A recent semianr in Ballina offered tips on the management of wealth in the Irish economy.
DIVERSITY is the key for anyone planning to put together a portfolio of equities and property. That was the main message to emerge from a business conference held in Mount Falcon Country House Hotel in Ballina recently.
The conference was organised by Canada Life and hosted by Ballina-based Mr Peter McLoughlin, who is one of Canada Life’s leading financial advisors in the West of Ireland. Mr McLoughlin was joined by a panel of top advisors from the world of business, including Evita Chiang, who travelled from London for the conference.
A whole range of topics were discussed during the five-hour seminar with each of the five guest speakers addressing different aspects of wealth management. One of the keynote speakers was Ballyhaunis-born Marie Hunt, Director of CBRE, who is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s leading property experts.
Ms Hunt gave a fascinating insight into the current state of Ireland’s property industry and expressed confidence that the oft-predicted bust would not occur at any stage in the near future. While there would be a slowdown she was confident that the property sector was destined for a ‘soft landing’.
“There has been a definite slowdown in the residential sector and that was to be expected. We were never going to have a sitaution where property prices would continue to grow by up to 20 per cent per annum.
“Looking back on the last ten to twelve years it is clear that we did not provide sufficient residential accommodation in the past and we were playing catch-up for most of the boom years.
“We were building more houses per capita than any other country in the world and a lot of people made big money from the residential property explosion. That’s over now and I think it’s safe to say that the boom is not going to be repeated again.
“Property will continue to appreciate but it will be at far more moderate levels and there is likely to be less investment amongst speculators in the residential property sector.”
Ms Hunt’s view was shared by Evita Chiang, of SEI Investments, who is a former Head of Business Liaison for the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Ms Chiang said she believed the fundamentals in the Irish economy were good and she saw no reason for the current bout of media pessimism.
The property sector was also the theme for Joe O’Regan, Managing Director of Oregan Financial, who explained the benefits of investing in property as part of a pension fund. In particular, Mr O’Regan highlighted the yields that are to be earned from the commercial property sector.
“Commercial property is a totally different animal to residential property and people need to see it that way. There is a lot of negative publicity about the residential sector in Ireland at the moment and some investors might be turned off property entirely because of it.
“That would be a shame because there are some wonderful investment opportunities in the commerical sector. We have seen what has been happening on the world’s stock markets in recent weeks so it’s clear that equities have a huge risk attached to them.
“I would argue that investment in commercial property is one of the surest methods of guaranteeing a good income from your pension fund.” But the conference wasn’t all about property. Michael Hayes, Investment Development Manager of Canada Life, gave a very informative presentation on the benefits of equities.
Mr Hayes admitted that equities had taken a back seat in investment circles in recent years but he offered convincing evidence of the benefits of investing in stocks and shares.
“The return on equities has been very good in recent years and one only has to look at the statistics to realise the value for money that investors get when they put their money into stocks.
“A person who invested •1,000 in equities in 1980 will have made •67,000 by now whereas someone who invested the same amount in property will only have made •37,000 - and that’s despite a phenomenal property boom in the last ten years.”
The importance of investing in a good pension plan was also highlighted by the fifth speaker, Mr Pat Ryan, who suggested that people need to view their pension as a ‘personal asset’.
“People need to see a pension fund as a personal asset in the same way that they would view a house or a shares portfolio as a personal asset. If a mortgage is the sole focus of a person when they are working they could end up at age 60 where they own a home and nothing else.
“In other words, they’ll have no mortgage but they’ll also have no fun!”
For further information on wealth management, contact Peter McLoughlin at 096-72200.
