Robo-Advisers: Does The United Kingdom Really Need Auto-Responders To Make Suggestions?

The United Kingdom has the most advanced financial technology available in the world and even with the threat of Brexit removing all these advancements, still, newer technologies for government financing advisories would soon grow from the soil -- one of them are auto-responding "Robo-Advisers." These are just the banks' way of cutting down on its employee fees by having robo-advisers take over the jobs of asset managers.

 

Asset managers to be removed and replaced by robots and artificial intelligence would not happne in na instant. According to Pensions and Investments Online, the era of robo-advisers is still early and the institutional asset management sector would not use the technology immediately.

According to Casey Quirk Boss of Money Mangement Jeffrey Levi, the trend is unlikely to receive mainstream implementation just yet as most advisers focus on liquid asset classes focused on long-term investments alone -- which would limit the AI's capability to advise short-term investors -- hence bringing back traditional financial advisers.

According to Mercer LLC Wealth Management Boss David Hyman, the individual investor is still of high value as the stage of advisory AI is still unsatisfactory with its results and are quite "disruptive." However, Hyman himself believes that the growth of the industry will rely on these new technologies.

Tech Is The Future Of Financial Services

Expanding operations of many "Fintech" firms signify the need for banks to step up their technologies to meet the immense demand of tech in financial services. Widespread automation and sectorial consolidation could also mean thousands of jobs lost to technology.

According to ING Chief Executive Ralph Hamers, employment in finance could decrease and financial industry workers may need to find work in other arenas that could play by their strengths. ING's latest plans include technological advancements that guarantee laying of 7,000 from the 54,000 staff of the Dutch bank.

Profitability has been questionable for many banks -- both local and multinational -- and automation is a great avenue to make convenience a selling factor for consumers. European banks are likely to implement Fintech as they try to reduce expenses by boosting profitability through technological efficiency.

Hamers said finance firms are looking to use cloud technologies, AI and voice recognition to make financial services swifter and less intimidating for other users. Total investments for financial technologies worldwide has reached up to $1,200bn with Europe and North America leading in the development of such technologies according to data from Accenture. EU banks may need to wait out the storm for a little bit more as new EU regulations may or may not allow third parties to access customer information despite authorisation from the latter.

Three Ways The Rich Can Handle Their Money in 2017

The world's "one percent" is depicted as "evil and corrupt" but in truth their ideas involving financial management is nothing short of genius -- with a slight hint of OCD. As with anyone who can financially manage himself or herself well. Should things go beyond their control, they would ask peers for help.

And we need to know how they help themselves to improve their savings. Here are a few things they do to ensure their money grows in 2017 effectively.

Wealth Spread

Crown Global insurance Group Co-Founder Perry Lerner creates a spreadsheet of all his accounts, assets and liabilities making it easier for him to organize things he owes, owns and need to remove. A spreadsheet for your own liabilities is greatly important for good financial disposition.

Emergency Funds

Having emergency funds is a must for any time you might get unemployed or sick. But having emergency funds for investing is also a great thing to have. But before you invest, make sure you understand your financial goals, risk tolerance and assess whether your overall financial situation enables you to invest.

Be Observant

Attention to detail has never failed to supplement anyone's success. For Tiger 21 member Perry Lerner, that also meant to discuss with peers or financial advisers how he can improve his finances better. Services of financial planners can help investors see details seen by a professional eye. They may cost for their services but they will make sure to improve your income.

Three Things That You Should Have Reached Financially by 30 Years

I know it's a bit spiteful, the title. It also says at the same time that you're not a 30-something if you haven't reached these goals.

But again, having goals and seeing the consequences of such attainments is an amazing thing.

So, do you have these three things in check?

Emergency Fund

Everyone needs a six-months' worth of living expenses or even a year to buffer for anything from medical emergencies or unemployment. If you don't have this, you're not de-classified from being a 30 years old but this is an important goal to attain.

Anticipating Big Expenditures

At this point, you are preparing for huge expenses and have adjusted your lifestyle accordingly. You also deal with your budgets using a realistic amount that would not lead you into debt. Often, you would even skip these expenses to make way for bigger, important ones.

Negotiation

A highly-valued skill , negotiation is not only for the flea market. When you get a new job, you know your worth and the worth of your skills. You demand a higher salary for your service.

When running your business, your suppliers and service providers you understand their value and you pay accordingly to their value.

The valuation of everything is an important skill to have.

The Power of Personal Finance Is Power Over One's Life

Sometimes, I wish my mom taught me more about APR.

I didn't know what APR meant when I was 16. They gave me a credit card to use. I never knew it had an APR.

This APR had led to the loss of my car once. After my mother died and my father went sick, I struggled to understand what APR was. In fact, APRs became something I was traumatised with early on.

Annual percentage rates. I spent enormously on standard learning that I never really realised my parents can't repay this amount to their creditors.

So I was stuck with dropping out and paying out these APRs. I'm currently running this blog to pay for my expenses. At least the advertisements and sponsors pay me enough.

I familiarised myself with finance and other terms that I couldn't understand. Or at least life taught me about them.

Encumbrance meant our house would be taken. Foreclosed by the bank, meant taken by the bank.

These words shocked me as I read them on paper. Being my father was mentally unfit, I had to take care of the estate since I was already of the legal age when this happened.

But I wish someone taught me finance early on. Personal finance.

But then again, I wouldn't be the same person I was if they did. Or maybe I would be better.

Regardless, nobody deserves to not know about finance at an early age. They should teach it in schools other than stuffy things we can't use when we're older.

Why Do Away With Low-Earning Bank Accounts?

They tell you that investing and making an investment just takes common sense and a bit of effort of looking into the details more than ever. This is true. And if you've looked through low-earning bank accounts and their performance, it would seem the safety net of low-risk investments are just holding your money back rather than improving its quality of working for you.

So, maybe it's time to move out of your bank account interest rate and let the bigger players dole it out for you.

Your bank should only have what you need for bills and emergencies in a bank. For your checking accounts, you could just place in the minimum balance and maybe just a bit of money that could handle unforeseen expenses that would require a promisory note.

From here, you could start paying off your high-interest debt that you might have. Have a debt consolidator work you out of your trouble.

Once done, focus on saving for retirement. Then open a brokerage account that could help you buy an sell stocks and other financial vehicles that could grow over time.

Don't Take Personal Finance Failures Too Hard

Money problems will always be money problems. Planning is a great way to resolve an issue. But don't be too hard on yourself if things don't go your way with your financial plans.

Sure, failing in your personal finance plan isn't the most rewarding or positively exhilarating phase in life. But like all cheesy meditational lines, it gives you the ability to step up and 'level-up' in your financial management.

According to a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, having financial issues on your mind is stressful. But it also found it did not affect all that you have to do because of something called a "working memory."

Essentially, the research team came to the conclusion that worries about money don’t hamstring all of our mental processes, though it may feel like it, and that people with more financial trouble in their lives can perform better in certain cognition tests.

The British Psychological Society’s take on the study lays out an example:

A trucker is likely to rely much more on the relatively automatic and instinctive processes that make up safe, effective driving. This is not to make a facile argument such as “financial stress is good for the poor,” but rather to make the point that even if such stress does impede some parts of poorer people’s lives, in other capacities they will be able to operate strongly in spite of, or even in small part due to, this stress.

But it doesn't mean you have to stop thinking about your money. You have to stay afloat or else you may drown in debt as you go into the future.

It just means that the human body is resilient enough, according to research, to go and stop the impending doom of financial oceans. But like every failure -- and yet again, cheesy lines for recovery and self-help -- all you have to do is get up and pick yourself up and rebuild your ladders methodically and improving on the parts that failed you.