that they and their organizations GROW — both mentally and spiritually — futuristic leaders HEAR things: they listen intently for clues and pieces of vital information that will guide them in that growth.

Futuristic leaders vividly IMAGINE what the future will be like, what needs to change to get there, and how the charted course might need to vary along the route.

They JUSTIFY their mission, not only based on profitable returns, but in the proper ethics and values that will bring it to fruition.

Futuristic leaders KNOW both what they know and what they don’t know, and what more they and their teams will still need to know in the future. They constantly LEARN, day by day, decision by decision, as they move forward.

Futuristic leaders MOTIVATE themselves, and inspire those around them to do the same, to adventurously NAVIGATE previously uncharted territory. They ORGANIZE and optimize every available capacity and resource to help them PERSEVERE until every part of the mission is accomplished.

Futuristic leaders always QUESTION their advisors, their information, and themselves. Then they can best RESPOND to challenges and opportunities in ways that STRATEGIZE the most responsible and best possible future outcomes.

Futuristic leaders TEACH everything they know to the highest-qualified teams of individuals. They UPLIFT them to VISUALIZE and drive toward their collective future.

As well, in today’s “webolutionary” Internet Age, futuristic leaders encourage their teams to literally WEBIFY their organizations into value-creating networks, or “biznets.”

Futuristic leaders also XEROGRAPH themselves: they “clone” or duplicate their own abilities and processes in others, to ensure ongoing growth and continuity through yet another generation of futuristic leaders.

Finally, futuristic leaders repeatedly YIELD consistent and spectacular results, and ZOOM their organizations speedily to ever-succeeding peaks of success.

There are obvious interconnections between these 26 verbs. Futuristic leadership is a dynamic A-Z synergy of seeing the whole future — and then making it happen in the most expeditious and responsible way.

These verbs are fully explained in the book “Futuristic Leadership A-Z,” with exemplars and motivational quotes for each keyword verb.

The entire A-Z series of leadership keywords can be addressed in interactive Leadership Seminars and/or dynamic Keynote Speeches, tailored as needed to meet any organization’s needs.

For further info, please write to FFeather@Gmail.com

About the Author:
Frank Feather is global change agent: a world-leading business futurist, strategy and marketing consultant, keynote speaker, and best-selling author.

The portmanteau “stagflation” is generally attributed to British politician Iain Macleod, who coined the term in a speech to Parliament in 1965.

The concept is notable partly because, in postwar macroeconomic theory, inflation and recession were regarded as mutually exclusive, and also because stagflation has generally proven to be difficult and costly to eradicate once it gets started.

Economists offer two principal explanations for why stagflation occurs. First, stagflation can result when an economy is slowed by an unfavorable supply shock, such as an increase in the price of oil in an oil importing country, which tends to raise prices at the same time that it slows the economy by making production less profitable.

This type of stagflation presents a policy dilemma because most actions to assist with fighting inflation worsen economic stagnation and vice versa. Second, both stagnation and inflation can result from inappropriate macroeconomic policies. For example, central banks can cause inflation by permitting excessive growth of the money supply, and the government can cause stagnation by excessive regulation of goods markets and labor markets; together, these factors can cause stagflation.

Both types of explanations are offered in analyses of the global stagflation of the 1970s: it began with a huge rise in oil prices, but then continued as central banks used excessively stimulative monetary policy to counteract the resulting recession, causing a runaway wage-price spiral.

John Maynard Keynes wrote in The Economic Consequences of the Peace that governments printing money and using price controls were causing a combination of inflation and economic stagnation in Europe after World War I.

Stagflation was also a very serious macroeconomic problem in the 1970s. In contrast to central bank responses to the oil price spike of the 1970s where similar policies were pursued on both sides of the Atlantic, the 21st century began with America going one way to fight recession and Europe going the other way to fight inflation. source:wikipedia

By Eric Daniels
EWI Instructor

Have you ever read that ominous headline, “Home prices fall 15.8% in the past year: Case-Shiller”? How about, “Home sales, prices plunge in August”? You have read these headlines the same as I have, but the question remains… what does this mean to me as an investor?

Everyday, we are faced with negative news about our Real Estate markets, but even more so now in the financial markets in general. Remember this headline “Dow Drops 7.3%; Largest Loss Since ’87 Crash”? While the “average” person views this with dismay, investors should view this as a prime opportunity to SEIZE THE DAY! Simply put, the difference between opportunity and despair is all in how we interpret it.

Warren Buffett and Robert Allen are telling us that it is a great time to invest, both in Wall Street and Real Estate respectively. Guess what, they are exactly right! This may seem difficult, given the current perception of America’s economy, but you have to remember how our media reports to us.

As the above headline stated, home prices were falling in certain regions of the country, up to 15. 8%. What they chose not to write was that, at the same time, certain regions of the country were exploding in the real estate market.

Here is an excerpt from a less-publicized article in the same timeframe: “The suburban-Atlanta region… is experiencing resurgence in pending sales — up 21 percent from July 2007 to July 2008. In August, pending sales have surged 43 percent over the same time as last year.”

Considering how to interpret these headlines will allow us to be successful investors. Think of it this way: Every action has a reaction. When someone loses their home to foreclosure, it reflects negatively on the economy. But, this opens the opportunity for investors to purchase properties at very low Loan-to-Value ratio, as well as creates a larger rental market and/or potential future buyers market.

Excluding foreclosures, lower property values and longer days on the market also benefits investors by allowing offers to be lower and normally puts sellers in a position to have to negotiate. The examples of potential opportunities in this market are too numerous to mention. The important take-away is to know how to read between the headlines.

I guarantee you that for every negative headline about property values declining, foreclosures rising or difficulties in obtaining financing, there is a positive headline for investors to read. It is merely a matter of looking for them.

Another facet to bear in mind is to “only worry about your own situation.” What I mean by that is, if you are investing in Illinois, does it have a direct effect on your business if property values in California are dropping? It does not. While you should never discount the overall health of our country’s financial and real estate markets, our main concern should be that of our personal investment areas. Read the headlines in your local papers; base your investment decisions off of those and adjust accordingly. If you base your decisions off of those headlines in the national media, you are definitely missing investment opportunities.

Here is another way to deduce what these headlines mean. Let us review the first headline in this article “Home prices fall 15.8% in the past year: Case-Shiller”. 15.8% is an average; it does not mean that every home price fell by 15.8%. The West coast could see falling home prices of 40% and the Midwest could be rising at 10% but that still leaves an average home price drop of about 15.8%. Remember, the headlines are not always as they seem.

Control your economic situation and write your own headlines! Don’t let others do it for you. The tools that you currently have, EWI and your education, your mentors and your own entrepreneurial intellect, are all the skills necessary to be a successful and enlightened Entrepreneur, no matter what direction the market goes or what the headlines read.

House prices in Auckland and nationally are up and agents say a rosier picture of the market is finally beginning to emerge.

Auckland prices rose from a median $420,000 in September to $433,000 last month and the national median nudged up from $330,000 to $335,000.

Real Estate Institute figures out yesterday showed price rises in five out of the 12 regions surveyed nationally. But the country’s national median price is still well under the $350,000 reached in October last year.

Agents selling houses in Northland, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Wellington and Southland all enjoyed better prices last month than in September.

“Despite all the negative stuff and people talking about a 30 per cent price drop, this is really good,” said institute vice-president Peter McDonald.

Most Auckland suburban areas showed big price rises.

Waitakere’s median rose from $360,000 in September to $390,000 on the back of 173 sales last month.

Manukau’s was up from $397,000 to $416,000 based on 281 sales.

Papakura recorded 50 sales last month and its median price rose from $293,000 to $301,000.

Agents selling places in the Auckland City Council boundaries recorded 465 sales and a median price rise from $450,000 to $472,000. Sales in the Franklin area pushed up the median from $365,000 in September to $367,000.

North Shore bucked the trend. Based on 249 sales last month, prices dropped from $445,000 to $420,000.

Agents in Rodney district made 97 sales but this area’s median dropped from $440,000 in September to $435,000.

ASB economist Jane Turner said the housing data showed mixed results. “While turnover remains weak at very low levels, the median house price and the median number of days to sell showed some slight improvement.

“Typically, we avoid reading too much into monthly moves in house prices, as the sample is subject to compositional shift.

“However, surprisingly, the median number of days to sell also implied some improvement in the housing market, falling from 56 to 51.

“The number of days to sell is generally a fairly reliable barometer of the balance between supply and demand in the housing market, and the fall is consistent with an improvement in prices.”

4:00AM Friday Nov 14, 2008
By Anne Gibson

ANZ National Bank have also made major reductions with a 90 basis point cut from it’s one-year rates and 85 points from it’s six-month rates. It’s floating rate has been reduced by 75 points and it’s longer fixed term rates have been reduced by up to 60 basis points. Cairns Lockie and General Finance have also made similar cuts.

AMP Home Loans have reduced both it’s standard and priority fixed term rates. The biggest cut was to it’s six-month term also by 74 basis points followed by one-year rate by 69 points, two-year by 60 points, three-year by 65 points and it’s four and five-year rates by 55 and 50 points respectively.

NZF have cut it’s one-year rate by 90 basis points and it’s six-month rate by 85 basis points. The size of the cuts reduce the longer the term starting with 75 points off two-year rates down to 40 points off it’s five-year rates.

Much of the same has been done by Public Trust with their biggest cuts made to six-month and one-year rates.

PSIS, CBS Canterbury, Sovereign, NZ Home Loans and TSB have all reduced floating rates by 75 basis points and HBS cut theirs by 66 points. CBS Canterbury also made 85 and 80 point cuts from it’s six-month and one-year rates respectively.