How Black Swan Capital can help you make good financial decisions

When you start your life in a new country, the everyday can be exciting. All the differences in daily living can make the mundane seem new and fun - the excitement of cultural differences. The downside to this is the stress of not always knowing how things are done in your new home country.

Managing your money is one area where not understanding how things are done can have a material impact and where it is vital to understand the details.

Black Swan Capital has a deep knowledge of the German market and of the specific aspects you need to consider as an international professional living in Germany. Here's how they can help guide you to make the right decisions.

Planning your financial future

The first way that Black Swan Capital can help is by constructing and implementing a plan specifically for you, one that takes into account exactly where you are right now in your life. Whether you are adapting a previous plan to your life abroad or taking the opportunity of your life changes to put some objectives and structures in place, similar principles apply.

Black Swan Capital considers and centres all their actions around your objectives and what you are trying to achieve in both the short- and long-term. The plan needs to adapt to where you are living now, and to consider the impacts of the passport you hold and any other reporting or tax obligations you might have around the world.

There are many other things to consider, and they understand that most expats need flexibility and liquidity. They need to be able to make life changes without stress and without access restrictions or penalties. Black Swan Capital specialises in working with international professionals and their staff are all expats as well.

Understanding the markets

The second area that Black Swan Capital can assist in is blocking out the constant noise. Whenever people write about investment markets and the economy - and this has been true for many years - there is always something happening that has an influential impact on the markets and short-term investment returns. These events or factors are often described as extraordinary, but if you take a step back and look at the longer term, you can see that there is a consistent sequence of events, one after the other. Some are positive, some negative.

For this to make sense, we need to agree on the principle that investment markets go up over time, but not in a straight line. Another way to say this is that time reduces volatility and the likelihood of losses, and what looks like bumpy markets across a short time period like a month, can be smoothed out when looking at a longer time period, like ten years.

One of the ways Black Swan Capita adds value for you is to interpret, distil and apply the relevant information while excluding the noise, keeping you moving towards your financial goals.

Staying focused

Thirdly, Black Swan Capital can help you adapt and stay on track with your goals and to avoid the pitfalls of investor biases, such as "the momentum investor". When we shop, we are quite comfortable with the idea of buying items when they are on sale rather than when they are at their maximum price. When it comes to investing though, if we follow the momentum investor bias, we are much more inclined to wait until an investment has already increased in price before investing.

It is not difficult to understand the rationale. If we wait until something has increased in price, it feels like a proven and safer investment - after all, it has a good track record. What it often means, however, is buying at the top of the market. One of the most often repeated phrases when giving financial advice is that past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Just because an investment has risen in value does not mean it will continue to rise at the same rate.

Following this pattern, the investor bias kicks in again when prices drop, meaning we may be less likely to buy, even though that asset may be considered as being "on sale".  In fact, we may even feel inclined to sell. The momentum investor gets increasingly worried as prices drop.

At Black Swan Capital, they are firm believers that it is not possible to time investment markets, consistently and accurately. They believe there is much more value that can be added to your investment (at a considerably lower risk) by consistently following a structured plan across market cycles with intelligent informed tactical adjustments, than there is in trying to time peaks and troughs.

It is important to remember that the purpose of investing is to achieve your long-term objectives. Investing is a means to an end, not the end in itself. If your focus is the long-term, make sure you focus on the long-term.

Secure your future finances today

Seeking advice from qualified professionals can have a profound impact on your life now and into the future: Black Swan Capital is doing this every day and can help you to achieve your goals. Feel free to check out more information at www.blackswancapital.eu or contact them directly for an initial discovery call at no cost by emailing them at [email protected].